Mount Elgon National Park in Kenya

Mountain Elgon National Park is distinctive is ways they are made it a specials park ranging from the elephant salt licks to being the boundary between Kenya and Uganda.

Mount Elgon National Park kenya

Mountain Elgon is not only Unique for being split by the Kenya-Uganda boundary but also its untamed wilderness in quiet magnificence. It is a two-in-one park whereby Kenya has got its portion as well as Uganda and each portion is managed by the parks departments of individual countries.

UNESCO declared Kenya`s Mount Elgon National park a world Heritage Site & Biosphere Reserve. The park is most ideal for Bikers and climbing Mountain Elgon.

Elephant Salt Licks

Mountain Elgon National park features a big number of caves but what is more interesting that visitors can explore with these caves is that, the Elephants and Buffalos of the park go into these caves at night to lick salt from the walls as a way of adding nutrients in their bodies. Now here comes a question, considering the mouth of an elephant, how do you think it licks salt from the hard walls of the Mount Elgon caves? You will need to explore this lively!

And by the way these caves are not just permanent but rather expanding every day. As elephants and other animals lick salt from these caves, they keep on expanding them. for example, Kitum cave now stretches for almost 200 meters in the park. One of the caves in the park even has rock paintings. You deserve to see this by yourself!

Wildlife of Mount Elgon national park of Kenya

We already mentioned that the park inhabits elephants and buffaloes in its slopes. But this is not only the wildlife in the park, it also inhabits small antelopes, black and white colobus and blue monkeys.  Then when it comes to birds, don’t miss a safari to this destination. It is actually a home to over 300 species of birds including the critically endangered Lammergeier, African goshawk and Baglafecht Weaver. Now the true birders understand what it means to visit Mt Elgon!

Wangari Matthaai a Nobel Prize winner in Kenya got for herself a dragonfly from Mount Elgon in 2000 which she named after her, Maathai`s Longleg.

What to do in Mount Elgon National park

The highlights for a safari to mount Elgon in Kenya is basically hiking and walking. But you can drive through the trails in the park for leisure and adventure as you enjoy the views of some caves and animals in the park. The routes will also definitely reward you with the breathtaking views of rivers, beautiful escarpments and gorges.

Self-guided walks are very common in the park. The trails will lead you to the caves like Kitum cave that you will certainly wish to explore. Others activities you can do in the park will require you to have binoculars and undertake birding as well as primate viewing.