Mount Kenya climb
| country: | Kenya |
| location: | Mount Kenya |
| trip type: | High altitude, strenuous trekking holidays |
| departures: | 2008: 7 Sep, 21 Sep, 5 Oct, 19 Oct |
| price: | From US $1235 (7 days) excluding flights, on regular scheduled small group departures. Trips can be also booked to depart on any date to suit you |
read 1 travellers review
the amazing things you'll be doing
This trek uses the gentlest but longest ascent on the mountain.
With our own huts and an additional acclimatisation day high up at Shipton's Camp - it's also the most beautiful. The 3 million year old Mt Kenya volcano has been eroded by ice to produce spectacular chasms, jagged peaks, tarns and waterfalls. Passing up through montane forest, bamboo and heather zones we follow the Mackinder Valley with its "Star Trek" vegetation of giant groundsel and lobelias. Glaciers surround the peaks and you walk through a stark and desolate moonscape of lava and scree to a sunrise on the Point Lenana summit.
The descent on Chogoria route down the Gorges Valley is stunning, and you get more time to enjoy it on the way down as you are not struggling to make the more difficult climb up that way. You can combine this trip with the Kilimanjaro trek, lasting a total of 14 days.
With our own huts and an additional acclimatisation day high up at Shipton's Camp - it's also the most beautiful. The 3 million year old Mt Kenya volcano has been eroded by ice to produce spectacular chasms, jagged peaks, tarns and waterfalls. Passing up through montane forest, bamboo and heather zones we follow the Mackinder Valley with its "Star Trek" vegetation of giant groundsel and lobelias. Glaciers surround the peaks and you walk through a stark and desolate moonscape of lava and scree to a sunrise on the Point Lenana summit.
The descent on Chogoria route down the Gorges Valley is stunning, and you get more time to enjoy it on the way down as you are not struggling to make the more difficult climb up that way. You can combine this trip with the Kilimanjaro trek, lasting a total of 14 days.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Drive from Nairobi to our hotel on the western slopes of Mt Kenya. Options for horse riding, fishing and forest natural history walk in afternoon. Here at 2,000m you begin acclimatisation as you relax and prepare for the trek. |
| Day 2: | Trek up through magnificent montane forests, bamboo and giant heather zones before reaching the high altitude moorland and our first hut, “Old Moses” at 3,340m. This first day’s gentle trek takes 3-4 hours and climbs 690m |
| Day 3: | Up the spectacular Mackinder Valley past strange giant groundsel and lobelia plants to emerge onto what looks like a set from Star Trek - Shipton’s Camp at 4,236m. This is a surreal setting below the towering peaks and glaciers, with its resident populations of bizarre rock hyrax and beautiful sunbirds. |
| Day 4: | For better acclimatisation you can take a rest day at Shipton's. Short walks possible on the summit circuit here. We normally climb about 370m to Hausberg Col before returning for lunch. Climbing high and sleeping low is excellent for acclimatisation - but you can do that almost as well lounging in the sun watching the eagles! |
| Day 5: | Early start to reach Pt Lenana at 4,895m for sunrise. The climb starts on frozen scree and continues on a rocky track with some very minor scrambling. With a good moon you barely need a torch. Without a moon, then the pollution-free sky, bang on the equator, gives you as good a view of the stars as almost anywhere on Earth. The climb takes between 3 and 5 hours and to add to the exhileration Kilimanjaro is usually visible on the horizon. |
| Day 6: | Gentle hike down a broad ridge enjoying magnificent views back up the valley to the snowy peaks, and down to waterfalls, tarns and lava flows in the Gorges Valley itself. Wildlife viewing possible in evening with elephant and buffalo often grazing outside our cabins and a large numbers of forest and moorland birds. |
| Day 7: | Descent on a broad track through bamboo and virgin rain forest to meet vehicles for the return to Nairobi - usually arriving mid to late afternoon. |
travellers' tales
We managed to summit Mt Kenya and the views from the top were absolutely awesome!! The National Park is surely hikers paradise. Secondly we enjoyed the safari in the Masai Mara, managed to see massive amount of wildlife. Guess that the lion cubs must have been the best.
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how this holiday makes a difference
 This long but gentle trek is more expensive than shorter climbs but we believe good acclimatisation is a responsible approach, as your enjoyment, satisfaction, and achievement should take priority over a cheap, stressful and possibly dangerous climb. It is very rarely that climbers do not make the Point Lenana summit this way.All our guides are qualified and certified by the National Park operating authorities and we enjoy an excellent relationship with them, built up over many years working together. They adhere strictly to the codes of conduct set out by the Park authority. They have training in First Aid and treatment of altitude sickness. They carry radios and/or mobile 'phones. Our staff are paid well above average wages and have contracts of employment with agreed conditions of service. (Often porters and guides on Mt Kenya receive little or sometimes no pay, prepared to work just for a tip from the clients. Or they carry double loads - earning more money but compromising your enjoyment as the porters are stressed and arrive late or throw food and rubbish away to lighten the loads.) We provide good equipment for carrying loads, all food and hut accommodation on the mountain. We also offer insights into the way of life of the Kikuyu people living on the lower slopes of the mountain - so many trekkers just drive past without any appreciation of the fascinating culture there. Our Kenyan Director (Patrick Wanjohi) was born here and he can arrange visits to farms, local villages (with home-stays), schools and clinics - all providing an income those people directly. We provide our clients with advice on responsible travel behaviour and encourage them to share their cultures with the peoples they meet as a way of improving understanding of our two very different life-styles. With the exception of the overheads for a small UK office - all of the money paid for the safaris remains in Kenya - with Kenyans. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |