Mt Elgon - Discover Africa's oldest solitary peak!

Mount Elgon has the largest volcanic base and the largest complete caldera in the world with its summit crater being 8km in diameter. This enormous mountain is shared by two countries lying on the border between Uganda and Kenya. It is the oldest solitary mountain in Africa and stands at a height of 4,321m / 14,177ft. The trek uses the Sasa Trail route ascent and Piswa Trail descent passing cave paintings, hot springs, amazing scenery and with every chance of spotting monkeys, apes, mountain elephants and hundreds of species of birdlife.

So, what is involved in trekking Mt Elgon?

This incredible expedition starts with a drive from your hotel in Entebbe via the source of the Nile to your mountain lodge for the night.

You will begin the trek the following morning taking the Sasa Trail from your mountain lodge to Sasa River Camp (2,900m). Here you will have chances of spotting forest monkeys, apes, small antelope, buffalo, elephants and over 300 species of bird that call Uganda home.


Your second day of trekking sees you reach Mude Cave Camp at 3,500m with great views of Jackson Peak (4,165m). You will have the opportunity to walk in the afternoon to some of the spectacular nearby waterfalls which will help assist with acclimatisation, before bedding down to camp at night.


Today is summit day, and will begin with a very early departure as you set off to reach the summit of Mount Elgon - Wagagai Peak (4,321m). It is a tough trek to the top but the rewards make all the hard work worthwhile with stunning views across the whole expanse of the 8km diameter crater with its ring of peaks, dropping away to the forest and the African continent below your feet. After congratulating everyone for reaching the top and taking time to experience the incredible views you will descend back to the Mude Cave Camp.

The following morning, you start your descent using the Piswa Trail, descend through lush vegetation to Hunters Cave Camp (3,383m) visiting the famous Tatum Cave with its ancient cave paintings and the hot springs nearby.

Your final day on Mount Elgon sees you trekking out to Piswa Patrol Hut. Here you say goodbye to your amazing Ugandan crew before driving to a local mountain lodge to freshen up and celebrate your achievements.

                      

Today you drive back towards Entebbe, visiting one of the projects that part of your expedition costs are supporting - the school at Namagunga run by the charity Teams 4 U. You will have time to speak with the children and present the money from the expedition to the school.

After an enjoyable & inspiring day the group will drive on to Entebbe at a hotel for a celebration meal.

The next day, after a late breakfast, you will travel by boat across Lake Victoria to the Ssese Islands and to the largest - Bugala Island. Here you will have a relaxing evening of rest and recuperation whilst overlooking the lake from your hotel.

Today you have the day to visit the other project that part of your expedition costs are supporting - Maranatha Gateway Vocational Training Centre run by the charity Equipe. You will have time to get involved in the project and then present the money from the expedition to the staff at the centre.

                       

The next day you will travel back across Lake Victoria to relax at your hotel before flying home overnight, reflecting on this once in a lifetime experience in the beautiful country of Uganda.

This is truly an incredible trip that sees you conquer a beautiful mountain as well as give back to the charity projects. There will also be plenty of time to relax and explore the area whilst taking in the beauty that Uganda has to offer.

For more information and to book your place on this amazing trip click here.

The Equipe Project: Ssese Islands, Uganda.

Having just returned from Africa today from an overnight flight, I thought it would be good to share with you what Expedition Wise Ltd have been doing in Uganda while the heat, dust and beauty of the country is still fresh in my memory.

A substantial percentage of any profit we make each year goes to support an overseas project. For the next 3 years, it will be the Equipe project on the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, Uganda. They have 2 projects which I was able to visit this week. Firstly, they have The Bridge of Hope School, a school for orphans and then the Maranatha Gateway Adult Vocational Training Centre.

Upon arrival in the Ssese Islands (after a beautiful 3.5 hr boat crossing), we went straight to the school and even though it was a late Friday evening, some of the children sang for us to welcome us to the island. The school is a basic, one classroom building at present, along with living quarters. It was very humbling and quite emotional to hear the children sing. We were able to bring some money with us for them which will make a huge difference in feeding the children and providing work materials.

The following day, we went to visit the Adult Vocational Training Centre that is in the process of being built. This will be a 16 person training centre teaching sustainable skills to local over 18 year olds on the island so that they can then get work as labourers, brick layers, farmers, builders etc. The students will live on site as well as undertake the intensive course in the grounds. 

The area the charity has rented to set this up is right on the north eastern tip of the main island – Kalangala. It is in a beautiful site which when finished will be fantastic. There are just 3 British people doing all the work and living on site at present with their small holding. They have so far built, or are building, 1 x house, 1 x student sleeping quarters and classroom, 1 x toilet block, 1 x shower block, 1 x kitchen, 1 x chicken coop, 1 x pig pen and cleared a lot of the land. All this has been done by hand over a period of 6 months. It took them actual years to get all the permissions and paperwork sorted – this is Africa! 

We took over a large amount of money that we changed on the mainland into Ugandan Shillings (I was actually a millionaire for a while as £1 = 4000 Ugandan Shillings) and presented this to the charity workers just before we left. There were lots of tears and hugs all around as this meant so much to them, so a massive thank you to all those who took part in EW challenges in 2013 to allow us to do this.

We are looking to run a 2015 expedition to climb Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley (5,109m), the 3rd highest mountain in Africa, on behalf of these two projects. If you are interested, please get in touch.

  

Whilst in Uganda, I also had the privilege of travelling to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, close to the Rwandan border. Our group trekked for 6 hours before tracking to a family of Gorillas. We then spent 1 hour watching them which was one of the most amazing wildlife experiences of my life and one I will never forget. 

Brian Jackson, Director of Expedition Wise Ltd