Altitude: 1,600m – 5,199m feet above sea level.
Area: 2800 square kilometers.
Airstrips: The closest commercial airstrip to the park is at Nanyuki.
Activities: Game viewing, Camping, Mountain Climbing, Cave Exploration.
With many ridges and valleys, radiating like spokes of wheel, the bulk of the Mount Kenya straddles the equator. Through its highest point lies seventeen kilometres (110 miles) to the south, the Equator cuts across the northern shoulders at a height of 3,350 metres (11,000 feet).
The mountain lies 193 kilometres north-east of Nairobi and 480 kilometres west of the Kenya coast. Its regarded as the perfect model of an equatorial mountain. Mt Kenya is Kenya's highest, and Africa's second highest mountain with an altitude of 5199m at the summit of Batian, 5189m at Nelion, and the third highest peak is Point Lenana at 4985m. The mountain is surrounded by the Mt Kenya National Park (715sq km) and is only 16km from the Equator.
The upper base of the mountain is nearly 100km across and is Kenya's most important water catchment area and has the largest forest reserve remaining. The area is also rich in farmland and on a drive to Mt Kenya from Nairobi you will see pineapple plantations, citrus orchards and tea and coffee farms.
The scenery on Mt Kenya is stunning and various, and includes waterfalls, valleys, glaciers, moraines, rock pinnacles and not forgetting the magnificent views from the summit - you can see Kilimanjaro on a clear day.
The flora is a highlight for many people as the plant life changes dramatically as the altitude increases and depending on your route you can discover heather-covered moorland, bamboo forests as well as some extraordinary looking plants like the ostrich-feathered lobelia and the artichoke-like giant rosette plants. Many of these wildflowers and alpine plants are endemic to this area.
You make also be lucky enough to come across many animals including giant forest hog, rock hyrax, baboon, colobus monkey, elephant, buffalo, waterbuck, eland - and possibly the elusive leopard. There are also hundreds of species of birds to look out for - many small and brightly coloured.