As Els pointed out, there aren’t many reviews out there to help plan a visit to Mount Kenya. This is Africa’s second-highest mountain, reaching 5,199 meters, and most people associate it with demanding multi-day climbs. But what about a day hike? Is it even possible—and is it worth the steep $50 park entry fee?

We decided to find out for ourselves.

We sorted out the e-ticket the night before. Entry to Kenyan national parks now has to be booked and paid online through the E-Citizen platform, which isn’t exactly suited for foreigners. And because we also have to pay for a car, the payment has to be done twice, one for the car in KES, and for us in US$. But with a bit of effort—and using Edge browser on a PC—we got it to work this time. It feels good to have the E-ticket on hand when we arrived at the gate. 

We left Naro Moru Lodge on a clear, beautiful morning around 8:30 AM, and could even see the summit of the mountain from afar. It’s about a 30-minute drive to the Naro Moru Gate where we were warmly welcomed by a friendly ranger. She asked whether we were planning to hike or just drive up to the Meteorological Station. That answered one big question—we could drive to Met Station! We were not sure about that. The station is located at around 3,000 meters and about 8 km from the gate. If you want to …

I have always wondered how a site that has been ticked by 63 members so far has only had one, tiny review dating back to 2006. I would guess that 90% of the “visits” here were drive-by ones. Even then, the mountain, with its characteristic rugged, glaciated peaks, isn’t always easy to see, as it is often covered in clouds. The best I could get was a silhouette at 7 in the morning from the pool area of my lodge.

Mount Kenya is known for its several vegetation bands with Afro-alpine flora from the base to the peak. I stayed for 3 nights at the Naro Moru River Lodge, a little oasis outside of the park borders, where you can experience the vegetation and wildlife of the lower regions of the mountain at 1,970m altitude. At night, you may hear the screaming of the tree hyraxes, and during the day, you’ll find many birds typical for the region (the lodge’s bird list includes a significant number of 399 species). The Cinnamon-chested bee-eaters put on a good show, but my favourite was the White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher with its distinctive white ring around the eyes (pictured).

To enter the core zone of the WHS, there are three options: Mount Kenya National Park, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, and Ngare Ndare Forest. The latter two were extensions and also include the Elephant corridor, where African elephants migrate with the season, away from the mountain when it gets too cold, and back when it gets …

There is a drought now all over Kenya, as the mini rainy season of Nov 2005 did not come. So the Masai bring their cattle and sheep up to the tourist area. This drove away the animals. The cows meanwhile are dying from the altitude and new germs which they have no resistence to. Seeing a lot of dead and dying cows being butchered was not fun.