Mt Elgon National Park
Mount Elgon National Park is another park well known for its unique mountain which attracts most of the travelers who like hiking and climbing. Mount Elgon National Park is located at the Uganda-Kenya border and it is near the highest mountain in East Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro. It was established in 1968 with a stunning landscape including cliffs, gorges waterfalls, and hot springs among others. Mount Elgon is believed to be the fourth with highest peak in East Africa and then the eighth in the whole world. It has got two tribes including the Sabiny and the Bagisu who are also known as the Bamasaba. This Park is home to over 300 bird species and other wildlife including blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys and elephants.
Activities to do in Mount Elgon National Park
Birding in Mount Elgon National Park
To travelers who are good at birding, this is one of the most beautiful destinations you shouldn’t miss to go to. There are a good number of trails you can use while birding with the use of your foot. If you need to view well some of these birds, make sure you move with your cameras and binoculars for good viewing of different bird species such as lemon dove, African hill babbler, mountain yellow warbler, grey cuckoo shrink, hartlaubs turaco, black-throated wattle eye among other species.
Rock climbing
Rock climbing can either be done on Mount Elgon itself or Sipi Falls area which is very exciting. Climbing this rock or Sipi Falls is more of safer than you have ever thought. It is always well supervised and guided by the respective personalities within the park. As soon as you have reached the Sipi Falls be ready to experience water splashing on you as you view its beautiful fall to the ground.
Guided nature walks
Instead of spending much of the time on one activity, you can also decide to carry out a nature walk which is done within the different trails of the park. While on this walk am sure you won’t miss seeing and hearing the sweet melodies from the different bird species such as the lemon doves, the turacos, the mountain yellow warbler, grey cuckoo shrink among others.
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is also another interesting activity enjoyed by the people involved in biking. The mountain biking starts from Sipi Falls and runs to Kapchorwa town allowing tourists to view the Karamojong people, Karamoja plains, hills, and coffee plantations among others.
Accommodation in mount Elgon national park
Mount Elgon National Park has a lot to offer to its visitors ranging from cottages such as Kapusurur and Aniet cottages offering the best services to visitors on a safari to Mount Elgon National Park
How to get to Mount Elgon National Park
There are two ways you can reach Mount Elgon National Park by both road and air transport.
By road, driving from Kampala or Entebbe airport will take about 5 to 6 hours to reach Mount Elgon National Park passing through Jinja, Mbale, and then to Mount Elgon National Park where Mbale is considered to be the nearer town.
By air, You can also decide to use a flight right away from Kajjansi Airfield or Entebbe Airport to Soroti Flying School before connecting to Mount Elgon National Park.