Mt Elgon National Park

At the foot of Mt Elgon is about 470 km from Nairobi and has an area of 169 km sq. The National park was established in October 1967 and gazetted as a national park in April 1968.

The Mountain Elgon, is a massive solitary volcanic mountain on the border of eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Its vast form, eighty kilometres in diameter, rises 3070m above the surrounding plains, providing welcome relief in more than one sense of the word and making it the second highest mountain in Kenya.

Mount Elgon is a hugely important water catchment. Its forests receive up to 3000mm of rain each year, which they store and release to support flora, fauna and more than a million Ugandans. Elgon’s water is equally important to many Kenyans, for Mount Elgon is bisected by the international boundary.

The forest is untamed wilderness that was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2003 in recognition of its importance as a water catchment area for the Nzoia River flowing into Lake Victoria, and for Turkwel River flowing into Lake Turkana. Mt Elgon forest has a wide variety of attractions that include caves formed from ancient lava tubes, cliffs and mountain peaks ideal for climbing, waterfalls, gorges, hot springs and calderas.

The caves known collectively as Elkony, display ancient paintings. The most known cave is the Kitum Cave, which is regularly visited by elephants, buffalo, bushbuck, and duiker in search of mineral rich salt found there.

Each night, elephant herds gather at the cave and begin a slow procession deep into the mountain, making their way through the paths made by generations before them.