Mount Elgon

Mount Elgon
Wagagai (summit)
Mount Elgon (left) and Great Rift Valley (right)
Highest point
Elevation	4,321 m (14,177 ft) [1] Ranked 17th in Africa
Prominence	2,458 m (8,064 ft) [1]
Isolation	339 km (211 mi) [2]
Listing	Ultra
Coordinates	01°07′06″N 34°31′30″E / 1.11833°N 34.52500°E / 1.11833; 34.52500Coordinates: 01°07′06″N 34°31′30″E / 1.11833°N 34.52500°E / 1.11833; 34.52500 [1]
Geography
Mount Elgon Uganda
Topo map	Mount Elgon Map and Guide[3]
Geology
Age of rock	Miocene origin
Mountain type	Shield volcano
Last eruption	Unknown
Climbing
First ascent	1911 by Kmunke and Stigler
Easiest route	Scramble

A climber on a Sudek Pinnacle

Koitobos peak, Kenya

Koitoboss and the moorland above The Mount Elgon National Park

Mount Elgon (left center) is located on the Uganda-Kenya border, in Western Province, north of Kakamega, west of Kitale.

See also Mount Elgon District

Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya,^[4] north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.^[1][5] Although there is no verifiable evidence of its earliest volcanic activity, geologists estimate that Mount Elgon is at least 24 million years old, making it the oldest extinct volcano in East Africa.^[6]

Physical features

Mount Elgon is a massive solitary volcanic mountain on the border of eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Its vast form, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in diameter, rises 3,070 metres (10,070 ft) above the surrounding plains. Its cooler heights offer respite for humans from the hot plains below, and its higher altitudes provide a refuge for flora and fauna.

Mt. Elgon consists of five major peaks:

• Wagagai (4,321 metres (14,177 ft)), in Uganda
• Sudek (4,302 metres (14,114 ft)) on the Kenya/Uganda border
• Koitobos (4,222 metres (13,852 ft)), a flat-topped basalt column in Kenya
• Mubiyi (4,211 metres (13,816 ft)) in Uganda
• Masaba (4,161 metres (13,652 ft)) in Uganda

Sudek and Lower Elgon from the Old Elgon Hut, burned down 1975, on the Kimilili approach

The Sacred Lake, just outside the crater rim and below Sudek

Other features of note are:

• The caldera — Elgon's is one of the largest intact calderas in the world.
• The warm springs by the Suam River
• Endebess Bluff (2,563 metres (8,409 ft))
• Ngwarisha, Makingeny, Chepnyalil, and Kitum caves: Kitum Cave is over 60 metres (200 ft) wide and penetrates 200 metres (660 ft). The cave contains salt deposits and it is frequented by wild elephants that lick the salt exposed by gouging the walls with their tusks.^[7] It became notorious following the publication of Richard Preston's book The Hot Zone in 1994 for its association with the Marburg virus after two people who had visited the cave (one in 1980 and another in 1987) contracted the disease and died.^[8]

The mountain soils are red laterite. The mountain is the catchment area for the several rivers such as the Suam River, which becomes the Turkwel downstream and drains into Lake Turkana, and the Nzoia River and the Lwakhakha River, which flow to Lake Victoria. The town of Kitale is in the foothills of the mountain. The area around the mountain is protected by two Mount Elgon National Parks, one on each side of the international border.

Flora

Some rare plants are found on the mountain, including Ardisiandra wettsteinii, Carduus afromontanus, Echinops hoehnelii, Ranunculus keniensis, and Romulea keniensis.^[9]

Local ethnicities

Mount Elgon and its tributaries are home to four tribes, the Bagisu, the Sapiinjak, the sabaot and the Ogiek, better known in the region under the derogatory umbrella term Ndorobo.^[10]

See also

• List of Ultras of Africa
• 2010 Ugandan landslide
• List of volcanoes in Kenya
• Elgon languages
• Mount Elgon insurgency
• Breast shaped hills

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Elgon.

• Kenya Wildlife Service – Mount Elgon National Park
• Mt. Elgon Caves