Overview
With this 9-day Rwenzori mountain trekking safari, you’ll visit Uganda’s tallest mountain range, known for its summits that are always covered in snow. You must climb to Margherita Summit, the third-highest mountain in Africa and the highest peak in the range. The mountain ranges that make up Rwenzori Mountains National Park are home to more than 70 animals, 217 bird species, including 19 endemics to the Albertine Rift, and some of the rarest plant life on earth. While on this mountain Rwenzori trekking safari, there are a number of other activities to do in in addition to the challenging trip, such as visiting the nearby Bakonzo villages for nature hikes and interactions with the locals.
Trip Highlights
- Rare Wildlife
- Unique Vegetation
- The Rwenzori Snow Peaks
- The Rwenzori Lakes
Itinerary
Once you arrive, our safari guide picks you up and drives you first to Kasese town, then on to the Rwenzori Mountains National Park. Although the trip takes 6 hours, you won't be bored thanks to the breathtaking scenery along the way. As you approach Kasese, the surrounding scenery, tea plantations, and vistas of the Rwenzori Mountains will astound you. You take several photos at the equator stop and then travel to Mbarara town for lunch. Register with the Rwenzori Mountaineering Service (RMS) offices once you arrive in Kasese.
Dinner and sleeping arrangements will be made at either the Rwenzori Base Mountain Camp (Budget) or the Hotel Margherita (Midrange).
After a hearty meal in the morning, you are driven to the Rwenzori Mountaineering Service (RMS) offices in Nyakalengija. You will be given the equipment you need for hiking, as well as designated guides and porters. After that, you embark on a 5-7 hours climb to Nyabitaba Hut. The Mubuku River must be crossed on the route to Nyabitaba Hut. After two hours, you will arrive at the Makoma River. From there, the terrain gets quite steep and muddy as you approach a forest. At the Nyabitaba Hut, you will eat dinner and spend the night.
After waking up and eating breakfast, hike for seven hours to the John Matte shelter. You will cross the Bujuku and Mubuku rivers, which are close to some steep and treacherous terrain. Those who are unable to handle the work ahead should think about turning around at this point. We'll spend the night at the John Matte hut.
It takes between 3-5 hours to travel to the Bujuku Hut after waking up and eating breakfast. Cross the River Bujuku after leaving the John Matte Hut to get to Lake Bujuku. The trial will be followed till you get at the Bujuku Hut. You spend the night here.
After leaving the Bujuku Hut, you will ascend through the surrounding area of Mount Baker and Stanley's thick vegetation. Go around to the Elena Hut at last. At the Elena Hut, you'll spend the night.
You ascend to the Elena glacier today, continuing to the Stanley Plateau. Crampons are required moving forward to make climbing easier. You will climb the Margherita glacier up to the Summit from the Stanley Plateau. When you've reached the top, descend to the Elena Hut and continue passing the Kitandara Lake to reach the Kitandara Hut.
Your overnight stay will be at the Kitandara hut.
Today's trek takes six long hours to complete! You reach Mount Stanley and Baker glaciers after leaving Lake Kitandara. You will go through some muddy pathways until you reach several rock shelters, which mark the beginning of the Kabamba valley. After that, a slope you head to Guy Yeoman Hut. Beautiful landscapes and a fantastic landscape, including mountains, rivers, and a lot of greenery, surround this place. You spend the night here!
After waking up for breakfast, start ascending the hillsides that surround the River Mobuku. Re-enter the old route by the Bujuku River by taking the trail that passes through the Kichuchu rocks. You spend the night at Nyabitaba Hut.
Get up, eat breakfast, and get ready for the final 2-hour descent. You will be able to see various primates, different bird species, and a few mammals as you get closer to Nyakalengija. Our safari guide then drives you back to Kampala after descending and rest. Along the way, you'll make a lunch stop in Mbarara town. Most likely, you will arrive in Kampala in the evening and spend the night there or be taken to Entebbe Airport.
Cost
Inclusions
- • Meals on the Itinerary.
- • Accommodation on the itinerary.
- • Pickup and Drop-off to/from the airport.
- • Ground transport.
- • Park entrance fees.
- • All activities on the itinerary.
- • Drinking water.
Exclusions
- • All optional activities.
- • All Shopping.
- • Tips.
- • Visas.
- • International air fares.
- • All alcoholic drinks.
- • Any personal laundry services.
- • Travel Insurance Cover.
FAQS
- In the upper altitude zones, the mountains are renowned for their distinctive alpine flora, which includes several species that are indigenous to the Albertine Rift, such as huge heathers, groundsels, and lobelias. The park is a significant piece of cultural history and provides surrounding people with a variety of wild resources.
- Mountain Rwenzoris are covered in snow all year round since their highest summit soars to a height of 5,109 meters (16,762 feet). Due to its elevation, this area is always blanketed in snow.
- The Rwenzori Mountains’ snow-capped appearance is caused by a decrease in air pressure with elevation. While heated air rises, rising air also expands and cools. Greater amounts of moisture are produced by this mechanism in the atmosphere.
- One of the world’s most thrilling and difficult mountain ranges to travel is the Rwenzori Mountains. A mysterious and unique universe of 996 square kilometers exists, filled with exotic vegetation, lakes, rocky outcrops, cliffs, tall glaciers, and snow-capped peaks.
- The Rwenzori Mountains are the world’s tallest mountains that are neither volcanic nor orogenic. Three of the current African Great Lakes—Lake Albert, Lake Edward, and Lake George—were formed as a result of this uplift, which divided the paleolake Obweruka. The range is approximately 65 km (40 mi) wide and 120 km (75 mi) long.
- It takes a length of 6-8 days
- The locals called the mountains;” the Mountains of the Moon” because of their snow-capped summits.
- Ptolemy, an Alexandrian geographer, gave the Rwenzoris the moniker “Mountains of the Moon” in AD 150. On May 24, 1888, the explorer Henry Stanley plotted the Rwenzori. He gave it the name “Ruwenzori,” which is a native term that roughly translates to “Rain-Maker” or “Cloud-King.”
- There are five more glacial Mount Rwenzori summits that make up Mountain Rwenzori on top of Mount Stanley, which is 5,109 meters high. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they include Mount Speke (4,890 m), Mount Baker (4,844 m), Mount Gessi (4,715 m), Mount Luigi da Savoia (4,627 m), and Mount Emin (4,791 m).
- The Rwenzori Mountains, on the other hand, have tourism attractions, just like any other national park in Uganda: Wildfowl; primates like blue monkeys, black & white colobus monkeys, and the endangered chimpanzees; six vegetation zones; lakes like Irene and Kitandara; birds like the renowned Rwenzori Turaco, among others.
- In the shadow of three peaks, Mount Baker, Mount Speke, and Mount Stanley, Lake Bujuku is located at the top of the steep, glacier-carved Bujuku valley.
