Flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park

Flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park: Flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park needs time to plan. They involve choosing when to go, what activities you will do when you get to the park, booking with the right tour operator, and where to stay while in the park among others. If you are not sure about planning a flying safari to Rwenzori Mountains national park or even what to expect on a safari, this very article is for you.

Here is a list of important things you will need for your flying safari to be successful in Rwenzori Mountains national park. It has different things to consider when planning a successful safari to the park. By reading this article, you will learn a lot and you will have a good time, incredible sightings of attractions in the park, and best memories once you decide to fly to Rwenzori Mountains national park.

Flights to Rwenzori Mountains national park

There are flights to and from Rwenzori Mountains national park by different airline companies within the country. Aerolink Uganda, Bar Aviation Uganda, and Kampala Executive Aviation are some of the airline companies within the country that have flights to Rwenzori Mountains national park. For anyone to fly to Rwenzori Mountains national park they must book with an airline company first and this can be done by a tour operator.

Airline companies have flights to Rwenzori Mountains national park and Kasese Airstrip is the nearest airstrip used. Flights to Rwenzori Mountains national park start from Kajjansi Airstrip or Entebbe International Airport and land at Kasese Airstrip. From Kasese airstrip, tourists connect to Rwenzori Mountains national park using road transport.

What to do on a flying safari to Rwenzori Mountains national park

Hiking Mountain Rwenzori

Mountain Rwenzori national park is 120km wide and 65km wide inside Rwenzori Mountains national park. On a flying safari to this national park, hikers can go mountain climbing where they will get an opportunity to reach different stages of the tallest mountain in Uganda. Mount Rwenzori is the third tallest mountain in Africa with Margherita peak at 5109m above sea level.

For one to hike Mount Rwenzori to the summit, they would need about 9 to 12 days and the days spent depend on the speed of the hikers. On a luxury safari, tourists can hike to any of the points of the mountain or even reach the summit of Mount Stanley. Hiking starts with a briefing where hikers are taught about the rules and regulations of activity.

Armed ranger guides lead the hikers to the top of the mountain using different hiking trails. Hikers are able to see different attractions while hiking and among these include vegetation, primates, mammals, birds, rivers, lakes, and glaciers to mention but a few. At the end of every day, tourists have a place to stay and the next morning they do hike again.

Hiking is allowed to different points but the strongest hikers are those that reach the summit. The summit of Mountain Rwenzori national park is at Mount Stanely on Margherita Peak at 5109 meters. Hikers at different points of Mount Rwenzori get an opportunity to take photos and record videos of the different things around them.

Birding

Birding is one of the most done activities in Rwenzori Mountains National Park meaning that tourists on a flying safari can do such an activity once there. There are over 217 bird species so far recorded in Rwenzori Mountains national park which tourists can see while on a birding safari in Rwenzori Mountains national park. It’s said that 19 of these bird species are endemic to the Albertine region which means tourists are lucky if they get to see them while here.

Birds tourists are likely to see on a birding safari include Red tufted sunbird, black-billed turaco, barred long-tailed cuckoo, Rwenzori batis, angola swallow, banded prinia, cinnamon chested bee-eater, regal sunbird, long-eared owl, stuhlmann’s sunbird, Rwenzori turaco, stout cisticola, black-faced rufous warbler, grey apalis, dwarf honeyguide, brown woodland warbler, thick-billed seedeater, cinnamon bracken warbler, rock martin, mackinnon’s shrike, Evergreen forest warbler.

Yellow crowned canary, African pied wagtail, montane sooty boubou, plain martin, white-necked raven, fawn breasted waxbill, narrow-tailed starling, archer’s robin chat, mountain yellow warbler, mountain illadopsis, red chested cuckoo, great crested grebe, singing cisticola, scarlet tufted malachite sunbird, red-faced woodland warbler, eastern mountain greenbul.

Latham’s francolin, scaly spurfowl, barn owl, long-crested eagle, African hobby, grey-throated barbet, African penduline tit, African emerald cuckoo, scaly throated honeyguide, yellow-fronted tinkerbird, golden-crowned woodpecker, village weaver, dusky blue flycatcher, brown-throated wattle eye, cardinal woodpecker, and doherty’s bushshrike to mention but a few.

Nature walks

Nature walks are activities done by tourists in free time when they are still in the park. In Mountain Rwenzori national park, tourists on a flying safari can participate in nature walk activities in order to get so close to the different attractions that have been recorded in the park. During nature walks, tourists pass through different vegetation covers where they meet different wildlife species. Tourists get to see hills, rivers, and mountains and they also meet the local people along the way.

When to have a flying safari to Rwenzori Mountains national park

Tourists can have flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park all throughout the year. The dry season is however the best period to have flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park and that is the best time to visit the park. The dry season happens from June to September and December to February when the park is experiencing little or no rainfall and plenty of sunshine.

The dry season is the best time for flying to Rwenzori Mountains national park because tourists will enjoy all the activities within the park. The flights during the dry season don’t delay as the weather is very good with clear skies that favor flights. Inside the national park, the walking trails are muddy and slippery, vegetation is short with clear views of wildlife other park attractions and the roads leading to the park are passable.

Tourists can still have flying safaris to Rwenzori Mountains national park during the rainy season. The rainy season happens from March to May and October to November when the park experiences a lot of rainfall. Yes, tourists can fly to Kasese airstrip and visit Rwenzori Mountains national park but they should know that the plenty of rainfall in the park makes the walking trails muddy and slippery, the vegetation is tall with unclear views of attractions and the roads leading to the park are impassable.