As easy and exciting it is to decide to climb Mt. Kenya, you cant help feeling the goose bumps especially of what I have heard before. Some have died either flying there due to the heavy mist, others deciding to climb the rocky heights of Point Batian (The highest peak) with no professional equipments or experience, others have fainted having reached Point Lenana (2nd highest point of Mt.Kenya), and other cases of frostbites (freezing of limbs). My experience however was totally different.
Day 1 The plan was to reach Nanyuki by 10am hire a van to take us to the entrance gate and then we walk a 10 km stretch to the first camp (Old Moses). But due to unavoidable circumstances (ummm, make that Frank's fault) we spent the night at the entrance gate.
Day 2
After paying our camping fee we left at 8 am. We walked through the vast forest seeing monkeys and different types of birds before reaching Old Moses. It was quite a challenge to climb that small hill just before you reach the camp and at one point I was so tired I did not realize I had stepped on a pool of mud. By 12.30pm Mathenge, our wonderful porter had already prepared lunch. David, our guide, advised us to wear our raincoats and hiking boots. So we hurriedly changed everything and left the place at 12.45pm.
I noticed the road was all-soggy, the weather was extremely moody and there was light showers throughout.
"Now boys If you cross the next Hill, you will have graduated from boys to men". OK, that was David not really helping ing the motivation department. All of us were full of energy but we knew something serious was about to happen. "Trying to scare us?" we chided "You can't bwogo us!" And then we saw the hill.
It was actually a valley that we had to cross. Descend one side and ascend the other. Just descending alone took about 10 minutes. Imagine the acsent.
We crossed a river only to face a big hill ahead of us whose path was mud and water. That must be the longest hill I climbed. I wasnt tired but the fact that it felt like we were not reaching the peak was daunting. After much struggle, we finally reached the end of the hill. Thats when I saw the most beautiful site in my whole expedition. There it was, the famous Batian with huge mass of snow trickling down at a distance. The site was breathtaking and a little scary especially seeing the Makinder's valley below me. I removed my gloves to take a picture and realized my hands were quickly freezing from the nail biting cold. At this time it wasnt showering rain but small drops of ice.
By the time we reached the top of the hill, we were so tired that we couldn't move fast anymore. From then on, any slight slope prompted a rest. Our legs had simply refused to move. Things got so bad that at some point when we stopped to catch our breath, some people slept in 2 seconds flat in the cold wet weather! Its just that cameras stopped clicking, we would have some very interesting photos!
We continued the very long journey to Shipton at the heart of the valley. We were walking between two mountain peaks, one of them Sendeyo where I have heard the Kenya and the British army comes to train. At 6.30pm we were resting after every 5 minutes. The heavy camping bags did not help. David told us that if we dont hurry up, hyenas would be around the corner. We quickly carried our bags and walked on. I later learnt that there are no dangerous animals around due to the freezing weather.
For the next 2 hours, it was torture. Some of us were falling with our bags while others were murmuring and mumbling strange things due to the strain in our bodies. Mathenge the cook had already reached Shipton camp and came back to help carry some of our bags. We finally reached Shipton Camp at 9 pm to find tourists mostly from Europe and America. We made news for walking from entrance gate to Shipton Camp, an achievement rarely done in a span of one day. I requested for hot water and salt to soak my aching blister. To our delight, Mathenge had prepared a sumptuous meal. That guy had left us struggling behind, arrived at the campsite, prepared the evening meal and come back to help us with our luggage, talk about a mountaineer! We gouged ourselves on chapatis and meat stew before jumping into our sleeping bags for the night.
Day 3
Mount Kenya sunrise is one of the most beautiful scenes in the world. On a clear sky, the mountain looks so alive that most people simply freeze this moment on camera. You can also see Kilimanjaro from point lenana. To view the sunrise, hikers start the journey from shipton to Lenana at 3 a.m. The 8 km journey take 3 hours and you get welcomed at the peak by the beautiful sunrise.
We woke at 7 a.m the next morning. Yeah, no apologies for missing the sunrise, after all, this is our country, we knew we would be back. We were in high spirits having shaken off the fatigue for the previous day. I don't know how it happened but we just felt rejuvenated (maybe its the uncomfortable cold that makes you shiver yourself healthy!).
Danny even joked of blessing stones the previous day (Bending and putting your hand on a stone when resting) It was hilarious. Thats how you feel when you realize that you have accomplished a very big challenge.
