After another night in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and walking to the airport from the hostel, I arrived in Nairobi at night and grabbed a taxi to my hotel in a very sketchy (but convenient) neighbourhood near all the buses and matatus. As I was sitting in the cab I was reading the guidebook on my phone, which warned against this area, particularly at night, which is always a good sign. My cab could only get as close as a block away, so I walked very quickly with all my bags to the hotel. I managed to find the entrance with only one person trying to get my attention, whom I easily brushed off. When I entered the reception area it reminded me of a sketchy, rundown hotel in India. Great. 

2 minutes later my reservation had been processed and I was in a very clean room with great service, if a little loud due to the location. The next morning I had a nice breakfast (back to milk tea after a month of drinking coffee in Ethiopia), and the security guard even walked me to the right matatu to get to Nanyuki, the town I was using as a basecamp for Mt Kenya.

I had posted on multiple forums to try and find someone to hike with, in order to cut down on costs, and have some company, without any luck. I was on my own.

Until, of course, I showed up at the matatu station and was accosted by a couple of different people who wanted to be my guides. I pitched my tent at the local motel and soon had a porter, cook and guide lined up, for the same price as a group tour. Still more expensive than doing it myself, but I didn’t have any choice at this point. Even if I was feeling particularly adventurous, you’re not allowed to hike Mt. Kenya alone. 

The next morning, my team showed up and we headed in a car to the park entrance. From there, we walked along the road for a while uphill, until someone picked us up. It felt a bit strange to be getting a ride instead of walking, but then it gave us lots of time to hike farther up to the weather station and back, which helped with the acclimatization. 

I was camping instead of sleeping in the huts, to save money, but I did make use of the (slightly) warmer huts to pass the time reading until it was a respectable 7pm and I could go to bed. Sleeping at 3300m (300m lower than in the Simiens), I was pleasantly surprised to not be cold at all, and was soon being woken up for another great-and large- meal. Apparently the cook only knew how to cook for 2 people- the portions for one person were the same size as other couples got.

At 8am we had hit the road, and made good time, as it was pretty easy considering I was only carrying my day pack. It started out sunny but the fog rolled in soon after, making it fairly cold hiking. At least I didn’t have to worry about sweat making me cold later. By the time we reached our next camp, Shipton’s, at 4200m, it was sunny and gorgeous. It was also only about 2:30pm, so I had lots of time to read and take in the breathtaking view. And gorge myself on carbs too of course.

Due to my quick pace I was allowed to sleep in until 3:30am (woohoo!) and we left for the summit at 4:00am. By this point in my year-long trip my hiking pants had disintegrated, so I was making do with leggings under my jeans for the trek up to the summit, and lighter pants during the day. With the peak just under 5000m, before the sun came up, it was not warm. But I kept moving and managed ok. We got super lucky with the weather, with only a few clouds and no wind. 

Watching the sun rise on the summit, I knew why no one had responded to any of my posts looking for travel companions: there were only four other tourists up there! They were also the four that I had seen both nights of the trek of course, and were great company. Two of them were feeling the effects of altitude, but I was spared luckily. I think being in Addis Ababa, the 4th highest capital in the world, helped considerably with that. As did spending the night in Nanyuki before-hand.

By the time we got down from the summit it was 8am, and I was starving. I was very happy to see the big breakfast waiting for me!

By 9:00am we had hit the road and were back at the first camp, Moses, by 2:30pm. It was a long day to say the least. I had a nap/fell into a coma in the tent before dinner and was asleep at 7pm. 

The next morning I woke up at 6am to trek the last 2 hours down to the park entrance. I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and errands and relaxing before heading the next morning back to Nairobi to meet up with Marieke and Jon, who were flying from Ethiopia.