Mount Kenya
Updated: 3 days ago
From February 25 to March 7, my friend Melika and I blitzed through a good chunk of Kenya; from the "organized chaos" of Nairobi to its third highest peak on Mount Kenya. The short visit rushed me with fond memories and pure escape. Though I’d never been to the East African country, it was immediately reminiscent of my unforgettable time in Tanzania exploring language, culture, and, of course, being out of place.
It began and finished at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, a short Uber from the city centre of Nairobi (Uber was cheaper, don't get swayed by the cat calling cabbies at the airport exit). Though I thought Melika and I would be together from start to finish, it turned out his flight arrived the day after mine and so I ran solo for the first 24 hours. Settling into our hostel just after midnight, I quickly drifted off to sleep. I woke early to the included breakfast of chapati, egg, watermelon and tea. We didn’t have a proper coffee until the final day when Melika broke out his scale, hand grinder, and some beans we’d acquired along the way.
As you magically do in hostels, you make fast friends. Mathi is from Germany and Jackie is from Uganda, and we set off to explore the city. Uhuru Park, a massive green strip in the middle of Nairobi was first on the list, a short 75p/$1.25 boda boda ride away (available on Uber!). The Mau Mau uprising is memorialized there too. I excitedly put my African Studies hat on, eager to tell Mathi and Jackie that my partner wrote her dissertation on the 1950s uprising.
My new friends went back to the hostel to relax and I found myself exploring Nairobi on my own. I wandered down from the park towards the Central Business District (or CBD as its known). Someone told me (somewhat seriously) that all roads in Kenya lead to CBD, though the once focal financial region of the city has become slightly fragmented as the Kenyan capital expands ever outward.
I went to visit the Kenyan National Archives, but was side tracked by the Nairobi Gallery, opened in 2005 using collections donated by the late Joseph and Sheila Murumbi. Joseph was the first Kenyan Foreign Minister, but later left politics to pursue his love of art. 15 minutes down the road and one heckle later I arrived at KNA. Many tourist attractions require you to use a government "eCitizen" portal which was set up in 2014 and let's you pay for museums, income tax, immigration services and more. It can be a bit of a pain, as I discovered at KNA, so I paid the clerk with 200 shillings in cash after some convincing. It showcases history from across the African continent, and has a quiet reading room upstairs where visitors can request to view items from their catalogue.
Just when I thought I'd wind down for the evening after picking up a few road side samosas and mystery meat balls I can't find the name of, I get a text from Mathi and Jackie that we've been put on the guest list for an MMA fight since a group at the hostel had come in from DRC, Tanzania and other parts of Kenya to compete because of its proximity to the venue (The Alchemist). Sure, why not. Most of our guys lost, but one happened to be from Toronto training in Tanzania and won (his first MMA fight no less). Mandem. We topped off the evening with a local street food delicacy: Smokie Pasua (a tiny hot dog sliced in the middle filled with red onion, tomato and chilli). Come on.
Melika arrived at midnight to my relief, and we had a bewildering, jet lagged and joyous catch up.
We set off early the next morning to get Melika a SIM card (I got one at the airport which I'd recommend - SAFARICOM is open there 24hrs and can also help you set up MPesa, the local and virtually universally adopted e-payment system, also a must). Collins (a friend of Paul - more on him to come) and his buddy Victor drove from Chuka to bring us back with them as we began our journey towards Mount Kenya. "My Heart Will Go On" started crackling through the car as quickly as it stopped by way of Collins's ringtone. We liked this guy already.
Our trip was not without a mandatory stop to get what I'd been craving since 2019 in Tanzania: nyama choma (spice-rubbed goat or beef roast over an open flame). We stopped near Wamumu and the four of us indulged in 1.5kg of delicious goodness.
A few hours later we were in Chuka Town at Paul's house, a friend I made while working in Cambridge. It was a pure delight to be re-united with Paul, and for Melika and I to meet his lovely family. Chemu, Paul's wife, made us the best pumpkin chapatis known to man. Their warm hospitality humbled us.
