Experience the best of Mount Kenya National Park

Mount Kenya is an extinct volcano on the equator and the second-highest mountain in Africa, rising to 5,199 metres at Batian, one of its jagged central peaks. The national park covers the upper mountain and its surrounding forest, and is a World Heritage site. Small glaciers still cling to the high peaks, though they are shrinking. The Kikuyu and neighbouring peoples regard the mountain as the home of their god.

Walkers climb Point Lenana, the highest peak that can be reached without technical climbing, by three main routes: Sirimon from the north-west, Naro Moru from the west and Chogoria from the east, which passes Lake Michaelson and the Gorges Valley. The vegetation changes with height, from bamboo and cloud forest to moorland with giant lobelias and groundsels, then bare rock and ice.

Elephants, buffalo and monkeys live in the lower forest, and the base towns of Naro Moru and Nanyuki supply guides and porters. Farm produce from the mountain slopes, such as potatoes and vegetables, appears in the local stews. Nights are freezing high up, and the driest periods fall in January and February and from July to September.