Mount Elgon National Park
This park gets its name from Mount Elgon which is an extinct volcanic mountain and also one the oldest features in Uganda. Mount Elgon first erupted about 24 million years ago and at 4,321 meters high, it is today the 4th highest mountain in East Africa even though it was once the highest mountain in the region but today Mount Kilimanjaro lies 5,895m high. Constant soil erosion is the main facto as to why it keeps reducing.
Mt. Elgon occupies an area of about 50 X 80 kilometer area and it is still one of the best safari destinations especially for hikers. This park is found along the border of Uganda and Kenya and is therefore shared by the two countries. .
The Flora and the Fauna:
Mt Elgon national Park is very well endowed a beautiful vegetation cover and animal life. The mountain slopes do support most of the altitudinal vegetation plants ranging from Montana, there is a mixture of bamboo-belt forest trees and a fascinating high open area of moorland. There are dotted points covered rare plants like the large lobelia and groundsel plants at some areas. There are also thick shrubs and glowing wild flowers with an amazingly long life span and these make the park look really beautiful for a big period of time in a year thus another attraction that many people enjoy while on a safari in Mountain Elgon national park.
If you’re interested in animals, you will find it interesting to know that this park is also a home a number of mammals. There is a lot of wildlife living in the open and dark jungles of this park, most commonly by the hikers as they make their way up the mountain via different trails. These include primates like the blue monkeys, there black and white Columbus monkey which are very common around the thick forested areas. There is also a small number of elephants commonly found in the forests and in the montane moorland areas.
Bird watcher will also find this park equally interesting since it is a home to more than 300 different bird species including Lammergeyer which are endangered species.
Hiking
Hikers who don’t want to go for mountains like Rwenzori or Kilimanjaro should definitely hike Mt. Elgon. You can hike up to its highest peak called Wagagai peak which lies at 4321 meters high. This hike offers some of the best sceneries and in addition to that is the collapsed crater Calder at the top of the mountain which occupies about 40 kilometers. Until today, this is the largest so far known naturally formed craters in the whole country. It is surrounded by several rocky peaks of the mountain thus making the place look really beautiful.