Our plan was to reach point Lenana and then back to Shipton. But before then we marveled at the surrounding beauty. Shipton Camp is at the center of 3 mountain peaks. Two of which are Batian and Sendeyo. We took enough pictures then left at 10am to reach Lenana. It was fun and challenging. Due to the high altitude I went through bouts of dizziness and felt like throwing up. The temperature was extremely cold, full of fog and light showers of ice.
Reaching Lenana from shipton's is not so hard. The landscape is rugged and quite steep. I now understand why the taliban give Americans such a hard time in Afghanistan. The terrain needs getting used to, especially the little oxygen.
We arrived at Point Lenana, Mt.Kenyas third highest peak. It was a sunny morning the weather was fine and we can't describe what we saw up there, hope this helps:
Heh, David trying to discreetly take the flag
David Pondering on whether to warn us about the Chogoria route
We held the flag and took many pictures. Straight ahead, I could see the mighty Batian which is 300m higher than Lenana. Looking at Its strong rocky structure and magnificent height, it would be hard to imagine that people climb to reach its peak. Only Professional climbers are allowed to risk their lives to climb it. We continued to take pictures and by this time I realized that my dizzy feeling had subsided. We came back at 5.30pm and spent the rest of the evening chatting with the tourists.
Day 4 Going down, step 1 Mt. Kenya has very rough terrain, Old Moses - Shiptons - Lenana is the easiest route up the mountain. The rest of the routes will definitely take a toll on you, although they are very spectacular. The mountain has very interesting topography. Shiptons is in a depression that is easier approached from Old Moses roughly like so:
Well...... we didn't know that and we decided to go to Chogoria. Bad move, by the time we reached the the top of the col, we were so wasted! Check this out
The climbing lane
At the top about one and a half hours later
To walk from Shipton Camp to the Bandas was a stretch of 25km. It couldnt stretch us further. We climbed one last hill before going down the many rocks ahead of us. We saw porters (people who carry bags for tourists) along the way before reaching Mintos Camp, a rather pathetic dreary small building.
We reached the dangerous cliff of Lake Michaelson. The cliff is so high you cant see the lake below and the fog did not help either. Just as we had reached the Mangroove section of the mountain, it started raining. There was no shelter just grass. We were rained on for almost an hour before reaching some tents. We took lunch and proceeded.
On reaching the forest we saw a huge elephant at a distance and took pictures. We walked through the forest and by 6.00pm, we reached the Bandas campsite, a well kept clean camp.
Nothing like a rough 25 km walk to smother you with fatigue. Although we had a 4 man tent, we crowded inside and slept like babies.
Day 5 The final day saw us going through 10km of thick forests before reaching Chogoria town where we took a matatu to Nairobi.
Conclusion The expedition can be extremely enjoyable if well planned. If your minds and bodies are set and if you spend more days. Carry some 2,000 shillings extra in case of anything.
Mount Kenya is the second highest mountain in Africa. It is classed as a grade 4 mountain, meaning it is challenging to climb but most of it can be accessed without need of specialized equipment.
You can access Mt. Kenya's third highest peak (Lenana) on foot. However, to conquer Batian and Nelion peaks requires specialized mountain gear and possibly an specialized mountain guide.
Getting There
The park is about 175km form Nairobi. You can access the Sirimon gate via Nairobi-Nyeri-Nanyuki road or via Nairobi- Embu- Chogoria fro the Chogoria climbing route. Matautus are available to take you to Nanyuki.
From Nanyuki, you can hire matatus to take you to the gate or hire taxi transport to the gate of the mountain park (About Ksh. 1000).
Access to the top
You can access the mountain via many routes, the easiest being Sirimon -> Old Moses -> Shiptons -> Lenana. Other more challenging ones include the Naromoru route and Chogoria route.
Fees
Travellers pay 1000(Citizens), 2000(Residents), $70(Non-Residents) for the first 3 days on Mount Kenya. This is includes entrance and camping fees. For any extra day you stay on the mountain, you pay 200(Citizens), 500 (Residents) and $20 (Non-Residents)
Accomodation
Mountain Rock Hotels provides some bandas along the Sirimon Lenana route at Old Moses and Shiptons. Prices keep fluctuating so please refer to http://www.kws.org/sirimon.html. However, one can camp at these regions free of charge provided you have paid the parks entrance fees.