Mount Elgon National Park
The fourth largest Ugandan National park, MENP encompasses 1154sq.km and stretches between 0052′-1025′ N and 340 14′ -340 44′E. The majority of the park is situated above 2000m and extends up to the highest peak (Wagagai at 4321m).
In every region the colourful dances, dress and the handicrafts of the people are well worth seeing. The village markets bustle with life, and local craftsmen work as they have done for generations. In this area visitors can discover the infinitive variety our lifestyles and heritage which make Uganda so special.
In the eastern most region of Uganda, along the border with Kenya, towers the dramatic mass that is Mount Elgon.
Although Mt. Elgon was well know to Arab traders passing along old slaving routes to it’s East (Kenya), explorer Henry Morton Stanley was the first to write about Mt. Elgon when he presumably saw it while circumnavigating Lake Victoria in 1875.
Joseph Thompson, a British explorer and geographer was the first European to visit Mt. Elgon in 1883. Thompson referred to the mountain as “Masawa” or “Elgon” and generated curiosity among the explorers.
In 1890, with a 400 men caravan, Frederick Jackson of the Imperial British Exploration Association was the first European to visit the Caldera and to climb any of the major peaks. Ironically, Jackson climbed from the south and probably never even saw Masaba peak which was later named Jackson’s summit after him.
Mt. Elgon has been called a “Mountain of Illusion” partly because of the number of hiking parties lost on its slopes in the past and because no one could determine its highest point. Sudek and Koitobos peaks (Kenya) were both proclaimed “the top of Elgon” at different times. Wagagai, the highest peak (4321m), does not protrude markedly above the caldera rim and conceals its height well. In fact, Wagagai peak was overlooked by explorers until the early 20th century.
Location
The Mountain is positioned approximately 100 km northeast of Lake Victoria and straddles the border of Uganda and Kenya. The International boundary is marked by the Suam and Lwakaka Rivers, and the beacon on Sudek Peak. Administratively, the Mountain falls in two districts (in Uganda), Kapchowra District to the north and Mbale District to the South. Measuring about 80 km, from north to south and 50km east to West, more than half of Mt. Elgon (including the majority of its Caldera) lies in Uganda.
