Ugandasafari.it - Uganda: Mt. Elgon National Park

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Mt. Elgon National Park - Uganda
Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano located on Uganda’s Eastern border that first erupted 24 million years ago. Mount Elgon has also the largest base area of any extinct volcano in the whole world with
gorges, ancient caves, water falls and hot springs. On Mount Elgon there are different types of forest: lush montane forest, bamboo belt, moorland hyrachs. Two ethnic tribes are located around the mountain: the Bagisu and the Sabiny famous for their circumcision ceremonies that take place every even year.

Wildlife
Mount Elgon is famous for its trekking possibilities but many large and small mammals and some primates can be found. Black and white colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, bushbuck, antelope, civet, wildcat and shy leopard roam below. Buffalo, hyena ,bush duiker, rock hyrax, jackal,
and elephant rove between the forest and the moorland.
Many of these animals visit Mount Elgon’s bat filled caves for their valuable mineral deposits.
The majority of the plant species in the forest zone above 2000 m
have been shown to be endemic to the Afromontane Region and many are endemic to this area like giant Lobelia elgonensis and groundsels.

Birdlife
More than 300 bird species are found in Mount Elgon National Park expecially some endangered species like the lammergeiers, the Eastern Bronze-naped Pigeon, Hartlaub's Turaco, Guinea fowls, Yellow-billed Barbet, Black-headed Waxbill, Jackson's francolin, toracos, sunbirds
and many others.

Activities
Trekking
There are 3 starting points to begin your trail to explore Mount Elgon: Budadiri, Kapkwai, Kapkwata leading to Sasa, Sipi and Piswa trails.
Sasa trail leads to the largest area of forest bamboo of the park.
Sipi trail is famous for its caves, while Piswa offers many excellent wildlife viewing together with its podocarpus forest.
The full trekking circuit takes 5 days.

Two different two-day hike are possible:

exploration centre trail will lead to the Chebonet falls,
Kapkwai cave, the talking tree and a spectacular viewpoint.
"long arm" trail leads to petrified wood in Khauka caves.

Well worth visiting is the lovely Sipi Falls just outside of the park boundaries. Climbing the peaks requires no special technical climbing experience.