Mount Kenya National Park (Kenya)

Advantages: Fabulous views ,lots of wildlife, rewarding
Disadvantages: Hard work, primitive, fairly expensive

Mt Kenya national park is less famous than the Masai Mara or Kilimanjaro but has everything the adventurous spirit could want. The mountain itself is the main draw for most people but the park itself has plenty of wildlife and is much less crowded than the big game parks. The climb up and back takes 5-6 days and is pretty strenuous. Most nights there are huts to stay in but camping is necessary on some routes. Listening at night in your tent to ... Read review

Advantages: Great views, lifetime experience
Disadvantages: Too high.

...route to the summit of Mount Kenya there are a few lodges, one, about half way up has its own porter who will share his food at a price. The billets are basic, sometimes with a dirty matteress, but expect to pay a renal price for this. The toilet facilities are usually a stinking \"long drop\" (hole in the floor) or simply using the squat method. For the men amongst us, forget shaving, for the ladies, forget the powder room. The views are out of ...
...Expect to bloat up like a baloon on your journey from the change of pressure, and if you do take your boots off, dont expect to get them back on. The best option is to hire a porter at the base to carry your bags, and to \"Keep you alive\" expect to feed him too. This guy will probably have a pair of flip flops on, but dont be led astray, you need as much sensible stuff as possible, but forget all this hi tech stuff, it wont help. On your way down, ... Read review

Advantages: Ice on the equator is something that has to be seen to be believed
Disadvantages: It's tough getting to the top, quite tricky in places and not for those with vertigo

...up to the summit of Mount Kenya, but the views from the summit just after dawn make it all worth a million dollars. Having inched my way up steep scree slopes for three hours, head torch illuminating the heals of my guide, it was sheer relief and joy to reach the peak, one of the few summits of any mountain that can simply be walked up. Five thousand metres below the surrounding African plains look breathtaking. Spectacular seas of cloud float beneath ...
...The Lewis Glacier, a shrinking slab of ice lies immediately below... incredible for a mountain that straddles the equator. To reach the summit, it's essential to have a guide and porters. I took the Sirimon route up, which took four days to reach the summit, ascending amongst spectacular fields of giant lobelia, looking rather like giant pineapple cones. It gets very chilly at Base camp, around 4,300 metres and a down jacket and down sleeping bag ... Read review