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Mount Elgon National Park - "Untamed
Wilderness, Secluded Splendour..."
Background
Information
Mt. Elgon is Kenya's second highest mountain. It lies 140km
North East of Lake Victoria and is bisected by the Kenya-Uganda
border. It is an ancient eroded volcano with a huge caldera
and, on its summit, the spectacular flat topped basalt column
known as Koitobos. Another unique feature of the mountain
is the lava tube caves, some over 60m wide and frequented
by elephants (and other animals) digging for salts. The mountain
soils are red laterite. Mt Elgon is an important water catchment
for the Nzoia river which flows into Lake Victoria and for
the Turkwel river which flows into Lake Turkana.
Mt
Elgon National Park was gazetted in 1968 and covers a narrow
transect up the North Eastern slopes of the mountain, from
lower montane forest to the caldera edge. The remaining forest
and moorland is part of the Mt Elgon Forest Reserve. The Ugandan
side of the mountain is protected within Uganda's Mt Elgon
National Park.
Location:
On the western border of Kenya with Uganda, in Trans-nzoia
District of Rift Valley Province. It covers an area of 169km2.
Climate:
The climate is moist to moderate dry. Annual rainfall is over
1,270mm.
HOW
TO GET THERE
Roads:
Mt. Elgon is located 470 kms from Nairobi. Access is via tarmac
road to Kitale and then to the Chorlim Gate. Two routes to
the gate can be used, either via Endebess or take the tarmac
road 11km past Kitale and turn left onto a murrum road leading
to the gate.
Airstrips:
At Park Headquarters.
Park
Roads:
Adequate road network.
Park
Gates:
There are four park gates i.e. Chorlim main gate, Kassawai,
Kiptogot and Kimothon.
MAJOR
ATTRACTIONS
Together
with the fauna and flora, the park is endowed with variety
and breathtaking scenery of cliffs, caves, waterfalls, gorges,
mesas, calderas, hot springs, and the mountain peaks.
The
most popular areas are the four explorable, vast caves where
frequent night visitors such as elephants and buffaloes come
to lick the natural salt found on the cave walls. Kitum cave,
with overhanging crystalline walls, enters 200 m into the
side of Mt. Elgon.
The
breathtaking natural beauty of the park can be best appreciated
from the Endebess Bluff where one gets a panoramic view of
the areas' escarpments, gorges, mesas, and rivers.
The
highest peak of Mt. Elgon on the Kenya side, Koitoboss, measures
13,852 ft (4,155 m), and is easily reached by hikers in about
two hours from the road's end.
FACILITIES
Bandas:
Kapkuro Banda
Campsites:
Public: Rongai Campsite; Nyati Campsite; Chorlim Campsite.
Special: Salt lick Campsite.
Lodges:
Mt. Elgon Lodge, 28 beds. Situated 0.5 km. outside the park
gate.
Picnic
Sites:
There is one picnic site at the Elephant platform with no
facilities.
Nature
Trails:
The park has three short nature trails to Kiptum cave, Makingeny
cave and the Elephant Bluff.
ACTIVITIES
- Vehicle
circuits leading to animal viewing areas, the caves and
Koitoboss peak.
- Self-guided
walking trails (Ask for the Kitum Cave guide book at the
gate)
- Hiking
to Endebess Bluff and Koitoboss Peak
- Primate
and bird watching
- Cave
explorations
- Camping
Photography
COMMON
VEGETATION
The
vegetation varies with altitude. The mountain slopes are covered
with olive Olea hochstetteri and Aningueria adolfi-friedericii
wet montane forest. At higher altitudes, this changes
to olive and Podocarpus gracilior forest, and then
a Podocarpus and bamboo Arundinaria alpina
zone. Higher still is a Hagenia abyssinica zone and
then moorland with heaths Erica arborea and Philippia
trimera, tussock grasses such as Agrostis gracilifolia
and Festuca pilgeri, herbs such as Alchemilla,
Helichrysum, Lobelia, and the giant groundsels Senecio
barbatipes and Senecio elgonensis.
The
botanical diversity of the park includes giant podocarpus,
juniper and Elgon olive trees cedar Juniperus procera,
pillarwood Cassipourea malosana, elder Sambucus
adnata, pure stands of Podocarpus gracilior
and many orchids.
Of
the 400 species recorded for the area the following are of
particular note as they only occur in high altitude broad-leaf
montane forest: Ardisiandra wettsteinii, Carduus afromontanus,
Echinops hoehnelii, Ranunculus keniensis (previously
thought endemic to Mount Kenya), and Romulea keniensis.
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