Rwenzori Mountains

I can't add much new to this site. I did even less hiking than Els doing only 4.75km to the first camp and then back to the main gate. It is easy to add this to any itinerary but not usually offered by your agencies by default as they don't expect tourists wanting to visit. The road from Kasese is long and rough though. You won't experience anything special on your hike as the exclusive flora is deep in the range which means a 7 day trek is required. It's mainly done by hardcore trekkers. The camps will be cold, no shower, tough hiking if it's raining. The best part of my journey was the scenery around me. Surrounded by lush forest butterflies, birds, a monkey here and there is good, but the peaks in the near distance make you believe this is Jurassic Park. No road, people in sight. It's a shock when you meet a fellow trekker or porter. Most people coming to Uganda will prefer gorilla or chimpanzee trekking, safari game drives as a bonus, but adding a tough hike like Rwenzori isn't really their thing. The branded spring water sold in Uganda isn't even from the mountains.

Originally my plan was to do a night at the camp and return but seeing that it's only 2h hiking each way I said well do it quicker and I have extra day for seeing something else. I know this sounds silly but with all the other activities …

Visit in December, 2020

The post made by Els for this Site is informative and comprehensive, but I will add a short review because, though my visit was also rather minimal, I utilized the alternative entry point to the park. Specifically, the gate reached by turning off the main highway at Mubuku. From there a dirt/gravel road gains 700 meters of elevation over 17 kilometers, with a variable quality, but which can be traversed by any type of common vehicle. The route follows the Mubuku River valley, which is surprisingly densely populated with rural villages. That was an issue during the previous month of May, when a severe flash-flood tore down from the mountains of the Park, taking three lives and causing significant property damage, providing another example of the misfortunes of that particular year.

I stayed at the Ruboini Community Camp, which has the benefit of being owned and operated by local residents, which keeps the monies collected close to the community and the Park. The camp has a small restaurant and cottages, which, at the time, cost $US 25 per night. These had wood-heated hot water, but the Camp had no phone or internet service. From there it is short walk to the Park gate, though when I arrived at 9:30 AM on December 23rd I was dismayed to find the gate post unoccupied. Thinking that this might have been due to the upcoming holiday, and still feeling frustrated by recent failed attempts to get to …

Rwenzori Mountains National Park covers an 80km long mountain ridge in the far west of Uganda. It forms a natural border with the DR of Congo. The park attracts some 2,700 visitors a year, of which at least half are local schoolchildren. The others are mainly trekkers and mountaineers, arriving to hike a 10-day circuit or give the 3rd highest peak in Africa (Margherita’s Peak) a try. WH travellers do not often make it there: so far only 16 claim to have visited it, while no one has written a review yet.

In preparation for my visit, I had been looking for the best access point to get into the park without having to do a multi-day hike. I found out that there are two main entries: one at Nyakalengija (with the Equator Snow Lodge and Ruboni Community Camp) and one near Kilembe. I choose the latter, as the Rwenzori Trekking Services (RTS) advertised one-day treks into the park departing from the associated Trekkers Hostel Kyanjiki. The office of the RTS, whose members accompany the hikes and maintain the trails, is also found on the hostel’s premises. The Nyakalengija trailhead is managed by another company (Rwenzori Mountaineering Services), which gets mixed reviews especially due to its mountaineering safety standards.

So I ended up in Kyanjiki near Kilembe, itself already an extraordinary sight: it is an abandoned mining village, with lots of collapsed buildings and a broken-down cable car system. The endless rows of houses for the miners are …