Mount Kenya supports a succession of distinctive, elevation-based vegetation zones. Grassland (with species of Acacia and Themeda) covers the basal plateau in the west and north, and grasses and low trees dominate in the south and east. Beginning at about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres), a ring of dense forest covers the slopes up to about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). Cedar and yellowwood are prominent on the drier western and northern flanks. On the upper margins of the forest—i.e., from about 8,000 feet (2,400 metres)—bamboo predominates, although these species decrease markedly in height with increasing elevation and merge into the succeeding zone of giant heather. Above a transition zone (11,000–12,000 feet 【3,400–3,700 metres】) is the so-called high moorland, a peculiar zone of Afro-Alpine vegetation. This gives way to mosses and lichens, which grow up to about 15,000 feet (4,600 metres). Above that there are only bare rock, glaciers, and other regions of ice and snow. Mount Kenya National Park (1949) covers 277 square miles (718 square km), including much of the lower skirts of the mountain. The park and its environs contain a variety of large animals, including elephant, buffalo, black rhinoceros, and leopard. Several endangered and rare species, such as sunni buck and albino zebra, also live there. The fertile lower slopes are cultivated by the Kikuyu and the related Embu and Meru peoples.

The Kikuyu, who refer to the mountain as Kirinyaga, or Kere-Nyaga (“Mountain of Whiteness”), traditionally revere it as home to their omnipotent deity Ngai. Johann Ludwig Krapf was the first European to see the mountain (1849), and it was partially climbed by the Hungarian explorer Sámuel, Gróf (count) Teleki (Teleki, Sámuel, Gróf) (1887), and the British geologist John Walter Gregory (1893). The British geographer Halford John Mackinder (Mackinder, Sir Halford John) was the first to reach the summit, along with the Swiss guides César Ollier and Joseph Brocherel, in 1899. The town of Nanyuki, which is about 120 miles (190 km) north of Nairobi by rail, lies at the northwestern foot of the mountain; both Nanyuki and Naro Moru (to the west) are chief bases for ascents.