Customer Reviews

Guide to Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro

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I have the 1991 edition. It's small enough to be easily pocketable but weighs a hefty 12 ounces. Maybe they should have split Kenya and Kilimanjaro into two books, though Kenya needs twice as many pages as Kili. The halftone B/W photos are well selected but too small to be very useful for picking out features. Route descriptions and topo drawings are clear and detailed. Warning: I have not taken this book on a test climb. Seems like a good guide - just bring your reading glasses.

This is an excellent guide book written by one of the pioneers of technical climbing in Kenya. This guides is extensive in the listing of various mountaineering routes up Mount Kenya (I guess there is a Mt. Kilimanjaro section, but I didn't go there). For the more popular routes, there are climbing topos which are detailed and very useful. Not all technical routes have topos which is a pronounced deficit. The guidebook is very insightful into the natural history, geology, and weather and seasonal patterns of the mountain, as well as a European history of "exploration". My one critique is that it could have been more culturally sensitive and given more information about native uses of the land and mountain, and indigenous peoples histories and struggles (very interesting tribe called Gikuyu live here, members of which formed the nucleus of the so-called Mau Mau insurrection against the British in fifties, etc.) Overall, however, if you want to get up this impressive mountain, this guidebook will help.