Now, we reach the first day of our trek. After a leisurely breakfast and a stop by Paul and Chemu's church to greet their friends, we drove to Chogoria with Collins (who joined us for the hike) which is one of three entrances to Mount Kenya National Park. There, we met our company organizer, Mzee Moja (#1 Elder in Swahili), he kindly bought us a hefty lunch, Collins (pictured in orange below) showed us how to eat 'traditional mangoes', and then off we went.
We picked up a few of our crew members on the way to the park gate in our white 4x4 land cruiser - they're all local guys who grew up on Mount Kenya's doorstep. After registering at the gate we began our ascent. 20 minutes into the drive up, we stopped and the three of us got out to start our first acclimatization walk with our guide, Mzee Njeru. Slowly, we clawed our way up 6km to our first campsite at 2900m of elevation (Nairobi is at about 1500m). The expanse of Anabas Lodge, our home for the evening, was breathtaking. We bummed around the campsite, had some dinner (our cook was amazing, shout out Nicholas), and then went to the common lodge for a beer. While drinking a lukewarm Tusker, one of the other campers burst in yelling "ELEPHANT OUTSIDE". Naturally the room erupted in excited panic. It was pitch black outside so one of the porters shined his flashlight on the elephant as it grazed 30 feet from us.
The next morning we woke to a gorgeous sunrise, our first sighting of Point Lenana (the peak we were to travel to) and a group of Waterbucks sitting around the campsite. Melika, Collins, Mzee Njeru and I set off relatively early in pursuit of Lake Ellis, our campsite that evening. Along the way we passed Nithi falls and its nearby cave system. We all felt the altitude change for the first time that day and, combined with the early afternoon heat, our energy waned. Lake Ellis, sitting at 3500m, reached our sights mid afternoon and after dropping our stuff off we all quickly fell into a siesta.
The evening was spent around the campfire with all our porters. We acquired a few more guys at Lake Ellis as it's the last place you can reach by car and some of our gear was sent with them after we jumped out not far after the gate. Around the fire we spoke about our day, politics, food and the odd funny story from Melika. In our group there was Mzee Njeru (our guide), Nicholas (the cook), Samuel, Colins (son of Mzee Moja), Edwin (nephew of Mzee Moja), Timon, Edward, Dennis, and Mike. We learned that, for many of them, being a porter was a fun side hustle but the money sucks.
Day 3 of our trek began early. By 7:30 we had eaten breakfast in the company of some exuberant little black birds, our porters were already packing down the site, and off we went. This was the most scenic day as we rose through the clouds for the first time and watched the vegetation shift from dry succulents to wildly varying plants and trees in response to coldening weather.
Mintos Hut, set at 4300m, was our goal that day. We stopped to enjoy our packed lunch en route at a crossroads leading down to the other park entrances. Shortly after we sat down two Irish women and their guide arrived and we exchanged pleasantries before they swiftly carried on.
The fog became thick and our varying fitness levels led us to trail each other by up to 30m, just enough to keep the next in eye sight. Slightly delirious, we sang Celine Dion to distract from the queasiness and soreness of our endeavour, and to egg a struggling Collins on to reach that day's endpoint.
An early start meant an early finish. We achieved Mintos Hut by 1:30. Now this was an eery place. A shanty hut amid still fog, hugged loosely by rolling rock hills. Collins immediately went down for a rest (our porters had already arrived and set up our camp), while Melika and I set off to explore. The combination of lack of sight, wintery air (we wore puffer jackets now), silence - less the light sound of running water - and mild altitude sickness made for a bewildering investigation of the surrounding area.
Bedtime after getting to Mintos was slated for 7pm ahead of a 2am start to the summit. I don't remember any of us struggling to sleep after the taxing few days we already endured. A quick breakfast and we were out by 2:30.
Pitch black, head lamps on, ponchos covering us head to toe. We trekked through mud, which soon turned to snow, which quickly turned to ice. Each step grew more difficult and some of us had to turn back. We saw other groups stopped in their tracks with dizziness. Being told some people don't make it to the top and seeing it happen are two very different things. The altitude sickness smacks you: a combination of stomach pain and headache. Only the adrenaline of reaching the top keeps you going. Mzee Njeru, in all is wise glory and speed, led us to the summit without batting an eyelid. Although we didn't get a sunrise that morning, our pride was victory enough. It was 6:30 and it felt like we'd been awake forever (see facial expressions below).
