I began looking into a trip to East Africa with a focus on doing Kilimanjaro months prior to actually buying plane tickets. As I researched the area I discovered that Kili was probably over promoted, and that Mt Kenya offered a more interesting alternative.
Kilimanjaro also required you to hire a guide and porters; you would not be able to enter the park without a registered guide. With that, I planned my vacation to begin with a five day trek up Mt. Kenya. The following is what I was able to glean from a journal I kept during the trip.
Arrival in Nairobi
Arriving in any Third World country virtually always involves getting screwed by some tout at the airport. In this case his name was Fred, the first of two Kenyan Freds I was to meet. Fred took me into the city and then from hotel to hotel until I found one that was satisfactory. In the long run, you’re better off having a local to show you around. Not only will you get to your destination faster it serves to keep other potential hustlers away. In any event, after a long flight that began very early in the morning I was interested in getting into a room with a bed and a shower; in that order.
So, it’s mid-June and I’m in a hotel room in downtown Nairobi; the Ambassador. A few days earlier I began in Vancouver Canada with a couple of days in Amsterdam to shake off some of the jet lag before heading south to Kenya. The main focus of this trip is a five day trek up to Point Lenana on Mount Kenya, the highest mountain in the country and second only to Kilimanjaro in all of Africa.
Everyone has heard of Mt Kilimanjaro and about twenty thousand tourists a year walk to the summit. Kili is just under twenty thousand feet at the top; Mt. Kenya is over seventeen thousand feet (5199 meters). My planned destination on the mountain is Point Lenana which, at 4985 meters (16351 Ft) above sea level, is the highest point on Mt. Kenya you can get to without technical climbing or requiring special equipment.
Aside from being considerably less traveled than Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya is a far more interesting trek in terms of the terrain and the spectacular views along some of the approaches. If you’re a climber, there’s opportunities to ascend Point Batien, the highest point on the mountain, just bring your own gear.
Having arrived, my plan is to first make contact with a guide I’d been in touch with from Canada and begin a five day walk, three days up and one down, beginning tomorrow!
First Contact: Meeting with the Guide
My preferred mode of travel would have been to go without a guide, but I only had a few weeks here and didn’t want to risk not meeting another traveler to go with and solo in a country where the animals have been known to eat people seemed unwise.
Failing that, I requested a guide with no porters. I wanted to carry my own pack up the hill but soon found that this was not an option. No guide would do it with less than himself and one porter for each of us. My solo trek would consist of a party of four. The main reason the porters are needed is the lack of small, lightweight, freeze dried food. We packed a couple of rather large stoves and fresh meat and vegetables for four people over four full days; very heavy.
The route we would be taking was up Chogoria route from Chogoria village and down Naru Moru route. The plan was to drive first to Chogoria village where we would arrange four wheel drive transport to the park gate, have lunch and acquire the services of a second porter. The 4X4 ride from Chogoria village to the park gate was to get us there in time to have an evening meal and make camp for the night. The next morning we were to begin the trek.
The first stop was to be Minto Hut then Austrian Hut. From there we would summit and return along Naru Moru route to Met Station where we would overnight. From Met Station we would head to the park gate near Naru Moru village and meet our ride and be back in Nairobi by early afternoon.
In any event, I managed to call up my guide and we met and discussed the following morning’s rendezvous. We briefly went over what I needed to bring, what food I would or would not eat, and arranged to meet the next morning at 10:00 am.
That was the plan, here’s what actually happened.