Tourist attractions found at Mount Kenya National Park: Mountain Kenya located in Mount Kenya National Park is situated within Mountain Kenya an extinct volcano dominating the landscape of the Kenyan Central Highlands, east of the Rift. Mount Kenya National Park is approximately 110 miles from the capital city, Nairobi, and covers 276 square miles in size. Mount Kenya lies about 140 km North, North-East of Nairobi with its Northern flanks across the Equator. The mountain has two main snow-covered peaks, Batian (5199m) and Nelion (5188m). The park consists of forest, bamboo, scrub, and moorland giving way on the high central peaks to rock, ice, and snow.
Mount Kenya National Park was established in 1949 when the government set out to protect Mount Kenya, its surrounding environment, and its wilderness. Formerly a forest reserve, the park was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and along with the surrounding forest reserve was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. However, this article will present you with some of the beautiful attractions found in the park and include;
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya is one of the stand attractions found at Mount Kenya National Park. Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano that was active in the Plio-Pleistocene. The original crater was probably over 6,000 m (19,700 ft) high; and potentially up to 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high, making the prehistoric Mount Kenya higher than present-day Kilimanjaro. the mountain of the second highest peak in Africa, after Kilimanjaro Mountain. Mount Kenya is situated in the former eastern and central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri and Tharaka, Nithi counties. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya. The mountains are home to many ethnic communities such as Kikuyu, Ameru, Embu and Maasai.
Animals
Mount Kenya National Park is a home to a wide range of animals including elephants, cape buffalos, leopards, tree hyrax, suni antelopes, black-fronted duiker, mole rate, bushbucks, waterbuck, eland, bongo antelope, giant forest hogs, genet cats, zebra, bat eared fox, wild dogs, warthogs, mongoose, jackal, hyena, black rhinos, impales, white-tailed mongoose as well as primates like black and white colobus monkeys, baboon and many more.
Other animals found at Mount Kenya include mouse shrew, hyrax, and common duiker. Some animals are really seen, including, leopards, bongo antelope, and giant forest hogs. The mountain bongo antelope is a critically endangered antelope subspecies that is endemic to the montane forest in Kenya. You can see a variety of these animals on a gem drive at the park.
Birdlife
Mount Kenya National Park and its surrounding landscape are home to over 130 species of bird recorded. Some of the bird species you may encounter here include; Gray Crowned-Crane, Little Grebe, Black Stork, White Stork, Egyptian Goose, African Jacana, African Black Duck, Pink-backed Pelican, Secretary bird, Osprey, Hamerkop, Red-billed Duck, Eastern Crested Guineafowl, Reed Cormorant, Common Quail, Scaly Spurfowl, Lemon Dove, Blue-headed Coucal, Montane Nightjar, Mottled Swift, Eurasian Moorhen, Black-winged Lapwing, Cape Eagle-Owl.
Other bird species spotted here includes Common Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Trogon, Hadada Ibis, Black-headed Heron, African Harrier-Hawk, African Cuckoo-Hawk, Western Banded Snake-Eagle, Martial Eagle, Verreaux’s Eagle, Common Buzzard, Abyssinian Owl, Common Scimitar bill, Crowned Hornbill, European Bee-eater, Gray-headed Kingfisher, Lilac-breasted Roller, White-headed Barbet, Green-backed Honeybird, Brown-backed Honeybird, Fine-banded Woodpecker, Lesser Kestrel, Eurasian Hobby, Red-fronted Parrot, Purple-throated Cuckoo-shrike, African Black-headed Oriole, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Chinspot Batis, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Black-fronted Bushshrike, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Drongo, Red-backed Shrike, Pied Crow, White-tailed Crested Flycatcher, White-bellied Tit and Chestnut-throated Apalis among others
A Natural Wonder of Glaciers and peaks
Mount Kenya is home to 12 glaciers which contributes to the mountain’s striking landscape. Some of these glaciers include the Lewis glacier and the Tyndall Glacier. The Lewis Glacier is the largest and is located on the eastern slope of batain, the mountain’s highest peak. The Tyndall glacier is on the southern slopes. The glaciers carved valleys and cirques into the mountain’s slopes. Glaciers moraines are rocky debris left behind by titrating glaciers. They mark the extent of past glaciation. These glaciers are receding rapidly dur to climate change and may disappear by 2050. The mountain’s rugged summits, lush middle slopes and U-shaped glacial valleys make it one of the East African most breathtaking landscapes. The mountain’s afro-Alphine flora is an example of ecological and biological processes.
Diverse Ecosystems and Vegetation Zones
Mount Kenya National Park has a diverse range of ecosystems and vegetation zones, including; lowland forests, bamboo forests, heathlands, alpine moorlands covering an area of about 3,000m, tussock grasslands located at about 3,000m, sadges, glaciers, cultivated zone, timberline forest, afri-alpine zone and the naval zone which provide a home to an incredible variety of flora and fauna. The ecosystem is influenced by Mount Kenya’s high elevation, which creates a range of microclimates that support a diverse range of life. Mount Kenya’s slopes are home to a diverse range of plant species, with an estimated 2,500 species of plants growing on the mountain. The vegetation on the mountain is influenced by altitude, with different plant species growing at different elevations.
How to get to Mount Kenya National Park
Visitors heading to Mount Kenya National Park can use the road through Chogori on the Meru Road which covers over 150 kilometers to the North of the Nairobi capital to get to one of the gates. The gates of the Mountain Kenya National Park include Marania Gate, Kamweti Gate, and Burguret Gate. You can also opt to use the domestic flight from Wilson Airport in Nairobi to the Nanyuki Airstrip.
