Mount Kenya National Park
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How it came to be
Mount Kenya is an old volcano on the equator, about 193 km north-east of Nairobi. When it was active, 3.1 to 2.6 million years ago, it may have stood about 6,500 m high. Its highest peak today, Batian, at 5,199 m, is the second highest in Africa. Twelve glaciers remain near the summit, all shrinking fast.
The Kikuyu and Meru who live around its base regard the mountain as holy and hold that their god, Ngai, and his wife, Mumbi, live on the peak. Johann Ludwig Krapf, who sighted the mountain from Kitui, recorded its Kamba name as Kenya, which became the name of the country as well.
A national park was created in 1949 to protect the mountain and its wildlife. The area became a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1978 and, with the surrounding forest reserve, was inscribed in 1997. In 2013 the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve to the north were added. They hold the world's largest resident population of Grévy's zebra and are linked to the mountain by a 9.8 km elephant corridor.
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