Mt Kenya Trekking: Chogoria Route

Elevation gain ↑1,000 m; hiking time approx. 3–4 hours

Your transfer driver meets you at your hotel in Nairobi in the morning – you leave the busy capital and the morning traffic behind and drive past tea and rice farms towards Chogoria. In the late morning you arrive in Chogoria and drive through a patch of forest to “Kilometre Kumi”, “Kilometre Ten”. Here you meet your guide and the mountain crew – and you’re off. You walk up a relatively well-maintained road through dense bamboo forest. This first stage serves for acclimatisation, to slowly accustom your body to the altitude. After a short picnic break and the 3-hour hike, you arrive at Chogoria Park Gate in the afternoon. If time allows, you can take a short hike in the surrounding area with your guide in the afternoon. Enjoy your first dinner and your first night on the mountain at 3,000 m.

Early in the morning a hearty breakfast awaits you. Well fortified, you continue your hike: Lake Ellis is your destination today. Through a marshy area, past clear mountain streams and through a pristine forest area, the route finally leads through more open landscape. Keep an eye out for buffalo and elephants, which are at home here. A detour to the beautifully situated Nithi Falls is worthwhile before you reach Lake Ellis in the afternoon. You can walk around the lake on a short hike along the shore. Low-hanging wisps of mist and bright sunshine often alternate by the minute at the lake. Enjoy the absolute silence and your second night in the seclusion of Mt Kenya.

Today a longer stage of approx. 12 km awaits you to Mintos Camp, from where you will start the summit stage. After breakfast with a view of the lake, you cross a deep gorge and then hike along a mountain ridge. You enjoy your lunch, in the form of a packed lunch box, with a view of Lake Michaelson far below. In the afternoon you reach Mintos Camp. Here too you can take a short hike in the immediate surroundings. Go to bed early today, because you start the hike to Point Lenana during the night.

After a short night, your guide wakes you at around 1 am for a snack of tea and biscuits. You have a long and exciting day ahead of you. Together with your guide you begin the steep ascent at 2 am. Surrounded by the peaks of the Mt Kenya massif, you hike through the cold night before arriving at Point Lenana just in time for sunrise. The steep climb is worth it: pause and enjoy the spectacular view over the Mt Kenya massif as the sun slowly rises and bathes the Batian summit in its golden light. Then the descent begins: with the Batian on your left, you go down the steep path to Shipton’s Camp. Around 11 am a fortifying breakfast awaits you here. After the short break, a hike through Mackinder’s Valley awaits you. The expansive valley stretches for 7 km – picturesquely located, crossed by clear mountain streams and adorned with various species of senecios, lobelias, proteas and other flowers. Enjoy the view of the mountain panorama surrounding the valley. You now leave the valley and, after a short steep climb, reach an expansive heath and moorland: through the Liki North area and after crossing the Ontuli River, you reach Old Moses Camp in the afternoon, where you spend your last night on the mountain.

With the impressions of your summit ascent still fresh in your mind, you begin your last relaxed hike. The heath and moorland change into dense bamboo forest, through which you walk down along a well-maintained road. Your transfer driver is waiting for you at Sirimon Park Gate. After eventful days on Mt Kenya, you arrive in the capital Nairobi in the afternoon.

Breakfast

Onward journey: After the Mt Kenya ascent you can travel back to Nairobi or, for a supplement, add a safari in the Mt Kenya, Laikipia or Aberdare region. We would be happy to put together a follow-on programme with a safari or beach holiday individually for you.