Hut-to-hut on Mt. Kenya: Maisha Mlima Huts Update

Inspiration

Three years ago my husband, Matt, and I hiked the Three Capes Trek in Tasmania. This is where it began. The idea of hut-to-hut on Mt. Kenya was born there.

The Three Capes Trek was a newly completed through-hike with huts along the coast of Tasmania. It was so thoughtfully designed that Matt and I couldn’t help but marvel at all the details as we went along. The huts were individually designed to match the aesthetic of their surroundings with stunning viewpoints and lots of outdoor spaces. Each hut separated bunk sleeping rooms that held about 10 people and a large kitchen and heated common space. At each cluster of huts, there was an experienced staff member who offered a briefing in the evening, highlighting the flora and fauna in the area along with the weather forecast for the next day and answering questions. Each common space had a bookshelf with the same books so that hikers could start reading something on the first night and continue it as they went along without the burden of carrying the book itself. There were indigenous art installations. Trailhead drop off and pick up was pre-arranged as part of the package. Whoever designed the experience had thought through every detail from the vantage point of the hiker and how to make the most wonderful experience possible from the moment we arrived all the way to the end.

As we admired the thoughtful design, we kept wondering why there weren’t more hut systems like this in the US and other mountain ranges where we had spent time. Inspired by our experience in Tasmania, we started daydreaming about building hut systems in mountain ranges around the world.

Why Mount Kenya?

Matt and I are both American. He grew up in San Francisco, California, discovering the wonder of mountain hiking later in life. I grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho, and have mountains in my blood. We met while working for a non-profit called One Acre Fund in Kenya. That’s where we have lived and worked for the past 10 years and where we are raising our family today.

Last year as we sat talking for the millionth time about building hut systems in the US, Matt suggested we could consider the project for Mt Kenya and… BOOM. That was it. Mt Kenya is the second highest peak on the African continent, after Kilimanjaro. Its summit is above 17,000 feet and requires a technical climb. However, hikers can also summit a non-technical point at 15,000 feet. Despite attracting only ~15000 visitors a year, compared to Kili’s ~50,000 or Mt Rainer’s 2M, Mt Kenya is widely considered to be more beautiful due its varied landscapes and different ecological zones. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Photos by Hailey Tucker and Agoro Adhiambo

Mt Kenya is one of only a few Afro-alpine ecosystems in the world. It has an altitudinal gradient that leads to an unusual varied range of ecosystems in a relatively small area. According to the Mt Kenya Management Plan published in 2017, “The vast forest has large populations of several threatened animal species and the evolution and ecology of the Afro-alpine flora are outstanding for a wide range of rare and endemic species.” Wildlife includes the African elephant, black rhino, white rhino, mountain bongo, grevy’s zebra, primates, and is an Important Bird Area (IBA).” Mt Kenya is one of the five main water towers in Kenya and is a vital water source for several million people. The Mt Kenya Forest also acts as a carbon sink absorbing carbon dioxide that otherwise would contribute to climate change, regulates water cycles, maintains soil quality, and reduces risks of natural disasters such as floods. We need to protect this park.

According to Patrick Adams in an article published by the NY Times in February 2019, “The earth’s sixth mass extinction, scientists warn, is now well underway. Worldwide, wildlife populations are plummeting at astonishing rates, and the trend is perhaps most starkly evident in Africa’s protected areas — the parks, game reserves and sanctuaries home to many of the world’s most charismatic species. Between 1970 and 2005, national parks in Africa saw an average decline of 59 percent in the populations of dozens of large mammals, among them lions, zebras, elephants and giraffes. In at least a dozen parks, the losses exceeded 85 percent.” The Mt Kenya park is no exception and despite the hard work and dedication of several other NGOs and local organizations, there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done to protect the park and the wildlife that inhabits it.

Why Huts?

Mt Kenya already has a few independently owned and operated huts on the mountain (Old Moses, Shiptons, Naro Moru River Huts, Chogoria and Austian Hut are the ones that receive the most traffic). Unfortunately, most were all built in the 1980’s and few have been actively maintained. As such, most hikers prefer to camp rather than stay in the huts, which can have damaging effects on the surrounding ecosystems. For example, there are few proper latrines at campsites and as a consequence popular areas, like the lakes, are now showing the effects. This hypothesis has been evidenced by the work of Dr. Jeff Marion in proving the environmental footprint of huts is significantly less than distributed camping on parks. We believe that the installation of proper infrastructure and subsequent maintenance of that infrastructure will be essential to protecting the environment and the animals that live in the park, not to mention the experience of pristine nature for hikers.

Matt and I both want to do something that will contribute to addressing the climate crisis. We know that our our kids will be the ones to inherit it. We believe that connecting more people in Kenya and other parts of the world will be important for developing future grassroots support for conservation and climate change prevention. Drawing a connection between national parks and people is where the conservation movement originated in countries like the US. In many emerging markets, the conservation movement is not yet mainstream nor is the deep connection to nature and national parks. We want to change this. We also want to work to protect the mountains and the parks we love as we bring more people into these precious spaces.

Progress to Date

That is where this journey began. I called a friend and colleague, Koome McCourt, who shares our passion for nature conservation and would join as a cofounder in our project. Matt and I each started to carve out an hour every morning to research and set up calls with people who worked on hut systems. With a two-year-old, a six-month-old and a full time job, this was no small feat, and yet I usually found it gave me energy for other activities. We began to learn everything we could about mountain huts. We contacted other organizations and individuals working in the Mt Kenya area. We met with the government bodies who manage the forest and the park on Mt Kenya. We read environmental reports about Mt Kenya and the threats facing the ecosystem there. We spoke to architects, trail experts, and waste management experts. Each conversation we had led to another one and the more that we researched the clearer it became we had surfaced not only a good idea but a necessary one for Mt Kenya.

Maisha Mlima

All of this work led to the formation of our non-profit organization, Maisha Mlima. Maisha Mlima or ‘Mountain Life’ in Swahili is a social enterprise that develops trails and hut systems to promote conservation in some of the most beautiful and underused mountain ranges in the world. Our mission is to promote conservation by increasing eco-friendly access to the great outdoors, and to ensure parks and trails are foundational for local economies and that people everywhere are connected to nature. Mt Kenya will be our first project but hopefully not our last. Our concept pitch deck is here and our website is here.

During our initial round of conversations, we were fortunate enough to find partners in White Arkitectur and World Trails Network, who would help us shape the concept and develop initial renderings for what the huts might become. We also found the Kenya Forestry Service and Kenya Wildlife Service eager to see us implement this project. We worked with all of these partners to pull together the pitch deck and conservation plan that we’re now using to build a larger coalition of partners, advisors, and funders to see this dream through to completion.

Renderings by White Arkitectur

I want to offer a tremendous thanks to everyone who has supported us up to now in this journey including: Honerable Peter Kinyua of Kenya Forestry Service, Susie Weeks of Mt Kenya Trust, Mike Watson of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Valentine Mwende and Kevin McCourt of Kairu & McCourt Advocates, Galeo Saintz of World Trails Network, Sam Demas of Hut2Hut, Greg Carr of Gorongoza Park, Joe and Francie St. Onge of SVTrekkers, Ben Dodge of the Colorado 10th Mtn Division, Christy Mahone of the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, and so many others.

We’re still building our coalition. If you or anyone you know is interested in getting involved,

Photo by Mollie Parker and rendering by White Arkitectur

Hut-to-hut on Mt. Kenya: Maisha Mlima Huts Update

Inspiration