Mount Kenya National Park was established as to protect the distinctive features. The park was founded in 1949 and includes both the national forest reserve and Mount Kenya, was later designated as a world heritage site. One of the best national parks in Kenya is Mount Kenya National Park, which is worth visiting when on an East African safari. The current Mount Kenya, which has the summits Batian, Point Lenana, and Nelion, is known as the highest mountain in Kenya and gave rise to the name of the park. With an elevation of 5,199 metres above sea level, Mount Kenya is the second-highest mountain in Africa, trailing only Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres).
The majority of Kikuyu population, who consider Mount Kenya National Park to be home to Ngai, their god, surrounds the park. The Kamba, Maasai, and Embu are some of the nearby communities. Apart from Mount Kenya, which is the park’s most popular tourist safari destination, there are many other attractions to see, such as primates like Sykes monkeys, olive baboons, and Black and White Colobus monkeys, mammals like elephants, antelopes, buffaloes, mongooses, cats, bush pigs, zebras, hyrax, and hyenas, waterbucks, elands, black rhinos, mole rats, black fronted duikers, as well as numerous bird species like Starlings, African Crown Eagles, cape eagle owl, Abyssinian owl, kenricks starling, African crowned eagle and among many others.
Top things to do in Mount Kenya national park.Â
Mountain climbing/ Mount Kenya hiking.
 One of the best parks in East Africa, Mount Kenya National Park, offers breath-taking mountain climbing safari experiences to the top of Mount Kenya’s three peaks. As previously noted, Mount Kenya thrills with three peaks: Point Lenana at 4,985 metres, Batian, the highest peak at 5,199 metres, and Nelion at 5,188 metres that may be walked by brave travelers. However, you need something more taxing yet worthwhile. The park includes a variety of paths that hikers use, and depending on the trail taken and what one wants to view, these treks can last anywhere from five days to over ten days to reach the top. The Summit Circuit, Timau Trail, Nelion Trail, and Burget Route are some of the mountain climbing pathways that lead to Mount Kenya’s highest summit. Experienced hikers who want to reach Mount Kenya’s highest summits take these routes. Other routes, like the Summit circuit, Naro Moru, Sirimon route, and Chogoria route, are utilized by climbers who are less competent and have a shorter safari. As with any mountain climbing expedition, the ascent is exhausting and difficult, but the descent is always intriguing as you slide and roll yourself down the mountain. Hikers are rewarded along the route with views of the park, various animals, glaciers, and numerous other exciting wildlife species that inhabit Mount Kenya National Park. The greatest time to hike Mount Kenya is in the dry season, when the park is dry, the hiking paths are accessible, and it’s simple to see a lot of wildlife while hiking.
Game Viewing.
 The Park is home to a variety of fascinating wildlife species that make for an excellent wildlife viewing safari experience. You can choose to go on a game drive in a safari vehicle to get closer to mammals in their native habitats, or you can go on guided hikes. The majority of savanna national parks’ most popular tourist activities are game drives, and Mount Kenya National Park is one of them. The park offers four-wheel drive safari vehicles for half-day and full-day game drives that let visitors get up close to animals in their natural settings. A game drive through Mount Kenya National Park offers the chance to witness a variety of wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, antelopes, duikers, mongooses, black rhinos, waterbucks, bushbucks, leopards, and many more species. The sections with green vegetation cover, such as along the coasts of waterbodies and inside other lowland portions of the park, are the ideal places to watch a variety of species.
Guided nature walks.Â
This is yet another method to discover Mt. Kenya National Park’s magnificence. This is accomplished by using local, skilled safari guides and rangers to travel along various trails deep into the forest while spotting a variety of wildlife, including primates like monkeys, mammals like elephants, forest hogs, bush bucks, warthogs, pigs, and cats, as well as a large number of forest and migratory birds, as well as different species of trees and other flora.
Bird watching.
Mount Kenya National Park, one of the best birding safari destinations in Kenya, has over 160 species of birds recorded. The best birding locations include the mountains, highland areas with montane grassland, montane forest, along water bodies, in the bamboo forest, and in the moorland, among others. This suggests that birding can be done with any other park activity, including hiking through the forest, game viewing animals, climbing mountains, and camping, among others. Egptian goose, African Black Duck, Long-tailed widowbird, Abyssinian crimson wing, African Grass Owl, Olive Ibis, Lammergeier, Sharpe’s Longclaw, Abbott’s Starling, Lesser Kestrel, Jackson’s widowbird and many other bird species can be found in Mount Kenya National Park.
Camping.
For those looking to spend a night in the outdoors amidst nature and the stars, Mount Kenya national park also provides the greatest camping area. As visitors build fires in the forest, listen to the creatures that are constantly busy at night, and gaze up at the stars, this is one of the intriguing things that nature enthusiasts on a Kenyan safari to Mount Kenya national park enjoy. Picnics and camping can be combined to provide a memorable safari experience outdoors.
Accommodation / where to stay in Mount Kenya National park.
Mount Kenya national park thrills with an abundance of accommodations well designated to suite the budget of any tourist on a Kenya safari and these range from lodges such as Luxury accommodation, Midrange accommodation and Budget accommodation. Bantu Mountain Lodge, Serena Mountain Lodge, and Castle Forest Lodge are a few of these lodges. The park also has a number of campgrounds and campsites to accommodate numerous guests.Â
How to get to Mount Kenya national park.
There are two options used by tourists to access Mt Kenya National park and these include by Road transport and by Air.
A 4 wheel drive safari car is advised by anyone planning to visit Mount Kenya National Park as the trip from Nairobi to the park by road takes about 4 hours. This is especially true of the stretch that leads up to the entrance gate where the road off the main road is very rough and frequently becomes a bit impassable, especially after rain. There are numerous park entrance gates when in the park.
If visitors would rather go by air, there are frequently available domestic and charter flights from Wilson Airport to Nanyuki Airstrip.