MOUNT KENYA - LENANA PEAK
Mount Kenya, the highest mountain of beautiful Kenya, and actually the second highest of Africa following Kilimanjaro. The highest peak of Mount Kenya is Batian with 5,199 meters altitude. That peak requires some real mountaineering though. For people like me, with no climbing or mountaineering background, there is Lenana Point with an altitude of 4,985 meters! Everybody does it, so why not me?
Anyway, soon we are leaving Kenya and we are trying to complete our to-do list before we leave this magical country. Since the travel ban lifted, we planned to spend our first weekend with the Lenana summit challenge! And it was an amazing weekend after all. Now I am glad to tell you about it.
Félix was always very willing to do Lenana peak. And I wanted it but I was always hesitant thinking that it might be extremely difficult and I might fail. We see Mount Kenya from where we live, from our terrace indeed. And whenever we hike somewhere, Félix was concluding that we are one step closer to Lenana hike, that we are more ready than before. Indeed, Mount Kinangop was part of this training and we supposed to go to Mount Kenya in March. Too bad that COVID-19 happened and we got stuck in Nairobi for too long.
We were three to do this hike together. And we wanted to keep everything simple. So, we had a guide and a porter only. You will say “What else could you have?” Well, we could have a cook, not a joke. Most groups go with a full team of porters, cook, and so on. Sure it becomes very costly that way. Ours was budget-friendly – meaning for the full weekend we each spend about 100 USD.
Generally, this hike is a three-day hike, especially if you take different routes to go up and down. Since we did not want to spend three full days, we made a more practical plan. We used the same route to go and come back, and we started the hike a bit higher than most people do. BUT we spend enough time at every step for the acclimatization.
Here is our plan:
• Friday 11.00 leaving Nairobi (our starting point is about 4-hour drive from NBO)
We even had the time to make a stop at Trout Tree – a very lovely restaurant on the way and enjoy a succulent lunch before the big weekend!
• Arriving at the Camp Old Moses (3300-meter altitude) and sleeping in our tents
• Saturday morning 8.30 starting the first part of the Lenana hike, named Sirimon. This is about a 14 km route, not very steep and very beautiful.
• Reaching Shipton’s Camp (4200-meter altitude) done for the day!
• Sunday “morning” starting the Lenana summit push at 3.30 am… In the dark, and cold! And reaching the summit just before the sunrise, voila!
• Once we are frozen and done watching the view from the summit, hiking back all the way to where we started, to Old Moses Camp.
• Mini celebration of our achievement and driving back to Nairobi, home.
Prices:
• Old Moses camping fee 1,000 KES per person
• Shipton’s camp accommodation fee 2,500 KES per person
• Guide and porter 17,000 KES in total
• Mt Kenya park fee for 3 days 1,000 KES per person (COVID brought a big discount on these fees) You can check the up-to-date fees here on the official webpage of KWS.
A little map found online for you to see the routes and the basic plan of the mountain.
So, from my experiences, I must say that the weather conditions are extremely important. I was very worried about failing and feeling bad before the hike. Bad weather means suffering A LOT, at least for me. Fortunately, we were lucky that the weather was almost perfect. Of course, do not expect to walk with a t-shirt. It would never be that warm for sure.
Friday once we reached the camp, it was already around 5 pm something. So, we basically set our tents and had dinner and slept very early. I mean even if you don’t want to sleep early, the weather gets very chilly that you spend the rest of the evening in your tent, in your sleeping bag. We did so.
Saturday morning we woke up early, and the sunrise was beautiful. We had a good breakfast and tea to feel the warmth. It was about 8.30 that we started the hike. The weather was sunny and not windy at all. This 14 km Sirimon route is not painful. Except for a few steep parts, it feels really like a joyful walk. The scenery is fascinating. The flora reminded me of a lot of the Aberdares, the weird shaped cactus kind of looking trees (I am sure that they are not cactus at all), the funny grass balls and the colors, all magic to me. Within this 14 km, we climbed 900 meters to Shipton’s Camp. It took us around 7 hours with a good 30-minute lunch break and some other small breaks for water and snacks. Since we had the whole day to do it, we did not rush either.
Along the Sirimon route, great scenery, interesting little trees.
A very important note: Last time I hiked in Kinangop, I had non-waterproof hiking shoes. The reason I suffered big time in that hike was my soaked and frozen feet. I seriously hate the cold. Probably nobody is in love with it, but I just have no tolerance. I cannot stand it. So this time, I borrowed the waterproof, Goretex hiking shoes from a very good friend of mine. She saved my weekend. Having said that, I made a big mistake just when I was very close to the camp… Close to the camp, Félix went a bit faster. And I was following him, but I was also very tired, so I stopped looking ahead. When I reached the camping, the entrance of the hud was on the other side so I had to walk around it. And because of my tiredness, I didn’t see the sign showing me that I should go around the right side. So I went to the left side, and I stepped into a mud lake. My left foot in the lake, I woke up to the fact that I am about to put my right foot in the same mud lake as well. It was not preventable anymore. Both my feet in the mud, I remember waking up! I did it again, oh la la. Amazing, admiring my own stupidity, I went to the entrance, took my shoes off, and hoped that the sunlight lasts a bit long and strong so that my shoes dry until the next day until we start the though part of the hike. I can hear the applauses, thank you for congratulating me.
So the Shipton’s Camp is nothing fancy. It is a private hud with decent beds, decent toilet (very important), and no heating. We had dinner and went to sleep as early as possible knowing that we will wake up at 3 am. Fact, when you sleep at 7 pm, it is not that difficult to wake up at 3 am.
Sunday “morning” after breakfast and getting mentally ready for the walk, we left the camp around 3.30 am. From Shipton’s to the summit I believe it is around 4 km walk, maybe a little less even. But this short walk is really steep, all the way up. The whole climb is 785 meters. Our guide was very good at managing the time and speed at this part of the journey. He kept us at a pace where we reached the summit just a few minutes before the sunrise. This walk as you might guess was very slow. And again, we were lucky that it did not rain and until we were close to the top it was not even windy. Maybe the last 50-meter climb I was ready to give up though because my toes and fingers were freezing! Of course, they did not let me do so, and I reached the top. This hike took about 3 hours.
The sunrise was one of the most beautiful I have seen in my life. It looked like as if it is rising from the ground. I am not sure how long we stayed there, possibly less than 30 minutes. And I was indeed very happy to go back because of my fingers and toes very tingling big time. Typical me, I started to think that they will really freeze and we will have to get them cut. Picturing my life without them was painful. Our guide was cool about it though, he told me confidently that I will start feeling them again in 10 minutes once we start descending. Luckily, he was right. On the summit, feeling proud but frozen because of the wind, I could not really smile sincerely on the pictures.
The way back is easier than going up for sure. And it goes faster. We made a short stop again at Shipton’s, took our bags, have a little bit, and hit the road again. We were so fortunate with the weather until the last 2 hours of our hike. It wasn’t even rain, it was hail. We were ready to it though, so we immediately put raincoats on and continue walking, maybe we even tried to go a bit faster. The funny thing is that all the routes became a little river in a few minutes and the rest of the walk was under the rain.
The euphoria I had was really worthy. The whole journey with the mud, the cold, and the climb. I am glad to have done it, to have seen that sunrise, to have felt the freezing breeze and reaching back to the car thinking that it was a unique experience.
I love Kenya and I am so happy that it has treated us so well and generously.
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