Mt Kenya Off Piste - Marr Valley Route
A busy-body digital world, the feverish politics of modern human life, twitter-feuds; wilderness is a commodity that we need more than ever.
With our partner African Ascents, we have been developed a fully wilderness, off-trail ascent of Mt. Kenya. The trip is a step back into the kind of adventure that early Kenyan honey gatherers might have found on the moorlands chasing their quarry farther into the chilly unknown. It might also have been the kind of terrain, conditions and wild stillness that three escaped WW2 Italian prisoners of war would have found on their break-out attempt to summit from their English internment camp (their story of adventure told in No Picnic on Mt Kenya).
We began our trip with a drive to the southern side of the Mountain, entering through the Chogoria gate. We spent the first night at the trailhead beside the beautiful meandering Nithi River and set out the next day on the trail to Michaelson. After only 20 minutes or so on the trail we cut south and left the trail for good.
The footing was better than we expected and we made good time on the Buffalo tracks that crisscross the heather. Our first camp was set up by a small convenient stream and a sweeping view of the low country beneath us. What an absolute pleasure it was to experience Mt Kenya from a purely wilderness perspective. There was no tissue paper, signs nor any other marks of human presence. Steinbuck ran before us as we crossed valleys and rivers and plotted how best to traverse terraces of cliff and cross country by instinct and wits.
The trip was a revelation. For years Mt Kenya National Park has chosen to allow a concession hut system to occupy some of its largest and prettiest valleys. For many visitors seeking pristine nature, the huts have become a distraction, blemishes on sacred ground and polluted by bits of trash left behind by trekkers and their porters. The toilet systems at the huts are a revolting disgrace as well and many hikers are put off by the lack of thought that the Park has put into the management of its human waste. For these reasons, we have always chosen to avoid the huts and to use those routes less traveled. Our wilderness Marr Valley ascent cuts out the human intrusion altogether and puts our visitors in direct contact with an exclusive, unspoiled and virgin experience. Drop us a line to find out more.
James Christian
