A family in Nanyuki, Laikipia county is calling for government intervention in finding their kin who disappeared in Mt. Kenya 14 days ago while on a climbing mission.
Samuel Macharia, a 35-year-old mountain guide, disappeared on December 23rd, 2025.
He was in the company of four other guides who accompanied two Japanese tourists in a Mt. Kenya climbing expedition.
According to his elder brother Daniel Kagwaini, who was part of the group, they departed from Nanyuki town in the morning via the Sirimon route and arrived at Shipton’s camp at about 2pm after a seven-hour gruesome trek. This is where they realised Macharia, who was assigned the role of carrying foodstuffs, was missing.
Kagwaini says that his brother is a veteran mountain guide with over 15 years of experience in navigating the treacherous terrain of Mt. Kenya, guiding visitors, adding that even on that day, the brother showed no sign of illness or unusual behaviour.
“I have worked with my brother for years and we can’t really tell what happened; he vanished under my watch. I retraced our steps and found nothing. I have done frantic searches more than three times with no sign of him,” says his brother, who is also a mountain guide.
At the same time, he highlights that what has puzzled them as family and friends is that, during the search, they have been able to recover some personal items believed to belong to Macharia, including a National Identity card and phone, alongside the foodstuffs he was carrying neatly placed on the footpath.
He notes the incident has been reported to the Chogoria and Timau police stations with a hope he will find his youngest brother alive.
On Tuesday, January 5, we find his Aunt Lucy Kagwaini and other family members pensively sitting beside a signpost at Old Moses Camp, which is clearly inscribed with an altitude of 3300 Ft above sea level, staring at the silent mountain peaks, anxious for answers, hoping for a miracle, or at least closure in this baffling mystery.
“He is just somewhere; I just don’t know if it’s in the forest or this Mountain, we have done our best but we haven’t seen him. We just plead with the government for help; this is my nephew and we don’t have any other way out,” says Lucy Kagwaini as she tries to hold back her tears.
The family hopes their kin might have wandered through the dense forests of Mt. Kenya and he will be found alive in the outlying villages, with the belief that he might have suffered from Altitude Cerebral Edema(HACE), a condition that causes severe confusion and hallucinations.
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has since launched the investigation aimed at finding the seasoned mountaineer.
Mt. Kenya has experienced incidents of disappearances for hikers and loss of lives; however, the case of Macharia, with over a decade of experience navigating through the unforgiving terrains of the mountain, has left his friends and family disoriented.
By Muturi Mwangi
