Mount Elgon National Park lies at 4000 square kilometers and it has the largest volcanic base in the world. It is found in Mbale district (Bududa) in the eastern parts of Uganda, it is a massive solitary volcanic mountain in the eastern boarder of Uganda and western Kenya. It is a UNESCO heritage and it is a home to over 300 bird species, small antelopes, buffaloes, forest monkeys, elephants and many others.
One day I and my cousin we organized ourselves to visit mountain Elgon National Park. We prepared ourselves and we had to rent car in Uganda from our reliable service provider. After getting the car we the next day morning we woke up and cleaned ourselves, we took a morning tea and then we departed from Kampala using the tarmac road that runs from Kampala to Mukono then to Lugazi to Jinja and then to Mbale where the park is situated. We delayed on the way because our car got a problem which needed to be repaired so the journey took us for almost 7 hrs. before reaching.
After reaching to the park we could not participate in anything rather than renting a nearby lodge in Mbale due to the fatigue we had, the next day in the morning we woke up and cleaned ourselves after which we took a coffee of tea each of us before going in the field. Soon after taking tea we arrived at the park where we received a very warm welcome by the park trained guiders. We paid all the bills that were required from us but our first sight was at the very huge mountain Elgon and large calderas that are clearly seen on the top of mountain Elgon.
We saw many visitors climbing mountain Elgon which looked very interesting and soon we also rushed into the same activity and we really enjoyed it. We also practiced mountain biking from Sipi trading centre to Chema hill in Kapchorwa town where we viewed many water falls from there. We found anglers involving in sport fishing and we asked them to teach us which they did though we didn’t catch any fish since we were still learners and yet the task is very challenging due to the very fast running waters.
Excellent birding activities are also done at Kapkwai forest exploration where we had a chance to view various bird species, we viewed many animals and many bird species from Mount Elgon National Park and got involved in many activities including mountain biking, mountain climbing, birding, hiking, sport fishing and nature walks which we practiced it on our own foot and through this activity we had a chance to view the Sipi falls outside the park.
Before leaving the park, we got to know that along the mountain side the local people grow coffee on the mountain side which is best known as the Arabica coffee or Bugisu coffee as it is mainly known by the farmers.
We completed our tour very late so we could not go back to our home on that very day so we had to go back to our lodge which we had rented. We slept there up to the following day where we left Mbale back to Kampala and this time our car did not get any problem so we did not delay on the way for so long.
Therefore, am happy to tell anyone there who is stuck to where he/she should go and chase away stress and boredom plus having fun that the best solution is mountain Elgon National Park.
