Mountain Elgon National Park is located in Eastern Uganda with Wagagai being its highest peak at approximately 4324 meters high. The national park is home to large mammals including elephants and buffalo although they are rarely seen and over 300 species of birds for example the African fly catcher, white chinned prinia, mountain yellow warbler, dusky turtle dove, African hill warbler and the endangered lammergeyer among others.
Popular activities within the park include hiking Mountain Elgon it’s exciting and in a less congested environment to different trails of the park, nature walks, mountain biking, rock climbing that will enable you have magnificent views of the lower slopes of Karamoja, the Sipi falls is also a big deal to trek along the steep slopes as you follow the waterfalls outside the national park. Actually one can have an adjoined journey to Painupe, Matheniko game reserve and the Kidepo Valley National Park.
Mount Elgon covers an area of 1145 square kilometers with distinctive altitudinal vegetative zones restricted to east Africa’s highest mountains declared a UNESCO man and biosphere reserve representing a regional water reserve standing 3000m above the hot dusty plains of Karamoja providing a cool area to flora and fauna the exist in the national park.
The slopes of Elgon support a rich vegetation cover varying in different altitudes from montane forest to high open moorland having the giant lobelia dotted around the zone and a thick bamboo forest with thick beautiful flowers and ferns that make up the forest. Visitors can visit from the kapkwai exploration center tour caves, waterfalls, and escarpments.
Two ethnic groups live on the slopes of mountain elgon The Kalenjin and Bagisu who are traditional farmers growing coffee and bananas for commercial and domestic use they perform ceremonies in every even year if one actually decided to travel in these years could have a chance to see how they perform their traditional dances, customs and norms.
The park can be accessed all year round however the best season is during the dry season December to February, late June to September it is advisable to carry boots, long sleeved shirts, insect repellants, waterproof covers for phones and cameras as Uganda’s weather is so unpredictable especially in the mountainous regions it can rain.
