- A late afternoon view across the Mara
- Of course there were the elephants seen on a number of occassions.
After the Mara, our next excursion was the big one for our trip - a six day trek to Mt Kenya.
Mt Kenya is a highly eroded shield volcano. Unlike the taller Kilimanjaro, the past glaciers have carved large U-shaped valleys and left numerous spires and towers of rock.
This is the second highest peak in Africa at 5199m. It consists of a 5 main "peaks" with the 3rd highest [Lenana] suitable for trekking and it is 4985m high.
The key concern for walkers is avoiding altitude sickness. Mt Kenya is generally much easier on the body than Kilimanjaro, and we planned our walk to be slow and steady.
While it is possible to be self sufficient on the mountain, we were a long way from home and wanted to keep it simple and safe. So we booked for a guide and porters. Our party ended up as 8 - the 2 of us plus a guide, a cook and 4 porters. No freeze dried meals on this trip - they carried up fresh food for the 6 days.
We mostly stayed in a spacious 4 season 3 man tent. I am sure it was warmer than staying in the lodges.
After 2 vehicle problems, we got to our start point on the northern side of the mountain at the Sirimon Gate - 2600m high.
It was a steep road walk through forest grading to bamboo forest and then to moors and we got to see some elephants in the bamboo from a safe distance.
We learned in the course of the trip that the high country is visited by hyena, leopard, buffalo and antelope as well as the elephants. Unfortunately we did not see any. Just droppings and tracks.
- Elephants on a distant ridge. The mountain elephants are considered very dangerous - it was good that we were across the gully from them