page_title: Mount Kenya
section_title: Kikuyu
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Kenya / Local culture / Kikuyu
caption_attribution_description: Mount Kenya seen from a distance. The highest points are Batian (5,199m) and Nelion (5,188m). The shape of the ancient shield volcano can be seen on the lower slopes. The higher slopes have been eroded away by an ice cap and subsequent glaciers exposing the central plug which now forms Batian.
context_page_description: Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana. Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern and Central provinces of Kenya, now Meru, Embu, Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi counties, about 16.5 kilometres south of the equator, around 150 km north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya.
  Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre. There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly, and may be gone forever by 2050. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya.
  There are several vegetation bands from the base to the summit. The lower slopes are covered by different types of forest. Many alpine species are endemic to Mount Kenya, such as the giant lobelias and senecios and a local subspecies of rock hyrax.
context_section_description: The Kikuyu live on the southern and western sides of the mountain. They are agriculturalists, and make use of the highly fertile volcanic soil on the lower slopes. They believe that God, Ngai or Mwene Nyaga, lived on Mount Kenya when he came down from the sky. They believe that the mountain is Ngai's throne on earth. It is the place where Gĩkũyũ, the father of the tribe, used to meet with God. Thus according to the Kikuyu records, Gĩkũyũ is the first person on Earth to ascend the mountain. 'Mwene Nyaga' in Kikuyu language can also translate as the "Owner of the Ostriches" where 'Mwene' translates to 'owner', and 'Nyaga' to Ostriches. The snow (in Kikuyu: Ira) caps of the mountain symbolically represent a crown on God's habitation .
  Kikuyu used to build their houses with the doors facing the mountain.  The Kikuyu name for Mount Kenya is Kirima Kĩrĩ Nyaga (Mt.Kirinyaga), which literally translates to the mountain that which has the "Nyaga" – Ostriches.The mountain therefore is locally accepted as 'God's Resting Place' or 'Where God Lives'.
caption: Several ethnic groups that live around Mount Kenya believe the mountain to be sacred. They used to build their houses facing the mountain, with the doors on the side nearest to it.
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