Rwenzori national park tour packages
“Sir Fredrick Jackson, former governor of Uganda protectorate, and keen ornithologist described the country as a “Hidden Eden…and wonderland for birds”
Rwenzori Mountains National Park.
This 996 km2 National park protects the upper sloes of the Rwenzori Mountains which run for almost 120 km along the Congolese border west of Kasese and Fort Portal. The Rwenzori Mountains are thought to have been the source of the legend Nile by the Roman geographer Ptolemy cAD 150. Arthur Jephson and Thomas Parke were the first Europeans to see the legendary mountains.
The Rwenzori is the highest mountain range in Africa. Its loftiest peaks, Margherita (5,109m) and Alexandra (5,083m) on Mount Stanley, are exceeded in altitude elsewhere in Africa only by Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, both of which are extinct volcanoes standing in isolation above the surrounding plains. The Rwenzori mountains are unique among the east Africa’s major peaks in that they are not volcanic in origin, but they do rise directly from the rift valley floor and their formation, like that of mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, was linked to the geological upheaval that created the Rift. In addition to Mount Stanley, there are four other glacial peaks i the Rwenzori: Mount Speke (4,890m),Mount Emin(4791m), Mount Gessi(4,715 m) and Mount Luigi da Savoia (4,627 m).
Known primarily for its challenging hiking and climbing the Rwenzori ranges also support a diversity of animals, including 70 mammals and 177 bird species, several of the birds being Albertine Rift Endemics. The forest zone is home to a diversity of birds, including Rwenzori Turaco, barred long-tailed cuckoo, long eared owl, handsome francolin, cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Archer’s ground robin, Lagden’s bush shrike, golden-winged sunbird, apalis, illadopsis and many more.
Getting There and Away.
The Rwenzori Mountains National Park (RMNP) is signposted off the tarmac Fort Portal Highway about 7-8 km out of the Kasese by an electric substation between the roads bridges over the Mubuku and Sebwe rivers.