The park was established in 1949 to protect Mount Kenya, the wildlife and the surrounding environment, which forms a habitat for wild animals and acting as an area for the catchment of water, to supply Kenya’s water. At first it was a forest reserve, before being announced as a national park. Presently, the national park is surrounded by the forest reserve. In April 1978, the area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Combined, the national park and the forest reserve became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. There were the importance of tourism for the local and national economies, to preserve an area of great scenic beauty, to conserve the biodiversity in the park, and to preserve the water catchment for the surrounding area. The park has an area of 715 sq km and most of it is about 3000m. The forest reserve has an area of 705 square km. Combined, this makes the area of the UNESCO World Heritage site 1,420 sq km.

Fauna

There is a small portion of this park’s borders near heavy populations have electrified fences of keeping the elephants out of the surrounding farmland. At lower altitudes, black and white colobus and other monkeys and cape buffaloes.