Mount Kenya

Mount Kenya is an extinct stratovolcano in central Kenya, straddling the equator, reaching about 5,199 meters at its highest peak, Batian, which makes it the second-highest mountain in Africa after Kilimanjaro. It formed roughly two to three million years ago from a large basaltic-to-phonolitic volcanic edifice that geologists estimate once stood considerably taller before millions of years of glacial and stream erosion stripped away its outer flanks, exposing the hard volcanic plug at its core as the jagged twin peaks of Batian and the slightly lower Nelion, both of which require technical rock climbing to summit, unlike the higher but non-technical Point Lenana favored by trekkers. Despite sitting almost exactly on the equator, its upper elevations carry small, rapidly retreating glaciers and permanent snow, a consequence of its extreme altitude. The mountain, whose Kikuyu name Kirinyaga ("place of brightness" or "resting place of God") gave the modern country of Kenya its name, holds deep spiritual significance for the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru peoples, who traditionally regard it as the dwelling place of their supreme deity Ngai. This entity documents Mount Kenya specifically as a geological formation, an eroded extinct stratovolcano whose exposed volcanic plug forms Africa's second-highest peak.