Travel Guide Mount Elgon National Park

It is the second highest peak in Kenya. The highest point, Wagagai (4 321 m), is not on Kenyan territory, only the peak Koitoboss (4 187 m) is part of the national park. More difficult to access than Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon is much less frequented. However, it is just as magnificent and its summit is much easier to reach (round trip in less than a day). It covers the whole mountain which is covered in its lower part by a dense humid forest where live most of the animals of the park (buffalos, leopards, giant wild boars, various antelopes, guéréza colobus and elephants). Hidden in the middle of an exceptional vegetation (giant podocarpus, cedars, teaks, juniperus...), they are quite difficult to observe. Higher up, we enter a real bamboo forest before reaching, around 3 500 m, an alpine moor, kingdom of lobelia and giant ragwort.But the great attraction of the park are the caves dug by the elephants. Scientists do not all agree on the origin of these caves: for some, they were entirely dug by elephants in search of salt; for others, the elephants simply enlarged them. In any case, entire herds of pachyderms have been coming here for centuries to satisfy their need for salt. With great strokes of their tusks, they dig the rock, sometimes to astonishing heights, all in total darkness. It is almost impossible to witness this fascinating spectacle, because the few groups of elephants that live in the park only come at night.