You may call it Kenya’s tower. You may refer to it as the place where you can touch the sky. You can even know it as the place where God resides.
These are but a few ways to think about, or describe Mount Kenya.
The Embu, Kikuyu, and Meru communities are recorded as the first groups to settle on the slopes and areas surrounding Mount Kenya. Migration ultimately informed the settlement and population growth around this majestic mountain. But the fertile soils and water availability are the reasons these communities stayed in the area, taking up agricultural practices. Eventually, these Mount Kenya communities came to be known as farmers and livestock keepers.
The biodiversity on the mountain is likely another reason these communities remained in the region. For starters, the flora and fauna vary as one ascends the mountain, and at its peak is a blanket of snow – God’s residence. Mount Kenya’s peaks are Batian (5,199 metres), Nelion (5,188 metres), and Point Lenana (4,985 metres).
While the three communities enjoyed the greatness of the mountain, it wasn’t until the 19th century that Mount Kenya achieved global fame. It started in 1849 when German missionary, Ludwig Krapf, spotted Mount Kenya from 160 kilometres away in Kitui. As a westerner in foreign territory, he opted to record his sightings and information from local communities about the mountain. In 1883, another explorer – Joseph Thomson – travelled within the Mount Kenya region and confirmed Krapf’s claim. In 1893, a team led by British geologist Dr. John W. Gregory scaled the mountain to 4,730 metres, and on his return to Britain, Gregory published papers sharing about the expedition – which undoubtedly focused on the mountain. As information continued to spread, more European explorers made their way to the majestic mountain with the aim of trekking to the summit. Gradually, this mountain region was coming to be seen as one of East Africa’s most impressive landscapes.
The mountain’s proximity to the equator means that dusk can ascend rapidly, about an hour and a half after the sunset. And despite the high altitude sickness that some climbers have experienced in the past, it hasn’t deterred adventurers from wanting to explore Kenya’s heritage mountain.
The mountain’s summit is surrounded by a park: The Mount Kenya National Park. Established and gazetted in 1949, this park was designed to protect the mountain and its heavenly natural features including glaciers, lakes and tarns, the natural forest at the base of the mountain, and the different wildlife species living in the area. (2,800 sq km) In 1978 the area was listed among the International Biosphere Reserves, making it a protected area for the conservation of plants and animals. Nineteen years later, in 1997, UNESCO listed Mount Kenya as a World Heritage Site. This was largely due to the mountain’s remarkable geology.
However, by the turn of the century, the Mount Kenya Forest had experienced massive destruction. Frustrated by this and eager to champion for conservation, in 2007 a group of Kenyan youth came together to rehabilitate the Forest and formed ‘Save Mount Kenya Forest from Extinction’. In addition to rehabilitation efforts, the group worked towards promoting farm forestry so that communities surrounding the Forest can stop relying on the forest for products. In 2015 the initiative took on a new name, becoming the Mount Kenya Environmental Conservation. Want to engage with this team and be part of their projects? Engage with them on their website.