Mount Kenya is Africa’s second highest mountain. It stands at a whopping 17, 057 feet. I recently returned from a two and a half day trek amidst the mountain’s summit. My guide for the trip was Eddie, a local who has summitted Mt. Kenya over 200 times. My porter was Gregory, another local from Nanyuki, who has summitted over 60 times.
For many treks in Africa and other parts of the world, it is common to have a guide and at least one porter. For many, including myself, who are not used to having someone else carry your heavy trekking sack, it is difficult to hand over the weight and burden of carrying such a load to another person, or a complete stranger for that matter. But, one must realize that these jobs represent the livelihood of many people.
Eddie and Gregory were great, introducing me to all the wildlife that we encountered along the trails. The most exciting of all was the wildlife I could not see--the elephants. There were traces of them all over the mid-mountain landscape, their footprints plastered in the clay. The swath left by an elephant through the bush is big enough to drive a small car through. Eddie was quick to explain to me that the elephants will walk great distances and remember from long ago, certain places that have abundant food and that are rich in minerals.
My two and half days spent on the mountain were very wet during the night and mornings, and beautiful come the afternoon. On day one, we took a ride in a Land Rover to the Mt. Kenya National Park gate, some 30 km from Nanyuki. The ride was comparable to that of a monster truck event after a week-long rain storm. It was awesome! Mud, mud, and more mud, absolutely everywhere. We got stuck twice and had a dozen locals helping push the ‘Rover’ out of the ditch.
When we finally made it to the gate, there were baboons all over the place waiting to steal our food. Eddie shouted something to them in Kiswahili and they all disappeared into the thick forest. From the gate, we hiked for four hours--all uphill--with rain showers cooling us off from time to time. Once at camp 1, Eddie and Greg set up the kitchen for cooking and I set up my tent. After some goat stew and a little gazing at the landscape, I was quick to my tent and sound asleep.
It rained all night. I woke to more rain coming down even harder. After an eggs and hot-dog breakfast, we decided to hike in what was now a downpour. From 7:30 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon, we hiked uphill and downhill. We attempted a route called the Shipton Route, but it was impassable due to high waters on what is normally a very small stream. We then turned around, backtracked for an hour, and started hiking up higher on a route called Likii North. We ascended for two hours to an altitude of 13, 000 feet. From here we descended to the Shipton Hut but, once again, were stopped in our tracks due to high waters on a different mountain creek.
By noon the skies had finally cleared and a gorgeous view of Mt. Kenya was dead in our sights as we sat and had lunch on top of Likii Ridge. The weather held out for us as we descended back to camp 1. That evening many other groups started to show-up for a weekend of hiking.
It rained all night, again, but not as brutally as the night before. I woke to the humming of our national anthem, from a ‘kiwi’ who had arrived the previous night and with whom I chatted for quite awhile into the evening. Dave was his name, and he was about to head back to New Zealand on Monday and thought he might have enough time to squeeze in a nice hike.
Today was the last of my days in the Mt. Kenya region. I had promised the group that I would return to Nairobi, some 3 hours away, by Saturday evening. So we left camp at 8 a.m. and hiked for two hours, all downhill this time, to the park gates and once again the baboons were out and about looking for food. From the gates, I decided to walk the 9 kilometers back to the main road where a matatu (mini-bus) would pick me up and send me back to Nanyuki. After a total of 20 kilometers of hiking, I finally arrived at the main road. Eddie and I grabbed a bus headed to Nanyuki and from there, I snagged another matatu to Nairobi. A long day for sure, but very fun, and very rewarding.
This trip was intended to get my legs back under me in preparation for Mt. Kilimanjaro. I think it did the trick, at least that’s what the muscles in my legs are telling me today!
ncluding myself, who are not used to having someone else carry your heavy trekking sack, it is difficult to hand over the weight and burden of carrying such a load to another person, or a complete stranger for that matter. But, one must realize that these jobs represent the livelihood of many people.
e humming of our national anthem, from a ‘kiwi’ who had arrived the previous night and with whom I chatted for quite awhile into the evening. Dave was his name, and he was about to head back to New Zealand on Monday and thought he might have enough time to squeeze in a nice hike.