Mt. Elgon National Park lies 235km east of Kampala. A tarmac road runs through Jinja town to Mbale town at the western base of Mount Elgon, before climbing to Kapchorwa on the mountain’s northwestern flank. Murram roads lead off the Mbale-Kapchorwa road to reach the various trail heads.

Mt. Elgon is a massive solitary volcanic mountain on the border of Eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Its vast form, 80km in diameter rises 3070m above the surrounding plains providing welcome relief in more than one sense of the world. Its mountainous terrain introduces variety to an otherwise monotonous regional landscape. Its cool heights offer respite for humans from the hot plains below and its higher altitudes provide a refuge for flora and fauna.

Mount Elgon has been a regional land mark for along time; this extinct volcano is one of Uganda’s oldest physical features first erupting about 20million years ago. It was once Africa’s highest mountain, towering above Kilimanjaro’s 5895m. Millennia of erosion have reduced its height to 4321relagating it to 4th highest peak in East Africa (7th on the continent) However its 4000km2 surface area is still the largest base of any volcanic mountain worldwide. Mount Elgon is bisected by the international boundary between Kenya and Uganda. The mountains’ natural vegetation, and its role as a giant biological sponge, is protected by the Mount Elgon national park on both sides of the border. The Ugandan park, which was upgraded from a forest reserve in 1993, covers 1110 km2. Though its Kenyan counterpart measures 170 km2 it is adjoined by a forest reserve and a national reserve. These parks and reserves in both countries combine to form a trans-boundary conservation area covering 2229 km2 which have been declared man and biosphere reserves under UNESCO.

A climb on the Mount Elgon is to explore a magnificent and uncluttered montane wilderness without the summit oriented approach common to higher regional mountains. Indeed the ultimate goal on reaching the top of Mount Elgon is not the final ascent to the 4321m Wagagai peak, but the descent into the vast 40 km2 caldera.

Mount elgon Np supports a variety of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, deffassa’s waterbuck, leopard, oribi, bushbuck, spotted hyena. Most commonly seen are black and white colobus, blue monkey, duiker and tree squirrel. The mountain is home to 296 birds including 40 restricted range species. Birds whose range is limited to Mount Elgon include Jackson’s Francolin, moustached green tinkerbird, and black –collared apalis. The bronze-napped pigeon, hartlaub’s turaco and tacazze sunbird are limited to Mount Elgon and a few other mountains in eastern Uganda. The endangered Lammergeyer can be seen here soaring above the caldera and Suam gorge.

The fertile slopes of Mount Elgon encourage the group of vegetation that varies depending on altitude. They include montane forests in the lower areas, bamboo forests on higher grounds and alpine-moorlands towards the summit. Over 400 species of plants and 143 of birds have been recorded. Half of Uganda’s species of butterflies are found in Mount Elgon National Park with the endangered Maathai’s Lonleg dragonfly was discovered in 2000. The lower slopes of the mountains support a variety of mammals like white and black colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, buffalos, elephants, red-tailed monkeys, spotted hyena, Oribi, Defassa waterbuck, Bushbucks and smaller antelopes.

The main tribes living in the Ugandan side of the park are the Sabiny and Bagisu.These tribes rely on subsistence farming. The Bagisu have specialized in the growing of Arabica coffee which does well in the fertile soils on the lower slopes of the mountains. The higher slopes of the mountains are protected and managed by the Uganda wildlife Authority in close cooperation with Kenyan counterparts. The Mountain Elgon national park office is located along Masaba Road in Mbale town. This is where tourists go to seek information or acquire permits for park related activities. The Uganda Wildlife Authority office in Kampala also issues permits for activities in Mountain Elgon National park. The office opens from Monday to Friday. You may be interested in reading about Hiking Mountain Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The distance between Kampala city and Mount Elgon National Park is about 230km. The roads are well paved and made of tarmac but traffic jam is a problem on the Kampala – Jinja highway. It takes between 4 to 5 hours to reach Mbale town from Kampala through the towns of Jinja and Iganga. The journey by road offers opportunities to stop and see amazing places like the source of the river Nile and Mabira forest. From Mbale town, one needs to drive to the park offices outside the town or head straight to the nearest mountain climbing starting point in Budadiri. Visitors can hire a car or use public means to get to the park but arranging your travel with a good tour company is more convenient.

For visitors who don’t like long road journeys, there is an option to book a chartered flight from Entebbe international airport to Soroti airfield near Mount Elgon. From the airfield, one would need to travel by road for about one hour before reaching Mbale town or Kapchorwa.