Email us 
Copy Link
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Facebook
Share on X
The eighth-highest mountain in Africa is known for its unearthly high-altitude vegetation, forest birds and the spectacular Sipi Falls.
Straddling the border of Kenya and Uganda, Elgon is an ancient jagged-peaked volcano with the broadest base of any freestanding mountain in the world. Associated with the same tectonic activity that created the Rift Valley, it first erupted at least 20 million years ago, and remained active for another 10 million years.
In its prime, it was taller than Kilimanjaro is today, and even now it rises to an impressive 4,321 metres on the southwest caldera rim. A notable landmark on the Kenyan side is the salt-lick at Kitum Cave, which is mined by elephants that gouge out the walls with their tusks, extending the shaft deeper into the mountain, a phenomenon only likely to be seen on a nocturnal visit.
