Friday, May 25, 2012

May 20th: Off to hike Mt. Kenya!

It has been a long week of kazi ngumu and on our day off we decided that we would do some kazi ngumu of a different sort and 6 members of our group set out on a day trek up Mount Kenya. We decided to drive up to Met Station which is 3000 m above sea level and begin our hike from there so that we would be able to see as much as we could in the time that we had. During our drive up the mountain we saw many water buffalo and small deer-like animals called bushbucks, we were also fortunate to see all 3 species of primates that live on the mountain. As we reached higher elevation we were able see changes in the vegetation; we were surrounded by tall trees and as we climbed beyond the treeline, the flora was much smaller and widely spaced. We also saw some leopard scat along our hike which was quite an exciting find for the two biologists that are on our team. We had a simple lunch with our two guides Jeff and Wilson after a few hours of hiking. After lunch 4 members and Jeff began the trek down the mountain while 2 others and Wilson continued on for a longer trek, the more avid group managed to reach a stop point at 3800 m before heading back to join the rest of the group for our drive back home to the hostel. 

DWC Team
Kenya, May 2012

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