MOUNT ELGON NATIONAL PARK

Mount Elgon National Park is a national park 140 km North East of Lake Victoria. The park covers an area of 1279 km² and is bisected by the border of Kenya and Uganda. The Ugandan part of the park covers 1110 km² while the Kenyan part covers 169 km². The Kenyan part of the park was gazetted in 1968,the Ugandan part in 1992 Mount Elgon is an important water catchment for the Nzoia River which flows to Lake Victoria and for the Turkwel River which flows into Lake Turkana.

The climate is moist to moderate dry. Annual rainfall is over 1,270mm. The dry season runs from June to August, and December to March, although it can rain at any time.

Elephants and buffalo can be found on the lower slopes. The park is also home to a variety of small antelope and forest monkeys, including the Black-and-white Colobus and Blue Monkey. Over 300 birds can also be found in the area, including the Lammergeier, African Goshawk, and Baglafecht Weaver. Maathai's Longleg an endangered dragonfly was discovered here in 2000 and named after Nobel Prize winner Wangari Mathaai.

Together with the fauna and flora, the park has a variety of scenery; this includes 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.

At the Endebess Bluff there 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. Activities include

Ø  Vehicle circuits leading to animal viewing areas, the caves and Koitoboss peak.

Ø  Self-guided walking trails (Ask for the Kitum Cave guide book at the gate)

Ø  Hiking to Endebess Bluff and Koitoboss Peak

Ø  Primate and bird watching

Ø  Cave explorations

Ø  Camping photography

Other attractions include ancient cave paintings near the trailhead at Budadiri, and hot springs in the former volcano's crater which bubble at temperatures of up to 48 °C.

The park is the setting for parts of Richard Preston's book The Hot Zone. Kitum Cave is also a setting in the book. Henry Rider Haggard's well-known novel 'King Solomon's Mines' may have been inspired by the Mt Elgon Caves.

There is a lot of accommodation facilities at the park and its surrounding areas.these include ;

Ø  Public campsites that are; Rongai,Nyati and Chorlim campsites.

Ø  There is a special campsite known as the Saltlick  Campsite.

Ø  Kenya Wildlife Service does catering at Kapkuro Bandas and Koitoboss Guesthouse.