The descent poses different challenges. While you use your calves and hamstrings to climb, your quads are what stop you from sliding down. My bad knee took a beating that day, but not before we gleefully skipped down a few hundred feet after the the ice. We got back to Mintos at 9am with a steaming 'English' style breakfast waiting for us. I could barely eat or speak from the fatigue. Slowly I came to and we made back for Road's End near the base of the mountain. By 2pm we were in our Land Rover back to Chuka. Just like that Mount Kenya was in our rear view.
After a long sleep we had a day out in Chuka. Paul took us to a lecture at his University (the introductions were so long that we had to leave before it started). We picked up his boys from school, visited Chemu at her shop, had more nyama choma with Collins, his wife Esther and their son Liam. He showed us his semi-finished mansion of a home nearby.
The next day we spent the morning relaxing at Paul and Chemu's place. To send us off to Nairobi, Paul organized Collins to collect two saplings to plant in his garden to remember us. Melika and I were floored with gratitude.
With that, we said goodbye to our lovely hosts in Chuka and jumped in the car to go back to Nairobi with Victor and Collins. We stopped at the same choma zone on the way back, more for the vibe than anything as we had a huge breakfast.
Back in Nairobi, Melika treated me to a 360 degree revolving restaurant called The View to celebrate our summit feat. It was a far cry from slumming it with three people in a two-person tent for four days. Despite the lightning storm threateningly clapping around us, we enjoyed our White Cap lager and Mediterranean dishes. Back at Jabulani Hostel they were singing karaoke and we naturally stepped in for a few tunes. Melika hit them with the Bohemian Rhapsody.
Our final day arrived and Melika departed for his connection to Eldoret, a few hours north of Kenya. He stayed in Iten, a short bus away, for the next four weeks training. My flight home left at midnight the same day.
I had the whole day to myself. Nairobi National Museum was at the top of my list and didn't disappoint. Afterwards I took a cheeky boda boda ride (on the sidewalk and weaving through traffic) to meet a mutual friend who works in journalism - a fascinating insight into the politics of reporting in Africa. Spent, I went back to Jabulani where I met a frequent Ugandan lodger (also called Melika, meaning angel in Swahili). She and I arrived at a bar for a drink just before the rainy season decided to announce itself with mighty force. While the streets were flooding I splashed back to the hostel in a run to collect my stuff before frustratingly trying to secure an Uber for the airport. A few power outages later and I was on the plane.
And that was a wrap. The exhilarating 10-day trip left me wanting more. Where to next?
PS here's a breakdown of our quote to hike Mount Kenya - shoot me a message if you want the hook up:
Mzee Moja (Company Owner)
Hike priced at $950 USD per person and included:
Pick up at Chogoria town for Anabas mount Kenya lodge. A 5 km acclimatisation hike is done through the forest. Night at Anabas mount Kenya lodge.
Anabas mount Kenya lodge to Lake Ellis (2950m-3460m). Hike passing via scenic Nithi falls and The Gates. Lunch is served at Lake Ellis with an evening summit of scenic Mugi hill.
Lake Ellis to Mintos hut (3460m-4300m).
Summit day. Mintos hut to Point Lenana. (4300m-4985m). Start summit hike at 02.30hrs for summit before sunrise. Breakfast is served back at Mintos hut. Descend from the mountain for other destinations.
(Can be made into 5 days or more)
Costs $1900 USD (2 people)
A full board service includes;
Transport from Chogoria and back by 4 wheel drive. (Also negotiated pick and drop off from Chuka)
Park entrance fee.
Food except snacks and drinks. (We brought snacks, they provide water and hot drinks with each meal)
Accommodation in tents and Anabas mount Kenya lodge where applicable.
Guide.
5 porters. (We actually had 7)
Cook.
They also offered us complimentary gear (rain poncho, headlamps, boots if needed) but you should bring your own just in case
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