GAME PARKS AND RESERVES

Mount Kenya National Park

A favorite of trekkers and serious mountain climbers, Mount Kenya National Park was created around Africa's second highest mountain, formed between 2 million and 3 million years ago by a series of volcanic eruptions. Imagine the reaction when nineteenth-century missionaries first reported seeing the snowy peak on the equator! Its forest and lower slopes abound with elephants, Cape buffalos, bushbucks, waterbucks, baboons, black rhinoceroses, leopards, monkeys, hyenas, giant forest hogs, and fantastic birdlife as well as giant forest hogs. More elusive are the sunni buck; the bongo, a rare type of forest antelope; the Mount Kenya mole shrew; and a variety of owls. Random sightings of albino zebras have even been reported.