Mount
Elgon National Park
 Back Ground
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. |
