MERU, Kenya — 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 off of 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 (16,400 feet) above sea level, and observing their transformation from a landscape of snow and ice, to brown rock.
