Mt Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak after Kilimanjaro, is located in Kenya a few hours north of Nairobi. A slightly shorter trek than Kili, Mt Kenya’s least technical summit, Point Lenana 4985m can be reached in just 3 days, however, a more realistic time frame for the trek in and out is 5 days.

It is advisable to hire a guide and porters as they know the route best and you not only get a cook, you get someone to carry your heavier gear and provide employment for locals. It is also a reasonable charge. We found our guide, Dunstan Muene via http://www.toursbylocals.com – a company we have used several times and can highly recommend. He organised everything including our transport from Nairobi.

We started on the popular Sirimon route, accessible just out of the township of Nanyuki (supplies can be bought here) at an altitude of 2600m. There were tantalising glimpses of Mt Kenya as we drove up to the gate. The porters did all the packing and all we needed was to manage our day packs.

Day one is a steady 9km hike up to Old Moses Camp, nothing too difficult and largely on a graded road. Every now and then you are reminded of where you are – at one point a family of baboons burst out of the bushes, bounded up the road ahead of us, then cut into the trees – magic. The camp is a fairly basic structure but still with flushing loos. There are beds with mattresses and wooden tables with long benches. Dunstan suggests we walk up the hill a couple of hundred metres, just to help with adjusting to the altitude of 3300m.

Day two is longer – 14km up and down, winding up the valley towards Shipton’s Camp. This section has some breathtaking scenery, wide open plains (we see a family of elephants in the distance) interesting plant life and moody cliff faces. There are also some steep sections that will test your fitness – pole pole (slowly, slowly in Swahili) is the only way to go as you are also dealing with altitude – Shipton’s is at 4300m. If you are unsure of how you will respond to altitude, taking a medication such as Diamox is recommended, though you should be monitoring each other as altitude sickness is potentially fatal and the best fix is to go down.

Shipton’s Camp is busy; there are even school groups. Everyone is off early to bed as the start for the summit is best done in the early hours of the morning. We didn’t have an acclimatisation day here but in retrospect, would highly recommend it if you have time – that or just climbing to one of the huts around the summit rim and spending a night there before pushing on.

2:30am sees us up, dressed, fed and packed ready for the steep walk up the gravel scree slope in the dark with only head torches to light your way. At an average of about 30 degrees, with some steeper sections, you frequently are taking two steps and sliding back one. It is very, very slow going – just one foot in front of the other – until finally, just as the dawn is breaking, we reach the lake at the foot of the summit section. Here we pause for a cup of tea. The Point Lenana summit is another hour of climbing – the other two, taller summits require technical climbing ability.

From the summit, most groups return the way they have come but once again, if you have the time, there is a more scenic route. Dunstan chose for us to follow the Chogoria valley out to Mt Kenya Lodge (a lot less grand than it sounds). From the top, we head carefully down a loose scree slope into a landscape out of a western movie. It’s a two hour walk to Mintos Hut, which is nothing more than a tin shed really, where we finally eat breakfast. From here it is still 16km to the lodge. Camping here would be a good choice but you would need your own tent. I wish we had stopped as the walk out from the hut to the road head is quite simply some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen – reminiscent of Yosemite Valley – but I was too exhausted to fully enjoy it.

Once at Mt Kenya Lodge – basic accommodation with single beds, wooden floors and showers that are heated by wood fires and are oh so sweet after the long walk – it is a further 7km walk to the passable road out to Chogoria township, which is another 23km away. If needed, 4wds can reach the lodge but it requires detours to get past mud and bog, cutting bamboo and at times, having the driver walk ahead of the vehicle. It’s a not to be missed adventure.

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