Mountains in Kenya

There are three mountains in Kenya, Mt Kenya, Mt Longonot and Mt Elgon. Here I will tell you more about Mt Kenya (it’s the more popular one). So first I will tell you about the legend of the mountain then the factual bits.

Legend of the Mountain

There was a god that lived there called ‘Ngai’. He created man and named him, ‘Gikuyu’. He took him to the top and showed him the land below that he had given him.

Ngai pointed to a grove of fig trees and told Gikuyu to establish a homestead there. He then gave him a wife, ‘mumbi’, and with her, they had 9 daughters. Their names were; Wachera, Wagachiku, Wairimu, Wambui, Wangari, Wanjiru, Wangui, Waithaga, and Waitherandu. From these nine daughters came the nine kikuyu clans.

As they did not have sons, Gikuyu made a sacrifice to Ngai and he was given nine sons to marry his nine daughters. They had many children and continued to spread to what is now known as central province. Despite the spread, one can still tell the clan that you come from by looking at your name.

Though this was just a legend, some still believe it and some have abandoned it. Being kikuyu myself, I don’t quite subscribe to it, but one of my given names seems to belong to one of the daughters of Gikuyu. My middle name is ‘wairimu’ and my grandmother lives in the region close to the mountain.

Ok, enough of my little myth….

Some Facts of Mt. Kenya and Mt Kenya National park

Mount Kenya National Park is a Game Reserve in Kenya in the Highlands, located in Central Kenya, North of Nairobi. The bamboo forests attract a large variety of wildlife, exotic birds and endangered species.

The 150,000 square kilometre park is a great place for mountain climbing, trekking through the forests, and exploring the rocky, glacier slopes on adventurous hikes.

The park has an airstrip and you will find plenty of lodges for accommodations. The famed Kenya Game Reserve Safari Clubs also have a facility at Mt. Kenya offering luxurious accommodations with spectacular views of the mountain.

The Mount Kenya National Park is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service, which manages other Game Reserves in Kenya  and covers an area of about 700 square kilometres.

Here you will see some beautiful scenery, including lakes, mountain peaks and natural springs. Watch the black and white Colombus and Sykes monkey playing in the canopy.

Baboons live in the lower elevations, and you will see plenty of big game here too. There are many species of antelope that roam here, including the rare bongo. Lions, black rhino, leopards, waterbuck and leopard all stalk or graze in the jungles around Mount Kenya.

Only the lucky few spot the elusive albino zebra. There are also many birds, including owls, parrots, and vultures that inhabit the forests. You can see elephants and buffalos here and several other cats in addition to lions and leopards.

Above the forest slopes where the vegetation is sparser, high altitude game can be found, like the high altitude zebra and the eland, a huge antelope that is now endangered.

Because the terrain up and down the mountain slopes is varied, so is the wildlife and the plant life.  The Mount Kenya National Park is an ideal central location for visits to other parks in the area. From here travel to Aberdare National Park, Lake Nakuru, or make the trip to the South Western part of Kenya and visit another of the Game Reserves in Kenya, the Masai Mara. It is also a great place with much to see and do if you prefer to safari in a single location rather than travel to several parks.  

Mt Climbing Galore

Mount Kenya, now an extinct volcano, is the second highest mountain in the Africa with a height of 17,058ft. There is a lot of mountain climbing activity that goes on here. You can do the 5199 metre summit – this is more difficult or you can do the lesser peak of Point Lenana (4985m).

This trek takes between 3 and 5 days, through a fascinating world of forests, wildlife, unique mountain vegetation including podocarpus and grounsel, and finally one of the world’s rarest sights, equatorial snow.

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