KWS team rescues Mt. Kenya climbers – KBC

A tourist, a guide and two porters who were scaling Mt. Kenya have been evacuated by a Kenya Wildlife Service rescue team after missing their way out of the expansive Mount Kenya National Park.

The tourist, a Kenyan, and her assistants approached the mountain from Chogoria gate on August 1, 2019, and on August 3, 2019, managed to scale the mountain to point Lenana, which is 10,000 feet above sea level.

A change of route through Kamweti area, which is not a designated gate, brought them face-to-face with a herd of elephants, which sent them scampering for safety, thus missing their trail.

The quartet ended up in a valley south of Thegu river high up the bamboo zone, one of them fell victim to mountain sickness, rendering him unable to walk without assistance.

They called for assistance from a KWS ranger, prompting KWS mountain rescue team led by George Ombuki to swing into action.

Mountain area Assistant Director, Mr Simon Gitau, upon receiving the information mobilized a rescue operation team using a KWS chopper which managed to evacuate the tourist and her assistants from their ordeal in the mountain thicket on August 6, 2019.

The porter who fell victim to mountain sickness is responding well to medication.