Mount Kenya National Park

Mount Kenya National Park (715 Sq. Km).

“Come touch the sky.” climbing to 5,199 meters, Mount Kenya is the second tallest mountain in Africa and the only spot in the world where snow is found on the Equator. The snow-capped mountain was first brought to the world’s knowledge by the German Missionary, Ludwig Kraft who was the first white man to see and record it in December 1849. His report of the snow-capped mountain on the equator was derided by his contemporary geographers including Dr. Livingstone, until Joseph Thompson confirmed it in 1883.

The scenery surrounding this designated World Heritage Site is breath-taking. It is pristine wilderness with lakes, tarns, glaciers, dense forest, mineral springs and a selection of rare and endangered species of animals, high altitude adapted plains game and unique montane and alpine vegetation. Visitors can enjoy mountain climbing, camping and caving with the mountain’s rugged glacier-clad peaks providing the perfect backdrop, wildlife including Elephants, tree hyrax, white tailed mongoose, suni, black fronted duiker, mole rat, bushbucks, water buck and Elands. Animals rarely seen include leopard, bongo, giant forest hog and over 130 bird species have been recorded.

In December 1949, the Mountain was made a National Park whose boundaries cover nearly all the area above the 11,000 ft. contour line plus two lower salients at Sirimon and Naro Moru. The Park thus protects and preserves large sections of the mountain forests and bamboo thickets with their varied wildlife, the alpine moorlands, glaciers, tarns and glacial moraines.