4 Days Mount Elgon Hiking

At 4,000km² Mt. Elgon has the largest volcanic base in the world. Located on the Uganda-Kenya border.

It is also the oldest and largest solitary, volcanic mountain in East Africa. Its vast form, 80km in diameter, rises more than 3,000m above the surrounding plains. The mountain’s cool heights offer respite from the hot plains below, with the higher altitudes providing a refuge for flora and fauna. Its crater, about 5 miles (8 km) in diameter, contains several peaks, of which Wagagai (14,178 feet [4,321 m]) is the highest. Its extrusions cover about 1,250 square miles (3,200 square km) and consist largely of fragmental rocks and only a smattering of lavas. The mountain slope is gentle and the outline unimpressive. On the east and southeast at about 6,200 feet (1,890 m) its relief merges with the Uasin Gishu Plateau, but in the west and northwest spectacular cliffs dominate the 3,600-foot (1,100-metre) plains of eastern Uganda. In the summit zone, moraines provide ample evidence of former glaciation. On the caldera’s uneven floor there are considerable swamps, tapped by the Suam and Turkwel rivers. Other streams furrow the slopes. The moorland zone, containing tree heaths, giant groundsels, and lobelias, extends down to 10,000 feet (3,050 m), where it is succeeded by bamboo forest. Below 8,300 feet (2,550 m) is a temperate deciduous forest.