National Parks Africa » Mount Elgon National Park

Mount Elgon National Park is famous for its forest which has gigantic podocarpus trees and impressive stands of juniper and elgon olive. The mountain, like most in Kenya, is a long-extinct volcano. The park covers approximately 170 square kilometres (68 square miles). It lies between 2,500 and 4,300 metres (8,200 and 14,100 feet) up the side of the mountain, the summit of which is in Uganda. Despite its small size, the park has a variety of habitats, from savannah to woodlands and mountain forest to alpine moorlands.

Salt caves:
In the side of the mountain are vast caves, the most famous of which is Kitum, into which elephants have walked for thousands of years. There is good reason to believe that elephants dug the caves themselves since they enter them every two or three days to get salt. There, in complete darkness, nearly 200 metres (660 feet) into the side of the mountain, they use their tusks to gouge mineral salts out of the cave walls. This remarkable population has learned to move about in the dark en masse, with mothers guiding their young past dangerous holes and crevasses using their trunks. Like nearly all other elephants in East Africa, they have been heavily poached in the last few years and they are now under serious threat of complete extinction, despite the valiant efforts of Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Department and the Anti-Poaching Unit.

Colobus monkey, leopard, golden cat, black-fronted duiker, elephant and buffalo live in the rain forest and on the moorland. The park also has a wealth of afro-alpine flowers.

The entrance to the park is 27 kilometres (17 miles) from Kitale along the Endebess road. Although there is no accommodation in the park, one can stay at Mount Elgon Lodge near the entrance. The lodge is a converted farmhouse with a beautiful view. Alternatively, one can stay at Kitale Hotel or at Lokitela Guest House, run by the Mills family on their farm (19 kilometres/12 miles) west of Kitale.

It is also possible to climb Mount Elgon. For more information contact the Mountain Club of Kenya.