Mount Kenya is Africa’s second-highest mountain and might just be its most beautiful. The scenery surrounding this designated World Heritage site is breathtaking. The wilderness is perfect and Mount Kenya peaks are of great beauty. It is pristine with lakes, tarns, glaciers, dense forests and mineral springs. The montane and alpine vegetation here is unique, with a wide variety of wildlife which includes elephants, tree hyrax, white-tailed mongoose, black-fronted duikers, bushbucks, waterbucks, leopards, black rhinos and buffaloes. It is also an excellent destination for bird watchers.
It is an ancient extinct volcano. There are 12 remnant glaciers on the mountain, all receding rapidly, and four secondary peaks that sit at the head of the U-shaped glacial valleys.
With its rugged glacier-clad summits and forested middle slopes, this mountain is one of the most impressive landscapes in East Africa. The park hosts approximately 20 lakes and tarns. Three major peaks dot the mountainous scenes. These are; Batian (5,199m) & Nelion (5,188m). The two are mainly for visitors interested in technical climbing activities. The third peak is Point Lenana (4,984m).
The scenery and ecological formations surrounding this World Heritage Site are breathtakingly beautiful. The Park is also a Biosphere Reserve.
Mount Kenya has shaped the cultures of groups who live around it. The Kikuyu tribe are agriculturalists who live on the southern and western sides of the mountain, and they revere Mount Kenya as the sacred throne of their god, Ngai. The Kikuyu used to design their houses with doors that faced the hallowed mountain.
In 1978, the Kenyan Government established a national park around Mount Kenya to boost tourism in the area and conserve the nation’s biodiversity. The park is surrounded by a forest reserve and both areas became UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1997.
Mount Kenya National Park encompasses several landscapes, including alpine rivers, forests, and mountain slopes across its surface area of 715 km²
