What makes Mount Elgon national park Unique?

Are you interested about understanding what makes Mount Elgon national park Unique?  Mount Elgon national park is one of the popular tourist destinations in the eastern part of Uganda. The national park is located in Mbale district where it even extends to the western part of Kenya. Mount Elgon national park was gazetted as a national park in 1992 by the Uganda Wildlife Authority a government agency that protects and manages parks in different parts of the country.

Mount Elgon national park has so many things that make it unique from the rest of other national parks in the country. Mount Elgon is one of the features within the park that has made the national park a unique one. The mountain has the largest volcanic base, the largest caldera lake and it’s the second tallest in the country.

Mount Elgon national park is shared by two countries Uganda and Kenya. Uganda takes 1110 sq. km and Kenya takes 196 sq. km to form Mount Elgon national park. By visiting Mountain Elgon national park, you will get a chance to discover different unique things in the protected area some of which include animals, birds, water sources, mountains, and rocks to mention but a few.

Things that make Mount Elgon national park unique.

Mount Elgon

Located on the borders of Uganda and Kenya, Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano with the largest volcanic base (80km in diameter) in the whole world. Mount Elgon is the second-tallest mountain in Uganda and the eighth-tallest in the whole world. Mount Elgon has the largest caldera lake at its summit which is 40 kilometers squared

It’s the few things about Mount Elgon that attract hikers from different parts of the world. Mount Elgon national park receives mainly hikers who are interested in getting to the summit of Mount Elgon. It takes a good hiker 4 to 5 days to ascend and descend Mount Elgon national park. Hiking this mountain enables one to see the different attractions on the slopes and those in the nearby areas.

Birds

Mount Elgon national park has over 300 bird species that have been so far recorded and among these include the endangered Lammergeyer. Of the 300 bird species, some are endemic to Mount Elgon national park while others can be found in other places in the country. For birders that want to see the different bird species of Mount Elgon national park, bird watching is the activity to do.

Bird watching in Mount Elgon national park will enable birders to see different species of birds such as African Goshwak, common bulbul, Angola swallow, African paradise flycatcher, ring-necked dove, rock martin, brown crowned tchagra, black throated wattle eye, doherty’s bushsrike, red fronted parrot, grey-backed fiscal, Elgon francolin, Nyanza swift, northern fiscal, meyer’s parrot, tropical boubou, yellow whiskered greenbul, grey throated barbet, African penduline tit,

Hartlaub’s turaco, variable sunbird, ross’s turaco, black cuckoo, western yellow wagtail, yellow billed barbet, peregrine falcon, Eurasian blackcap, red-billed oxpecker, Abyssinian thrush, moorland chat, cape robin chat, white-bellied tit, pale flycatcher, white-headed sawing, green-headed sunbird, malachite sunbird, brown capped weaver.

Abyssinian crimsonwing, northern double-collared sunbird, pin-tailed whydah, red-rumped swallow, African emerald cuckoo, red-capped robin chat, white-browed robin chat, black and white mannikin, spotted flycatcher, northern grey-headed sparrow, African dusky flycatcher, thick-billed seedeater, black goshawk, grey wagtail, mountain illadopsis, slender-billed greenbul, streaky seedeater to mention but a few.

The Sipi falls

The beautiful Sipi falls are found on the northwestern slopes of Mountain Elgon in Sironko and Mbale district. Sipi falls are a series of three waterfalls with the largest being Sipi falls which is about 95 meters, Simba falls 75 meters and Ngasire falls is about 85 meters. These falls have attracted tourists that visit Mount Elgon national park for they are beautiful to walk.

During a visit to Sipi falls, tourists who love coffee farming and production can visit the local farms and learn about the coffee. A visit to the homes and farms of the local farmers will enable you to see the coffee-making process where coffee seeds are turned into powder and you will also be able to know how long coffee takes to grow.

How do you get to Mount Elgon national park?

Mount Elgon park is accessed by road transport which takes a single day. It takes 5 to 6 hours to get to Mount Elgon national park if one is coming from Entebbe/Kampala. The journey is about 240sq.km, from Entebbe, tourists go through Kampala, Mukono, Iganga, and then Mbale where the national park is found.