Mount Elgon is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

on the border of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, north of

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya located in the Lake Victoria area in the former Nyanza Province. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The ...

and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda."Mount Elgon, Uganda" Peakbagger.com.
Retrieved 11 January 2012 Although there is no verifiable evidence of its earliest volcanic activity, geologists estimate that Mount Elgon is at least 24 million years old, making it the oldest known extinct volcano in

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. The mountain's name originates from its Maasai name, “Ol Doinyo Ilgoon” (Breast Mountain).

Physical features

Mount Elgon is a massive solitary volcanic mountain on the border of eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Its vast form, in diameter, rises above the surrounding plains. Its cooler heights offer respite for humans from the hot plains below, and its higher altitudes provide a refuge for flora and fauna. Mt. Elgon consists of five major peaks: * Wagagai (), in Uganda * Sudek () on the Kenya/Uganda border * Koitobos (), a flat-topped basalt column in Kenya * Mubiyi () in Uganda * Masaba () in Uganda Other features of note are: * The

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

— Elgon's is one of the largest intact calderas in the world. * Subsidiary craters to the Southwest: All about 25 km across, Bududu, and manafwa rings intersect the caldera and Bububo with a central plug sits at its edge. The smaller Tororo marks the plain almost 50 km from Elgon’s peak. * The warm springs by the Suam River * Endebess Bluff () * Ngwarisha, Makingeny, Chepnyalil, and Kitum caves: Kitum Cave is over wide and penetrates . The cave contains salt deposits and it is frequented by wild

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s that lick the salt exposed by gouging the walls with their tusks. Richard Preston's book ''

The Hot Zone ''The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story'' is a best-selling 1994 nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book ...

'' (1994) described the cave's association with the

Marburg virus Marburg virus (MARV) is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the '' Filoviridae'' family of viruses and a member of the species '' Marburg marburgvirus'', genus '' Marburgvirus''. It causes Marburg virus disease in primates, a form of viral hemorrhag ...

after two people who had visited it (one in 1980 and another in 1987) contracted the disease and died. The mountain soil is red

laterite Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

. The mountain is the catchment area for several rivers such as the Suam River, which becomes the Turkwel downstream and drains into Lake Turkana, and the Nzoia River and the Lwakhakha River, which flow to

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

. The town of Kitale is in the foothills of the mountain. The area around the mountain is protected by two Mount Elgon National Parks, one on each side of the international border.

Fauna

A population of African bush elephants is present around the mountain that ventures deep into caves to access salt licks. This population was formerly present around the entire mountain, but has since been reduced to the Kenyan side, where they venture into Kitum Cave. There are several disjunct populations of mammal species that are restricted to Mount Elgon, including the Elgon shrew (''Crocidura elgonius''), Rudd's mole-rat (''Tachyoryctes ruddi''), and Thomas's pygmy mouse (''Mus sorella''). There are also several disjunct populations of rare bird species, including Sharpe's longclaw (''Macronyx sharpei''),

Hunter's cisticola Hunter's cisticola (''Cisticola hunteri'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is found in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane and high-elevation shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, ...

(''Cisticola hunteri''), Jackson's spurfowl (''Pternistis jacksoni''), and the

Elgon francolin The Elgon francolin (''Scleroptila elgonensis'') is a francolin found in moorland at altitudes above from eastern Uganda (Mount Elgon) to central Kenya.McGowan, P. J. K. (1994). Moorland Francolin (''Francolinus elgonensis''). Pp. 494 in: del Ho ...

(''Scleroptila elgonensis''). An

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

subspecies of the bushbuck (''Tragelaphus scriptus heterochrous'') is restricted to the mountain. The possibly

Du Toit's torrent frog (''Arthroleptides dutoiti''), considered an

EDGE species Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

due to its evolutionary distinctiveness, is known only from a single specimen collected on the Kenyan side of the mountain.

Flora

Some rare plants are found on the mountain, including '' Ardisiandra wettsteinii'', '' Carduus afromontanus'', '' Echinops hoehnelii'', '' Ranunculus keniensis'', and '' Romulea keniensis''.

Local ethnicities

Mount Elgon and its tributaries are home to five tribes: the Bagisu, the Mbay, Sor, Sapiiny, Koony, Someek, Pook, and the Ogiek, better known in the region under the derogatory umbrella term Ndorobo.

References

External links