Jay T

USA - 01-Jan-25 -

The Mount Elgon Transboundary Ecosystem in Uganda was brought forward to the Tentative World Heritage Site list in 2024. The region is part of the Eastern Afromontane biodiversity hotspot, which also includes existing World Heritage Sites such as Mount Kenya, Rwenzori Mountains National Park, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Mount Elgon itself is an extinct volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya. I visited the Mount Elgon region in the summer of 2014, traversing the eastern slopes around Suam, at the Kenya-Uganda border, on the first part of my trip, and the western slopes up to Kapchorwa later on the trip. I was visiting the region with members of my church from Hawaii, and spent most of my time in villages, but was able to do a little bit of hiking on the mountain slopes near civilization, enjoying some beautiful views across the Ugandan and Kenyan countryside. 

Mount Elgon is incredibly lush, but the nature of my visit meant that I wasn't as focused on searching for wildlife. Still, I was able to see some monkeys, such as the mantled guereza, a black-and-white colobus, in the trees, as well as many birds (though not the endangered Sharpe's Longclaw or the Elgon Francolin, specifically referenced in the nomination package). I would like to have seen the elephants on the mountain, since Mount Elgon is well known for its elephants that burrow into caves to dig up salt. On a darker note, it was in one of Mount Elgon's elephant caves, Kitum Cave, that two visitors contracted the Marburg virus, a hemorrhagic illness similar to the Ebola virus, in the 1980's. The cause of the infections remains unknown, but the stories were profiled in Richard Preston's book The Hot Zone, which was later made into a TV series, and served as an inspiration for the movie Outbreak. (Even closer to home, but unrelated to Mount Elgon, Preston's book also profiles an outbreak of a mutated form of Ebola virus in the United States right around the corner from where I grew up).

The northwestern slopes of Mount Elgon are also home to Sipi Falls, a scenic set of waterfalls situated between Mbale and Kapchorwa. The waterfalls feed into Lake Kyoga in Uganda, but are probably best known in the country for being the namesake of a popular bottled water endorsed by a Ugandan Olympic gold medalist. Although I did not get to see the falls up close, there are some companies that will organize trips to see the falls. The nomination file chooses to highlight the importance of the mountain's hydrology for the region, though I am not sure that is significant enough to demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value.

Based on the nomination file, I think Mount Elgon does have some unique features that would make it a worthy World Heritage Site should Uganda choose to put it forward. These include the elephants carving out caves, as well as endangered birds and amphibians endemic to the mountain, such as the Elgon Francolin and the Du Toit's torrent frog. There is also a cultural component referenced in the nomination file, although Uganda only chose to submit the file as a natural, rather than a mixed site. I'll be curious to see how Uganda moves forward with this nomination.

Logistics: Mount Elgon is best visited by private transportation, and can be accessed from Uganda via Mbale or from Kenya via Kitale.