Chogoria – Sirimon

Chogoria – Sirimon traverse

  • 7 days

Overview

The Chogoria route is our most recommended and arguably also the most magnificent route to the summit. It is the driest route up the mountain and the walk is truly spectacular. This trip allows you 7 days of time to acclimatise and ascend the mountain in safety. This is justifiably a magnificent tour that offers you ever-new views of the summits, glaciers, and tarns with their unique high-altitude vegetation. The descent along the Sirimon route takes you through one through some beautiful forests as you complete the traverse of the mountain.

The accommodation on this trek is 4 nights in mountain huts and 2 nights of camping. Nonetheless, if you prefer to camp, you can do so.

Tour highlights

  • Combining two of the most scenic routes on Mount Kenya
  • Spectacular views of the mountain through the Gorges Valley
  • Varied mountain vegetation like rain-forests, bamboo, moorlands and giant lobelias
  • The chance to acclimatise at 3300m

Day to day itinerary

You’ll depart from Nairobi at 8am and you’ll drive through the agricultural land up to Chogoria for lunch.  After lunch, you’ll get into a 4×4 and drive up to the edge of the bamboo forest, where you’ll start trekking for a distance of 10km up to Mt Kenya Bandas. You’ll have dinner and stay at the Mount Kenya Bandas overnight.

After having breakfast and sorting the porter loads, you’ll set off up the mountain at a nice and easy pace. Taking a slightly longer walk via Lake Ellis gives you scenic views of Mugi, Ithanguni, and the Giants Billiards Table, whilst if you follow the river near the road head upstream for about 3km, the foreground scenery and flora is particularly beautiful.

You’ll have lunch on the banks of a stream, and then it’s time for you to go up the left hillside to reach your camp at about 3,600m, well away from any of the more “touristy” areas.

You’ll have an early start.  Again, you’ll be walking well off the beaten track and you’ll follow a ridge up the mountain for about 3 hours. Eventually, you’ll join the tourist trail on the normal Chogoria route at an altitude of about 4,100m.  You’ll have breathtaking views of the Gorges Valley, Ithanguni and the Northern Moorlands.

Your lunch will be served at a small stream crossing, before you continue for another hour to get to the Mintos Hut area at 4200m and rest.

Your afternoon will be spent relaxing at the camp, though a 10-minute walk to the “temple” is well worth the effort. This is a 150 metre tall vertical cliff that gets its name from the position that visitors often adopt when peering over the edge – they look as if they are praying.

Today, you’ll begin your trek by ascending up along the foot of some huge rock walls. From the top, you`ll have an excellent view of Mt. Kenya. After ascending for a couple of hours, you’ll reach Tooth Col. From here, you’ll keep walking until you reach the Austrian Hut for dinner and sleep.

You’ll leave at 5.00 am to attempt to reach the summit. You’ll be climbing for 1 hour across bare rock and scree slopes to get to Pt Lenana – the summit. You’ll arrive in time to see the African sunrise.

Then, you’ll descend to the Austrian Hut (top hut) for breakfast. After breakfast, you’ll go to Mackinder’s Camp for dinner and sleep.

After breakfast, you’ll be climbing up to the Two Tarns and the Nanyuki Tarns, and then you’ll pass between the Oblong and Hausberg Tarns before descending to Shipton’s Camp on the northern side of the peak, at about 4200 meters, for dinner and sleep.

After breakfast, you’ll begin a 5-hour descent via Mackinder’s Valley to the Old Moses Camp (3300m). The descent is gentle and it gives you ample time to enjoy the fascinating scenery, such as the moorlands, before you go to the camp for lunch. After lunch, you’ll go back to Nairobi. You’ll be arriving in the late afternoon.

Prices are per person based on:

1 person US$ 1,670
2 people US$ 1,550
3 people US$ 1,490

per person

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