Sunrise on Mt. Kenya
Below Lower Simba Tarn
Please forgive the jumbled order of our posts, we have lots of photos from the four days on Mount Kenya, and later today we'll be sharing even more pictures with our friends (So, who knows, there may be a fourth post yet to come?). We had an incredible trip and shared some great experiences with our friends. We leave tomorrow morning for the remainder of our March Break Vacation with our children on the coast -- we couldn't imagine a more dramatic change from our four days on the mountain.
Erica on the long trek back to Old Moses (Day Three)
Aaron on the day three descent from Shipton's Camp
Taking a breather in tussock grasses and heather of the moorland on day two. This photo was taken about a km past the Meteorological Station where the Sirimon Route forks left on the way to the Liki North hut and right, down into the MacKinder Valley, we took the later path (going an extra 4 hours beyond Liki Hut to Shipton's Camp). When we do this again, we would like to try tenting at Liki Hut to break the long slog to Shipton's and give ourselves more time to acclimatize to the elevation and enjoy the scenic views from the ridge.
Refilling our water bottles in the Ontulili Stream
(Surprisingly, the water purification tablets
we used didn't taste so bad!)
We enjoyed lots of breaks along the trail to rest and
let our bodies get use to the higher altitude.
Crossing the Liki North Stream
A bird taking a rest on a Lobelia
We were impressed by the variety of birds from cuckoo shrikes and incredible green Malachite Sunbirds, to Kenrick's Starlings with amber feathers under their wings and in the forrest a black bird with fire engine red under feathers, we are guessing it may be a type of Starling but we are not bird watchers ourselves. Just one of the many beauties of the mountain.
God is an amazing artist!
Atalie and Erica on the climb
As we ascended the terrain and vegetation
continued to change dramatically
Day one and two were wet, in truth, day one was a miserable climb to Old Moses as we trudged through torrential rains. We were all soaked and chilled when we arrived despite our rain gear and warm clothes. We are so glad that Tim Bannister recommended we pack a camp stove and cream soup for when we got off the trail. It was a life saver!
Mt. Kenya is a cold mountain with temperatures dropping to -10 Celsius at night. It was strange to walk on frozen ground, snow and ice in Africa. Although the higher elevations only support lichens, it was surprising to see the variety of plant life that stretched up the mountain including many flowers from the cream coloured Protea to the fiery red Gladiolus.
Mountain Cabbage
On the trail
Day two was a 12 km trek that climbed over 1000 meters up a steep shoulder and down into Mackinder's Valley and back up to base of the peaks. Along the way we saw many plump Rock Hyrax and Mountain Mice, as well as a small antelope (probably a klipspringer).
Mel, Melissa and Kerry stopping for a break
before our last push to Shipton's Camp
Approaching the peaks on the Sirimon Route
through Mackinders Valley
Looking up on the backside of Point Lenana (4895 meters)
(Yes that is snow on the equator!)
Finally arrived at Shipton's Camp at 4200 meters
Just below the Batian and Nelion peaks.
The camp is so close to two of Mt. Kenya's twelve
glaciers, that at times you can hear them cracking.
The lonely outhouse at Shipton's Camp
surrounded by giant groundsel Senecio plants
(fortunately there are more convenient facilities inside the hut)
