Mt Kenya

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Mt. Kenya National Park is located to the east of the Great Rift Valley, about 109miles North-East of Nairobi.  The ecosystem lies in Central and Eastern provinces of Kenya.  At 5,199m the mountain is the second highest peak in Africa. Mt. Kenya is an important water tower in the country. It provides water for about 50% of the country’s population and produces 70% of Kenya’s hydroelectric power.
UNESCO inscribed Mount Kenya as a World Heritage Site. It’s described as one of the most impressive landscapes in Eastern Africa with its rugged glacier-clad summits, Afro-alpine moorlands and diverse forests that illustrate outstanding ecological processes.
Mt. Kenya Forest is famous the world over. Tropical mountain forest reserve surrounds this area. You will find montane vegetation in this place. Podocarpus and groundsel grow here. You will be left spellbound by the wildlife environment when you visit this Park. It is the equatorial snow.

Attractions and Activities
Game viewing: Game drives are designed to take you close to the wildlife rich spots in the Mount Kenya National Park. This gives you an opportunity to view wild animals in their natural habitat as they go about their daily activities.
Game drives are often done in the morning and late afternoon. Early morning game drives start just before sunrise, when one is woken up to a cup of steaming hot Kenyan highland coffee. As the sun rises, you are out on the savannah, taking in the fresh smell of the moist grasses and observing the scenic nature and it’s amazing wildlife. Afternoon game drives start late afternoon ending just before the darkness fall upon Mount Kenya.
You are accompanied by your driver-guide knowledgeable about the flora, fauna, landscape, and Kenyan culture.
Night game viewing at a tree lodge: Mount Kenya National Park is also famous for its tree-house lodge – Serena Mountain Lodge. With walkways and accommodation raised into the forest canopy, you can watch animals from a unique vantage point. Positioned by waterholes and natural salt licks, animals provide constant entertainment and seem undisturbed by the stream of curious visitors, some of whom stay up all night to catch sightings of shy animals by floodlight.

The People
To the Kikuyu, Bantu-speaking people who migrated to the foothills of Mount Kenya in the 1500s, the mountain is a sacred place and a central part of their creation myth. According to tribal legend, their god Ngai created Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya), “the mountain of brightness,” as an earthly dwelling place from which to survey his creation and bestow blessings and punishment upon his people. He granted Gikuyu, the founder of the Kikuyu tribe, a share of the rich land below the mountain and took him to the top to survey it. Ngai instructed Gikuyu that if he was ever in need, he should make a sacrifice and raise his hands toward Kirinyaga, and Ngai would come to his aid. He also pointed out a grove of fig trees, which Kikuyu today regard as sacred, and commanded him to establish a homestead there. When Gikuyu arrived at the spot, he found that Ngai had provided him with a wife, Mumbi. The couple produced nine daughters but no sons, so, following Ngai’s command, they made a sacrifice toward Kirinyaga and were granted nine young men to marry their daughters and perpetuate the Kikuyu tribes.

How to Get There
By Road: 109 miles from Nairobi, the park can be reached on Nanyuki-Isiolo road via Sirimon Track or Nyeri-Nanyuki road near Naro Moru. The park is also reachable via Chogoria on the Embu - Meru road, about 93 miles north of Nairobi.
By Air: The closest commercial airstrip to the park is at Nanyuki.