Old photos, 1 ... Mountains (and a few hills)

I've been sitting out the awful chilly, wet spring weather sorting old photos and slides from the late 1960's onwards, and thought readers might like to see some of them !  (It's just me, showing off really !)   I must apologise for the dreadful state of some of these pictures .... they have suffered the ravages of time, dust and damp.

So .... some mountains:

Mount Kenya, jagged bare rocks - all that remains of an eroded volcanic plug; a real mountaineers mountain, not for an easy stroll or even a hard trek, like Kilimanjaro.

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Fancy coming out of your tent at dawn, and seeing the highest mountain in Africa !  The twin peaks of Kilimanjaro, from Amboseli Reserve, on the Kenya/Tanzania border, with the highest part (Kibo - 5895 metres, or 19,341 ft) on the right, and Mawenzi, on the left.   Kibo is regularly climbed by intrepid tourists; it takes five days for the expedition, with guides, and the risk of altitude sickness, but many do it.  (I never did, but my parents-in-law climbed it in their late 50's, and survived to tell the tale !)

And from the Tanzania side, with Kibo to the left and Mawenzi to the right.

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"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills ..."  (Karen Blixen in 'Out of Africa').

We took my mother on her first day ever in Africa in 1969, for a picnic on the Ngong, and some elderly Maasai men came and squatted down to talk to us.   They were naked except for a blanket draped loosely over one shoulder .... and it was quite breezy .... and my poor mother didn't know where to look ! 

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One of my father-in-laws pictures, taken from the plane on the way to/from Kenya.  The Rift Valley, with Mt. Longonot nearest, and Mt Suswa further away.  Both are virtually extinct volcanos, though both still have active fumaroles emitting super-heated steam.  Suswa has lava tunnels which can be explored.   We climbed Mt. Longonot one day ... 

... the gully that led to the top was dry, lava gravel, and mother-in-law and myself decided the best way to proceed was to sit, and slide upwards on our butts .... two or three metres upwards, and slip one metre downwards .... but we got to the top eventually.   Coming down again was fast and furious, sliding with the lava gravel !

I loved the mountains and hills, and we explored the Chyulu's, the Aberdares, the Cherangani's, and many hills and mountains northwards to Lake Rudolf/Turkana ... 

.... maybe I'll add some pictures of them another day !

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Couldn't resist another of Kili, this time taken from Tsavo West National Park.  Just imagine what the first white explorers thought when they saw snow virtually on the Equator !