Dive into These 7 Exciting Activities around Mount Kenya

The Mount Kenya area is a true safari country. The region straddles the equator but hosts icy glaciers, alpine forests, savannah grassland, and woodland, among other features. It’s also home to an array of wildlife.

Visit the area and enjoy breathtaking scenery and many activities, including mountain climbing and hiking, running in the wild, and lion tracking.

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Icy glaciers in the tropics, alpine forests, waterfalls, and large swathes of bamboo forests are some of the features found in the Mount Kenya area. Elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, rhinos, elands, white-tailed mongoose, troops of baboons, waterbucks, tree hyrax, and many other animal species inhabit the area.

You have a chance to enjoy savannah grassland, woodland, and indigenous forest, not to mention the unmatched giant heath and other mountain flora.

You might want to make Nanyuki your base, from where to explore the region. British settlers founded the town when Kenya was a British colony. Some of the descendants of the town founders still live in the area.

So, what’s there to do in the Mount Kenya area?

1. Explore Mount Kenya and Mount Kenya National Park

Mt Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa. Mt Kenya’s peaks were for many years covered by an ice cap. However, due to global warming, the ice cap melted and today the mountain top is covered by 12 glaciers that are slowly making their way down the slopes of the mountain.

Mt Kenya has three peaks – Lenana, Batian, and Nelion. Hikers can reach the top of Lenana but the other two are for experienced rock climbers. You can also enjoy camping and fishing.

Animals found in Mount Kenya National Park include elephants, waterbucks, mole rats, white-tailed mongooses, giant forest hogs, mountain bongos, and elands. And with over 130 bird species documented in the area, bird-watchers are taken care of.

2. Survey Mt Kenya by helicopter

Fancy a helicopter ride around the scenic peaks of Mt Kenya? It’s an exhilarating experience that yields amazing views of the peaks and the matchless mountain flora. It’s best to set out at dawn to beat the clouds that often descend by 11:00 am. Enjoy lofty views of herbivores grazing in acres of savannah grassland, even as they look out for predating big cats. The savannah gives way to woodland, even indigenous forest. The vegetation then thins and you spot a river.

Enjoy the views from the air or touch down by an alpine lake for a picnic breakfast. You can also take in the mountain air as you fish for trout.

3. Visit Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Established as a cattle farm, Ol Pejeta has grown into a wildlife sanctuary for endangered species. The conservancy is home to the only two remaining northern white rhinos in the world, and a refuge for 140 endangered black rhinos.

Scientists at the conservancy are working to breed the northern white rhino to save it from extinction. Ol Pejeta also offers a refuge for chimpanzees rescued from all over East Africa.

Activities at the conservancy include lion tracking, mountain biking, horse riding, and running with rangers. Apart from rhinos, you also find elephants, lions, leopards, and buffalos as well as Grevy’s zebras, giraffes, hartebeest, hippos, African wild dogs, oryx, and cheetahs, among others.

4. Take a day trip to the Aberdares

From your base in Nanyuki, take a day trip to the Aberdare National Park. The Aberdares are the third highest mountain chain in Kenya. The range comprises high-altitude forests that teem with wildlife including black rhinos, leopards, buffalos, colobus monkeys, leopards, and wild cats.

The park is a bird watchers' paradise. It boasts over 200 bird species including the threatened Sharpe’s long claw, Jackson’s widowbird, and Abbott’s starling.

Enjoy stunning views of Mount Kenya and the Rift Valley from the moorlands and plains that dot the Aberdares. You may explore the Aberdares by vehicle or on foot under the watchful eye of a certified ranger guide.

5. Explore Ngare Ndare Forest

Make time to visit Ngare Ndare Forest at the foothills of Mount Kenya. This indigenous forest lies along an elephant corridor linking Laikipia and Samburu. Crystalline waterfalls and trees as old as 200 years characterize this forest.

The most outstanding feature of the forest is the canopy walkway. This aerial bridge runs through the tree canopy for nearly half a kilometer, providing a "monkey view" of the vegetation and animal life below.

From this vantage position, you can spy on elephants, buffaloes, and black rhinos, as well as a host of smaller animals, as they go about their business. The walkway ends at a wooden platform some 30 feet (9 meters) above the ground, from where you can pause and take in the elevated forest views.

Guides are on hand to take you on walking and biking tours. In addition, you can swim in the refreshing waters of the rivers and azure pools that sit at the end of the numerous waterfalls. There are two campsites with basic facilities, so you can stay overnight.

6. Stop at the Nanyuki Equator sign

Cross the equator and stop for a photo opportunity and some fun at the Nanyuki Equator Market. The point is marked by a lone roadside sign. For a small fee, enthusiastic, amateur scientists will demonstrate how water flows in different directions in the northern and southern hemispheres. Buy some curios at the few stalls located there.

7. Visit the Mau Mau Caves, Nanyuki

Call in at the Mau Mau caves and walk into history and Kenya’s freedom war. Fighters against colonial rule would hide in these caves located behind a waterfall. You need a guide to access these fascinating caves that demonstrate the creativity and resilience of the freedom fighters.

Final thoughts

These are just a few activities to enjoy in the Mount Kenya and the Aberdares areas. There’s much more to do as your travel agent or tour guide will tell you. Nanyuki is approximately three to four hours by road north of Nairobi. It’s also accessible by air from Wilson Airport, Nairobi.