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Size 1121 Sq Kms
Overview:
Mountain Elgon National Park
Mountain Elgon conservation area was established in 1968, as a central forest reserve and in 1993 it was gazetted as a national park. The park is named after Mountain Elgon, located on the border of Uganda and Kenya and as a Mountain it is the 4th highest mountain in Eastern Africa, reaching 4321 meters. It covers an area of 1271 km² and is bisected by the border of Kenya and Uganda.
The Ugandan part of the park covers 1110 km² while the Kenyan part covers 161 km². Mt. Elgon has the largest volcanic base in the world and it is the oldest and largest solitary, volcanic mountain in East Africa. Its vast form, 80km in diameter, rises more than 3,000m above the surrounding plains. The highest apex is Wagagai, 4.321 m.
Mount Elgon National Park is home to over 300 species of birds, including the endangered Lammergeyer. Small antelopes, forest monkeys, elephants and buffaloes also live on the mountain side. The higher slopes are protected by national parks in Uganda and Kenya, creating an extensive trans-boundary conservation area which has been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The park has magnificent waterfalls, caves, gorges and hot springs and is excellent for hiking. No technical climbing equipment or skills are required, and all major peaks are accessible to hikers. The full trekking circuit takes 4-5 days to complete and there are also 3 “day” trails, 3-7km long. The magnificent Sipi Falls are 66km north of Mbale, en route to the Forest Exploration Centre and Kapkwata.
The most popular areas are the four explorable, vast caves where frequent night visitors such as elephants and buffaloes come to lick the natural salt found on the cave walls. Kitum cave, with overhanging crystalline walls, enters 200 m into the side of Mt. Elgon.The dearest time to visit Mount Elgon is May and September, November and December.
Activities done in mountain Elgon national park.
Elgon Mountain climbing:
Travelers find this activity very interesting since it has very many attractions with milder climate and lower elevation.
Elgon Mountain biking:
biking trails run from sipi trading centre to chema hill in kapchorwa town. This provides excellent views of the water falls.
Birding in Elgon Mountain NP:
There are excellent bird watching opportunities especially around kapkwai forest exploration center, in particular, in the secondary forest and thick shrub along the loop trail to cheptui falls. The park is home to about 300 bird species including 40 restricted range species and that 56 of the 87 Afro-tropical highland biome species live here, notably the Moorland Francolin, Sharp’s Longclaw, Mustached Green Tinkerbird and Alpine Chat, African goshawk, Chubb’s Cisticola, Common Chiffchaff, White Chinned Prinia and African blue flycatcher can be sited here.
Hiking:
Hiking Mountain Elgon is yet another thrilling adventure since lucky hikers will enjoy seeing the parks primates, birds and rare tree species. Trails lead past caves, viewpoints and water falls with the option of camping on mountain slopes.
Nature walks:
Visitors enjoy nature walks along the maintained trails, through the forest at Kapkwai tourism center. along the views of Sipi falls, the walls of death and the African sunrise across the Karamoja plains on these peaceful walks just outside mountain Elgon.
Rock climbing:
This activity takes place outside the park at Sipi. About 14 routes require various levels of rock scaling techniques.
Sport fishing:
This activity is done above the highest of three waterfalls at Sipi. It provides exciting challenges to anglers who take pride in battling with the rainbow trout because of its beautiful coloration.
Cultural encounters:
Mountain Elgon is known for Arabic coffee grown by the Bagisu farmers who have a reputation for producing some of the finest washed Arabica in Kenya and Uganda.
Imbalu Ceremony (The Bamasaba way of turning boys into Men)
Every even year, many Bagisu or Bamasaba boys are initiated into manhood. The Bagisu inhabit the western and southern halves of mountain Elgon in the Eastern Uganda. The boys mostly between the age of 12 and 16 undergo a traditional circumcision ritual called ‘Imbalu’ This process is done without any anesthetics. Imbalu in Lugisu literary means a big knife.
Accessibility.
By road:
The park lies about 235km east of Kampala. A tarmac road runs through Jinja to Mbale town at the western base of Mount Elgon, before climbing to kapchorwa on the mountain’s north- western slopes. The tarmac road leads off the Mbale- kapchorwa road to reach the various trailheads.
Accomodation:
As tourism grows up in Uganda, accommodation is one of the aspects that are improving steadily. Lodges and camps are readily available in and around Elgon. Some of the accommodation facilities include: Kapkwata Guesthouse, Suam Guest house, Sipi River Lodge, Masha Hotel in Kapchorwa to mention but a few.
Book your wildlife safari Today: Here are some of our tours; Mt. Elgon Climbing Safaris, Mt. Elgon Birding Tours, Wildlife Tours to Mt. Elgon National Park.
Also contact us for Uganda Birding Tours, Rwanda Birding Tours, Gorilla Trekking in Volcanoes Forest, Uganda Gorilla Trekking Tours, Karamoja Cultural Tours.
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