Kenya

Mount Kenya

WHS Score 2.86 Votes 18 Average 3.31

Mount Kenya National Park / Natural Forest protects the afro-alpine region surrounding Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa at 5,199 m.

The mountain is an extinct volcano with 12 remnant glaciers on its slopes, which are retreating rapidly. Also, there are several small lakes and it is the main water catchment area for two large rivers in Kenya; the Tana and the Ewaso Ng'iso North. The site also comprises the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve in the foothills, which are within the African elephant migration route.

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Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Mount Kenya National Park / Natural Forest (ID: 800)
Country
Kenya
Status
Inscribed 1997 Site history
History of Mount Kenya
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • vii
  • ix
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources
News Article
  • Dec. 8, 2023 scmp.com — Why Africa’s Mount Kenya risks becoming as polluted as Kilimanjaro, as access to its peaks is made easier for visitors
  • March 5, 2019 whc.unesco.org — For more than a week, devastating fires have raged in Mount Kenya National Park
  • Sept. 8, 2012 bbc.co.uk — Mt Kenya to get electric fence to stop wildlife straying
  • March 20, 2012 washingtonpost.com — Elephants, wildlife flee as fire spreads across Mount Kenya

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Natural landscape: Mountain
Travel Information
Recent Connections
View all (43) .
Connections of Mount Kenya
Individual People
  • Charles Darwin
    The Darwin Glacier was named by the geologist John Walter Gregory - the first person to reach the icefields of Mt Kenya in 1892/3.In his book "The Great Rift Valley" he describes that this "was so named as we owe to Darwin the first precise description of a glacial valley in England"
  • Leakey Family
    Gray Leakey, a cousin of Louis Leakey, was taken captive and led into the forests of Mount Kenya, high up on the mountain, where "he was buried alive and upside down in deep red soil" (during the Mau Mau insurgency 1952-1960)

    See www.codesria.org

  • Sir Wilfred Thesiger
Geography
Trivia
Ecology
  • Stratovolcanoes
    "Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano that was active in the Plio-Pleistocene." (wiki)
  • Critically endangered fauna species
    (Eastern) Black Rhino: "Lewa holds over 12% of Kenya's eastern black rhinoceros population" (wiki)

    See www.iucnredlist.org

  • Eagles
    Ayres hawk eagle (Official description)
  • Lions
    Lewa Wildlife Conservancy : "There are currently 44 lions acros the Lewa-Borana Landscape."

    See www.lewa.org

  • Megaherbs
    giant groundsels

    See en.wikipedia.org

  • African Wild Dog
    Known to use the (elephant) wildlife corridor (IUCN Outlook 2020)
  • Elephants
    African elephant
  • Rhino habitat
    black rhinoceros
  • Somalia-Masai regional centre of endemism
    "the area lies at the interface of the Afromontane and Somali biomes and within the Somali – Maasai Center of Endemism" (AB ev)
  • Big Five
    Lewa Wildlife Conservancy: It ... includes the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and African Buffalo) (wiki)
  • Mammal Migrations
    "Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve also lie within the traditional migration route of the African elephant population of the Mount Kenya – Somali/Maasai ecosystem and has always been the traditional dry season feeding area for elephants." (OUV)
Damaged
  • Wildfires
    2019: "fires have already destroyed more than 80,000 hectares of forest and grassland, which represents almost half the area of the World Heritage site"

    See whc.unesco.org

  • Poaching
    Subsistence hunting is carried out in the forested lower slopes, and to a lesser extent at higher elevations where its impact is limited due to the extremely rugged terrain and difficulty of capturing prey species. The few remaining critically endangered mountain bongo antelopes are at high risk to subsistence hunting. The African elephant remain also at high risk due to ivory poaching.
World Heritage Process
  • First inscriptions
    Kenya: two inscriptions in 1997, with Mount Kenya National Park/Natural Forest as the lowest number
  • Extended
    2013: To include Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve
Religion and Belief
Human Activity
Constructions
  • Via Ferrata
    "In July 2012 a new via ferrata developed by the Kenyan Wildlife Services (KWS), opened on Mount Kenya" (Wiki)
WHS on Other Lists
Timeline
  • Pliocene
    Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano that was active in the Plio-Pleistocene (wiki) / It is an ancient extinct volcano, which during its period of activity (3.1-2.6 million years ago) is thought to have risen to 6,500 m (AB ev)
Visiting conditions
WHS Names
  • Named after a Mountain
    Mt Kenya 5199m
  • Country named after them
    The mountain was named by Krapf as both Kenia and Kegnia when he first sited it in 1849 apparently using a native word which he recorded (possibly Kikuyu Kirinyaga?). The colony in which it stands was originally known just as "British East Africa Protectorate" but the growing number of white settlers led to a change of status in 1920 when the "Kenya Colony" was created - named after the mountain. Because of their indiginous origins the names of both the mountian and the country were carried forward unaltered into the post colonial era.
News
scmp.com 12/08/2023
Why Africa’s Mount Kenya risks bec…
whc.unesco.org 03/05/2019
For more than a week, devastating …
bbc.co.uk 09/08/2012
Mt Kenya to get electric fence to …
Recent Visitors
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Community Reviews

Show full reviews
First published: 28/06/25.

Clyde

Test Is A Test Review By Els

Mount Kenya (Inscribed)

Some big plants

I went to see some big plants somewhere in the world.

Keep reading 0 comments
First published: 04/03/06.

Zack Culvert

Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya (Inscribed)

Mount Kenya by Roman Bruehwiler

There is a drought now all over Kenya, as the mini rainy season of Nov 2005 did not come. So the Masai bring their cattle and sheep up to the tourist area. This drove away the animals. The cows meanwhile are dying from the altitude and new germs which they have no resistence to. Seeing a lot of dead and dying cows being butchered was not fun.

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