Lonely Planet Kenya
Travel Report
The Kakamega Forest
Planning the Mt Kenya Trek
Naro Moru route to the summit
Descending the Sirimon route
Lake Naivasha & Nairobi
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Travel Notes
Nanyuki
Nairobi
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Mt Kenya
Kakamega and Naivasha
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Travel notes from Nairobi
Hi Everyone,
I delayed my trek up Mt Kenya for a few days because I went down with a 48 hour bug, nothing serious but I certainly didn't want to be up a mountain unless I was feeling 100% fit. Therefore, I spent my days hanging out at the Mt Kenya Hostel, which was a very nice, quiet and peaceful place to spend a bit of time. I organised my trek with Joseph, the manager at the hostel, for US$300. That included a guide who could cook, a porter, plus all the food, national park fees and accommodation in the bunkhouses on the mountain and transport to and from the park gates.
Instead of going up and down the mountain along the same route I decided to go up along the Naro Moru route on the western flank of the mountain and come down the Sirimon route on the northern flank of the mountain. This gave me a traverse of the mountain via Point Lenana of approx. 50km. We set off on Wednesday last week, the first day being an easy three-hour hike through the forest from the Naro Moru park gate to the bunkhouse at the Met Station. This covered a distance of 10km and an ascent of 1000m to an altitude of 3048m. To help avoid altitude sickness it is only recommended that you ascend 1000m a day, so there weren't any really long days walking, although the higher we went the more difficult it became due to the lack of oxygen.
Day two was a much harder day. The climb was much steeper and we soon left the forest behind and were crossing open moorland to the next bunkhouse at Mackinders Camp, altitude 4200m. It took 5 hours to cover the 10km and 1150m ascent. The camp is in a beautifully remote location at the head of a valley with the peaks of the mountain towering above us. The altitude was very noticeable, it was almost like being on the moon; the surrounding scenery was like a moonscape and everyone was walking very slowly. The dry atmosphere dried my nose out and during the night I was having problems breathing and getting enough air into my lungs. I kept waking up feeling short of breath and my head aching, a sign of altitude sickness.
We aimed to get to Point Lenana for sunrise, which meant starting our climb up the steep scree slopes around the mountain at 03.30 in the morning. During the night the wind had picked up and by 03.00 it was blowing a gale; it sounded like the roof of the bunkhouse was being blown off. At 03.30 I felt pretty bad from the lack of oxygen while I had tried to sleep and also scared at the strength of the wind. We set off though into the dark and after about a kilometre I had to stop and vomit, my head pounding and aching as though I had a hangover; I really thought that that was as far as I would go and that the altitude had beaten me. We continued though, stopping to catch our breath and drink every 15-20 minutes; the more I walked, the better I felt, as I was able to breath deeply through my mouth. I was breathing well and soon managed to get enough oxygen into the system to continue the climb, the pain in my head abating.
We took it one step at a time, only looking as far as the torch beam lit the way and plodded up the scree slope, occasionally stopping while a gust of wind blew dust and grit into our faces. By sunrise we had reached the Austrian Hut, which was being battered by the fierce wind blowing over the ridge. My water tube from my drinking bottle in my pack had frozen solid by now; it was very cold. It took 40 minutes from here to reach the summit, scrambling up steep rocks with the Lewis Glacier snaking its way down the mountain to our left and the ridge to our right with the wind relentlessly howling over it. We reached the summit, 4985m, at 07.00 and marvelled at the view around us before descending the north face and hiking down more scree slopes to reach Shiptons Camp, 4300m, at 09.30. We rested for the rest of the day at Shiptons and then walked the next day 13km to Old Moses Camp descending 890m in the progress. The final day was an easy 9km walk to the Sirimon gate back in the forest, which surrounds the mountain.
It was sad to leave the Mt Kenya Hostel and Naro Moru, it had become like a second home and I had got to know a lot of the local people; even the taxi drivers would stop and joke with me. I headed on towards Nairobi stopping for a couple of nights at Fishermans Camp on the shores of Lake Naivasha. Hells Gate NP is nearby and is one of the only parks in Kenya you can walk in without taking a ranger. So I went off hiking for the day to Hells Gate Gorge. It was quite bizarre to be hiking past herds of zebra and gazelles as well as the odd giraffe and a troop of baboons.
Finally I've made it to Nairobi. I'm only planning to stay here a couple of nights before I take a bus down to Dar Es Salaam to meet a friend at the airport on Saturday who will be spending 3 weeks with me trekking in Tanzania.
Regards
Geoff.
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