Mount Kenya Guide

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In 1849 Ludwig Krapf, returned to Germany with tales of a great snow covered mountain in Africa. He was ridiculed...snow and Africa, it just didn't add up. What he had 'discovered' was Mt. Kenya, at 5199m it is Africa's second highest mountain, narrowly beaten by Tanzania 's Mt Kilimanjaro. Straddling the equator, it rises out of a sea of savannah grassland providing some of the most exotic hiking and technical climbing challenges on the planet. For the Kikuyu people the mountain is the home to their god - Ngai, and minimum impact tourism is encouraged, as their slogan 'The mountain may change you - do not change the mountain' suggests.

Mt. Kenya has been designated a national park for its astonishing diversity of ecosystems. As the altitude rises it moves through, grassland, gallery forest, bamboo, heath, giant Lobelia(an otherworldly succulent) before reaching its crown of 11 permanent glaciers.

The GORP site provides a solid introduction to this fascinating mountain; with a taste of what it's like to make the climb with a narrative by Karen Berger(you have to register to get the whole story, although it is free).

gorp.away.com

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