Hiking Mt. Elgon
The Bradt guide provides some introductory trivia about Mount Elgon:
- The 8th highest peak in Africa raising 4,321 m at Wagagi Peak along the Kenya / Uganda border.
- An important watershed and the main source of drinking water for over 2 million Ugandans
- A fertile area, the bread basket of Uganda as well as the producer of “black gold”, the country’s famous Arabic coffee
My attention, of course was focused on the hiking potential. We left Canada
with the minimum gear required for a five day, 80km trek covering over 6,000 metres of elevation change.
As we started to catch glimpses of the mountain from the matatu (taxi) it was impossible to miss that it was rather shrouded in ominous looking rain clouds. We got soaked in Mbale as we searched for a local matatu to take us to the trail head in Budadiri.
This became the pattern for the next five days: rain from about 12:30 to 4:30pm. The solution was to get up at 5am, start hiking at sunrise, and reach the next camp at midday… hopefully ahead of the rains. The challenge of sodden, slippery trails remained but fortunately we had both packed our good hiking boots. Thankfully there were also afternoons by the cook’s fire to chase away the dampness. In the end it was a fantastic hike - great scenery, knowledgeable guides, helpful porters, a wonderful cook and fellow travelers who we ended up spending quite a large amount of time with.