Mount Elgon National Park

Elgon is an old shield volcano with one of the largest calderas in the world, its summit shared between Kenya and Uganda, and the Kenyan park covers the eastern flank from montane forest up through bamboo into open moorland with giant lobelias. The feature that makes it unusual is underground: several caves run into the mountainside, and elephants walk into them in darkness to gouge salt-bearing rock from the walls with their tusks, a behaviour recorded almost nowhere else. Kitum cave is the best known, extending some two hundred metres into the mountain with tusk grooves on the walls. Bats roost inside, and buffalo and antelope also use the caves. Above the forest, walking routes climb to Koitoboss peak on the Kenyan side. The park is quiet, with few visitors compared with the southern parks.

Highlights

• Kitum cave - the salt-mining cave with elephant tusk grooves on the walls.
• Moorland and lobelias - high open ground above the forest belt.
• Koitoboss peak - the Kenyan summit, a walk rather than a climb.
• Forest and waterfalls - montane forest with streams and falls on the lower slopes.

When to go

Dry seasons for tracks and walking. Elephants enter the caves at night, so seeing them there requires luck and patience rather than a scheduled visit. It is cold and wet on the high moor at any time of year.

Good to know

Elephants in the caves are rarely seen by visitors, and photographs of the behaviour come from research work rather than tourism; expect the caves without the animals. Tracks need 4x4. Facilities are basic, with campsites and a couple of bandas. Cave floors are slippery and torches essential.

Nearby

Saiwa Swamp is near Kitale; the Cherangani hills lie east.

Key facts