Climbing Mt. Kenya

Mt. Kenya is situated nearly at the equator and with 5.200 m it's one of the highest African peaks, second only to Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro lies a few hundred km to the south and can be seen from Mt. Kenya in good visibility.
People who want to climb to the top, will usually take at least four days for the hike. I only had two days... So I had to hurry! I left Nairobi in the morning and I arrived to Naromoru village in the afternoon. It is not that easy to travel in a matatu, a van made for eight people, with almost 20 persons on board. But I enjoyed great views of Mt. Kenya during the entire trip! As we were getting closer, it was more and more apparent: this mountain is enormous! It rose proudly above the Kenyan plateau and glaciers could be seen on top. Once in Naromoru, I found a guide, a local guy named Stanley. Stanley, this will not be easy: I plan to be back to Naromoru in less than two days! We boarded a 4WD that took us to the entrance to Mt. Kenya national park, at 2.000 m. It wasn't an easy ride! But from now on, the going would be even tougher. We had to go 3.000 m up and down in a very limited time. We only had a couple hours of daylight left, so we hurried up to the base camp and stayed in a nice hut for the night. The altitude was 3.000 m. The lower part of the trail is frequented by elephants, we heard some noises, but didn't meet any.

Next morning we started early. I was up before Stanley, eager to proceed. This was a big day! The plan was to go to the Mackinder's camp, have lunch, go to the top of Point Lenana and then return back to Mackinder's. 2.000 meters up and 1.000 down. We reached Mackinder's after slightly more than 3 hours. That was a good pace, although my legs started to hurt. We stayed at Mackinder's for a while and in the afternoon, we continued to the top. After a steep climb, we reached the Austrian hut. This is the highest point for many hikers, who don't want to challenge the final part to Point Lenana. We didn't stop much, and soon we were at the Pt. Lenana! The final part was not easy, on top of that Stanley missed the trail a bit. Instead of going up the ridge, we ended up crawling on the edge of the glacier. That was slippery and fairly dangerous! But we made it anyway.
The top was shrouded in clouds, so there wasn't really a good view. We should be there in the morning, when the skies are clear, but we couldn't do that: we planned to be back to Naromoru in the morning... We returned back to Mackinder's late in the afternoon and took a good rest after a busy day. I was strolling around the hut for hours, relaxing and enjoying the magic of the place. Sun was setting and the mighty peaks, Nellion, Battion and Lenana were just nearby!
I woke up at 4:30am, Stanley fixed a meal and then we departed. It was still dark as we left, with only moonlight shining brightly and illuminating the towering peaks. Temperature was below freezing, but that was soon to change, as the sun rose. Another beautiful day, without a cloud in sight! After a couple of hours of fast and tough descend, we were back at the park entrance, waiting for the lift to Naromoru. Stanley was as exhausted as I was, this was not the usual pace for him either!
Once in Naromoru, we had a couple of beers (Tusker!) and then I took a matatu back to Nairobi. 48 hours after I left Nairobi, I was there again, fairly tired but fully satisfied. Now I am waiting eagerly for the next chance to challenge the mountain, this time from the Chogoria side!

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