The second highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kenya has three lofty peaks covered in snow with associated glacier fields. Below the peaks is a zone of high altitude moorland which is sunny by day but freezes by night where a unique plant community of Giant Lobelias and Giant Groundsel can be found. Below this the moorland is covered in stunted shrubs and giant heathers which then give way to the Bamboo zone before merging with lush forest. Once extensive wet forest extended down to grassland at the base of the mountain but most of this has now been lost to agriculture.

Each of the altitudinal bands of the mountain support their own specific fauna though there is a great deal of overlap with many of the larger mammals ranging from the plains up to the Bamboo zone and occasionally beyond. Specialities of the mountain include Mount Kenya Hyrax, Giant Forest Hog and the rare and elusive Mountain Bongo (the tiny wild population is now being bolstered by a captive breeding/release programme both on Mount Kenya and the Aberdares).