Included
- Airport/Hotel Transfers
- Park Entrance Fees
- Meals as per Itinerary
- 4×4 Safari Transportation to/from airport
- English Speaking Tour Guide/Driver
1.800,00 €
This Rwenzori hiking tour brings you to the highest mountain range in Africa shared between Uganda and DRC. This is the most popular hike to the Rwenzori Mountains, 8 days of hiking Rwenzori mountains in Uganda is memorable and it leads you to Margherita peak that happens to be the tallest peak on Mt. Rwenzori. Rwenzori Mountains is the highest mountain range in Africa shared between Uganda and DRC.
The snow covered Rwenzori Mountains-also known as the MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON and protected as Rwenzori Mountains National Park will offer you the unique experience you’ve been looking for in Africa.
The hiking safari that leads you up the mist-shrouded peaks provides stunning backdrops to these magnificent mountains, including six main mountains with peaks exceeding 4,500m of altitude Mt. Stanley, Mt. Speke, Mt. Baker, Mt. Gessi (in the Congolese side), and Mt. Emin Pasha, Mt. Luigi di Savoia.
After breakfast, we drive to Rwenzori Mountains National Park. The guide will check your equipment for the hike to make sure you will go very well prepared. Anything missing can be rented in Kasese.
Hiking Day 1
Transfer to the starting point of the hike!
The “central circuit” trail of Rwenzori is the main hiking activity which people undertake when visiting the mountain range. It consists of a hike lasting six nights and seven days, starting from the headquarter of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park at Nyakalengija. Then the trail follows a circular path around Mount Baker, spending the night in five different Huts, and reaching a maximum altitude of 4.372m. at Scott Elliot Pass.
The circuit gives the opportunity to see very close the peaks and glaciers of Mount Speke, Mount Stanley, Mount Luigi di Savoia, Mount Baker. Everybody is able to manage the hike, as the level of difficulty is not so high. For the mountain climbers, it is possible to reach all the major peaks, only adding a one-day extension to the trial per each peak. The central circuit is the best experience of Rwenzori, its landscape and vegetations.
From the Rwenzori Mountains National Park Head Quarter at Nyakalengija, 1.646m, you will receive the briefing from RMS (Rwenzori Mountaineering Services) and UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority), with the possibility of renting equipment. The hike starts through the plantations and homes of the Bakonjo, the people of the mountain, gradually reaching garden plots and elephants grass.
You follow the Mobuku river, until crossing the Mahoma River. The trail passes through open bracken fern slopes and Podocarpus forest, up to Nyabitaba Hut, 2.652m., which is the arrival point for the day. This will take from 5 to 6 hours. From the location, you are facing on the North the Portal Peaks, 4.627m., in front of Mount Kyniangoma. During the day, you might see monkeys, the Rwenzori Turaco and hear the chimpanzees.
Hiking Day 2
From Nyabitaba Hut you cross the Kurt Shaffer Bridge, through a muddy area. Then the trail climbs up through the bamboo forest. You reach a steep rocky area, which leads to Nyamuleju Hut. This point marks the start of the giant lobelia and groundsel zone. The way proceeds through a bog full of typical plants along the Bujuku river. The final point is John Matte Hut, 3.414m. for spending the night. From Nyabitaba Hut to John Matte it can take approximately 6 hours. Enjoy the view of Mount Stanley and snow-capped Margherita and Elena Peaks.
Hiking Day 3
From John Matte Hut you cross the Bujuku River and enter the lower Bigo bog, a grassy bog where you experience how to jump from tussock to tussock. You reach Bigo Hut and enter the upper Bigo bog, proceeding to Lake Bujuku, where it is starting the alpine savannah zone of little vegetation.
You finally arrive at Bujuku Hut, 3.962m. This day hike can take up to 5 hours. There you have a view on the peaks of Mount Stanley, Mount Baker and Mount Speke. From Bujuku starts the diversion for whom intends to climb Mount Speke. For climbing Margherita and Alexandra peaks it is advised to proceed to Elena Hut for overnight.
Hiking Day 4
From Bujuku Hut you climb through moss-draped groundsel vegetation, to Scott Elliot Pass, 4.372m., the highest point of the loop trail. The path is very rocky and steep, at the foothills of Mount Baker. Enjoy a spectacular view of Margherita peak, Elena and Savoia glaciers and Mount Baker.
You reach Upper Kitandara lake through thick mud to Lower Kitandara lake where is located Kitandara Hut, 4.023m. Kitandara in the local language means “fresh field”, as a cold wind is blowing into the valley. Time to complete a hike of about 5 hours. During this track, it is recommended to check any sign of altitudes sickness or hypothermia. From Kitandara Hut you can proceed for climbing Mount Baker or Mount Luigi di Savoia and the peak Vittorio Sella.
Hiking Day 5
From Lake Kitandara you climb to Freshfield Pass, 4.282m., a long flat of high alpine mossy glades, before descending the circuit among rocky and boggy areas. The panorama is dominated by the glaciers of Mounts Stanley and Baker. A muddy trail leads to Akendahi, Bujongolo and Kabamba rock shelters, where starts the Kabamba valley down to Guy Yeoman Hut, 3.261m. This can take up to 6 hours. The hut is surrounded by a beautiful landscape of mountains, vegetation and rivers.
Hiking Day 6
In this day you complete the central circuit by going back to Nyabitaba Hut. The trial is attractive along the valley of the Mobuku and Kichuchu rivers, rich in plants and flowers of the heather zone before reaching the bamboo forest. See Kabamba falls on the way. Time to reach Nyabitaba is about 6 hours. Eventually, you decide to terminate the trial by descending directly to Nyakalengija, adding 2 to 3 more hours.
Hiking Day 7
From Nyabitaba to reach Nyakalengija, it can take up to three hours. Nyabitaba starts the 40 minutes trail to see Lake Mamoha and back to the hut for descending to the Park Head Quarters. Transfer to the hotel
Transfer back to Kampala. We will make a stop in Kampala for shopping. Transfer to the airport for your departure.
