Discover Mount Elgon national park

Discover Mount Elgon national park: With the second tallest mountain and abundance of wildlife, Mount Elgon national park is one of the destinations tourists dream of. The national park is found in the eastern side of Uganda in Mbale district where it extends up to the Kenyan border. Mount Elgon national park is a safari destination with different attractions on an 1110 sq. km piece of land.

Mount Elgon national park was gazetted in 1992 by the Uganda Wildlife Authority a government agency that protects and manages all park activities in Uganda. The national park was gazetted to protect a number of attractions which are living and non-living things. Different animals and birds are found within the park, Mount Elgon, Rivers, Caldera Lake, and rocks to mention but a few.

Mount Elgon national park is one of the safari destinations in Uganda that tourists should visit while on a safari in Uganda or East Africa. The 1110 sq. km piece of land is home to different wild animals, birds, vegetation, water sources, Mount Elgon, and the world’s largest caldera lake to mention but a few. Tourists can visit mount Elgon park, be part of different activities, and discover the different attractions found inside the park.

Activities organized in Mount Elgon national park.

Mountain Climbing

Mountain climbing on a safari in Mount Elgon national park will enable tourists to explore Mount Elgon. Mount Elgon is the tallest mountain in the park and the second tallest in Uganda after Rwenzori Mountains. Hiking this mountain is an activity carried out every day in the park and it does help tourists to explore this mountain.

Hiking in Mount Elgon national park starts in the morning with a briefing from the park authorities who teach hikers the rules and regulations of the activity. Later hikers are driven to the starting point where they meet hikers and porters. The role of porters is to help hikers on carrying excess luggage while the armed ranger guides lead hikers to the summit of the mountain.

Hikers follow the armed ranger guides and must keep in group for safety reasons. Hiking is done during day and it takes 7 to 8 hours for 4 to 5 days with the time taken depending on the speed of the hikers as well as the nature of the hiking trails. While hiking, tourists get to see a number of attractions which include vegetation, rocks, birds, animals, lakes, caldera, and much more.

Guided nature walks

Guided nature walks are activities that are done by tourists inside the park on foot. Because they walk on foot, they get to reach different areas of the park and see different hidden attractions there. Different walking trails are inside the park for example mountain bamboo trail, budadiri trail, and the trails to the caves. During nature walks, tourists will see birds, animals, vegetation, Mountain Elgon park, water sources, and much more.

Bird watching

Birding is an activity in Mountain Elgon national park that can enable tourists to see the different bird species recorded there. There are more than 300 bird species living in Mount Elgon national park and the best way to see them is by taking part in bird watching activities. Bird watching in Mountain Elgon is a guided activity where armed ranger guides take birders to different areas of the park with a high population of bird species.

During a bird watching exercise in Mountain Elgon national park, tourists will be able to see bird species such as Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, crowned hornbill, black-tailed oriole, mountain buzzard, double-toothed barbet, white-headed wood hoopoe, Nyanza swift, augur buzzard, waller’s starling, Cameron pigeon, purple throated cuckoo shrike, brown crowned tchagra, pied cow, red fronted parrot, eastern mountain greenbul.

Barn owl, red chested owlet, hadada ibis, narina trogon, rufous necked wryneck, white stork, grey crowned crane, cardinal woodpecker, lanner falcon, black goshawk, pale flycatcher, ross’s turaco, black and white casqued hornbill, doherty’s bush shrike, African paradise flycatcher, grey cuckoo shrike, black-throated wattle eye, little bee-eater, cinnamon chested bee-eater, tropical boubou, grey-backed fiscal, white-bellied tit, northern fiscal.

African black-headed oriole, grey apalis, white-headed sawing, Angola swallow, common bulbul, western house martin, red-rumped swallow, red-cheeked cordon bleu, mountain wagtail, chinspot batis, black and white mannikin, cape robin chat, African dusky flycatcher, thick-billed seedeater, brown woodland warbler, red-winged starling, red-capped robin chat, and buff throated apalis to mention but a few.

How to get to Mount Elgon national park

Tourists can access Mount Elgon national park using road transport. There is a direct route to Mbale district where the national park is located and it takes 7 to 8 hours to get there. From Entebbe, tourists drive through Kampala, Mukono, Jinja, Iganga, and finally, Mbale where the park is located. The journey to Mountain Elgon national parks comes with great views of different scenery along the way.