Glaciers melting away

FEARS: ALL MIGHT BE GONE IN A FEW YEARS, PUTTING OFF VISITORS

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Charles Kibaki Muchiri traced the water trickling across the surface of the Lewis Glacier with his fingers, illustrating how quickly climate change is melting the huge ice blocks from Africa's second-highest mountain.

For nearly 25 years, the affable 50-year-old guide has been taking hikers to the peaks of Mount Kenya, nearly 5,000 metres above sea level, and observing their transformation from a landscape of snow and ice, to brown rock.

"It was very beautiful," he said mournfully on a recent ascent.

He recalled the ice caves and thick layer of snow that lasted several months on the peaks of this ancient volcano.

The Lewis Glacier once covered one of Mount Kenya's slopes.

The imposing mass of ice visible in archive photos has now been reduced to just two blocks—the biggest only a few dozen metres wide.

Muchiri fears the glacier will be gone in a few years, transforming the landscape and discouraging visitors. His observations are backed up by numerous studies, while scientists have found ice loss from the world's glaciers has accelerated over the past decade as the planet warms.