Kenya: One of East Africa's
First Female Mountain Guides On 'Making It' and
Starting a Business to Boot
Photo: Zoe Wanjiru/Akilah
Net
Zoe Wanjiru, centre, with clients at one of the
entrances to Mount Kilimanjaro.
By Peter Musa
For Zoe Wanjiru, life is one continuous
climb -- and she wouldn't have it any
other way. For seven years, the Kenyan
national has been guiding tourists up
some of East Africa's most treacherous
peaks, including Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt.
Kenya, and through some of the region's
most scenic safari parks.
As one of the few women guides operating
in East Africa, she's faced skepticism
and downright discrimination. In many
lodges, accommodation for women guides
simply doesn't exist -- then there are
the flirtatious guests and subordinates
who don't take her seriously.
But over the years Wanjiru has hit her
stride and knows how to deal with these
challenges. She's struck deals with
hotels to stay in guest quarters and has
assembled a trustworthy and respectful
team. She knows how to handle everything
from feisty tourists to life-threatening
accidents.
In August 2010, she launched travel company Bush
and Events Africa, which she co-owns. Wanjiru
continues to lead tours and doesn't plan to stop
climbing any time soon. In fact, decades from
now, she hopes to sumit Mt. Kilimanjaro at 60.
Mountains
of Magical Kenya
Details
on Mount Kenya and others to come
Mount
Elgon
Mount
Elgon is a large extinct volcano that
straddles the border between Kenya and
Uganda. Reaching a height of 4,320
meters and extending over 100 km in
diameter, Mount Elgon is the largest,
although not the highest of Kenya's
mountains.
On
the Kenyan side of the border, 340
square km of the mountain has been set
aside as a National Park, preserving a
wide range of natural vegetation in an
otherwise intensively cultivated area.
The mountain invites exploration, as
you wind your way through a mixed
forest of deciduous and evergreen
trees, including magnificent specimens
of the East African Cedar and the Podo,
both reaching upwards of 30 meters.
Branches are frequently festooned with
lichen and a tangle of wild
orchids.
With
luck, you will observe black and white
Colobus monkeys and the blue monkey, as
well as the giant forest hog and red
forest duiker. Many leopards, buffalo
and waterbuck also inhabit the
Park.
wide
range of birds, including the rare
forest francolin, make Mount Elgon a
bird watcher's delight. The forest
floor, where many rare species of
flower may be found, is also
interesting for
botanists.
Hiking
to the peak of the mountain, visitors
pass through the forests, leading into
glades of montane bamboo, open
woodlands and finally open moorlands to
the craggy summit
The
walk to the peak (no technical
skills required) provides an
exceptionally beautiful experience,
offering views of giant groundsels and
giant lobelias, survivors of a remote
ice age, as well as endless vistas over
the African landscape.
Mount
Elgon is also well known for its four
explorable caves, formed by the action
of water on ancient volcanic ash. These
caves play a vital and unique role in
the lives of forest animals. Families,
and sometimes entire villages of the El
Gonyi, a Masai tribe, lived for
centuries in the caves with their
cattle.
The
minerals contained in the rocks of the
caves are vital to the well being of
cattle and other grazing animals. High
rainfall in this area has denuded the
soil of natural salts and minerals; the
caves provide the only source of salt.
Elephant, buffalo, bushbuck, waterbuck,
duiker, forest hogs, even the colobus
and blue monkeys need a ration of salt;
on Mount Elgon, they find it only in
the caves.
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