Glorious solitude
AT 2:45AM, I switched my headtorch on and saw what lay immediately ahead: a steep slope and plenty of scree to negotiate. A fierce, bitter wind whipped around us. We began to shuffle like penguins and inch our way up the mountain’s exposed slopes. This isn’t anyone’s idea of a nice time of day to go for a walk; but if you want to bask in the glory of a summit sunrise on Africa’s second highest mountain, it’s the price you have to pay. We pushed on.
Most trekkers who travel to East Africa go for Mount Kenya’s ‘big brother’, Kilimanjaro. The allure of Kili is easy to understand. The Tanzanian peak is the highest point on the African continent and, at 5895 metres high (19,341ft), is almost a kilometre higher than the target of my climb. However, Kili does have a reputation for being somewhat crowded. I was looking for a quieter experience – and, boy, did I get it!
Mount Kenya National Park is not exactly unknown as a trekking destination; its variety of landscapes, pristine lakes, tropical glaciers and endangered wildlife means it attracts around 15,000 trekkers a year. So I wasn’t expecting complete solitude. But in the end, because of a certain invisible pathogen, the experience turned out to be far more isolated than I could ever have imagined.
I had
