Rwenzori Mountain Hiking

Day by day itinerary for our 12 days Uganda safari:

DAY 1: ARRIVAL AT ENTEBBE AIRPORT

Be met by your safari guide at Entebbe international airport for the start your 11 days Uganda safari with Hikes & primates. This first day you are taken to the hotel in Kampala to relax after the flight and be ready for an early start tomorrow.

Overnight Green Valley Hotel, Ggaba.

Green-Valley-Hotel-Ggaba

DAY 2: TRANSFER FROM ENTEBBE/KAMPALA TO RWENZORI MOUNTAINS

Your guide picks you in the morning for the drive to Rwenzori Mountains national park as you start your Uganda Safari to Rwenzori Mountain Hiking. Along the way you will see Ugandan countryside passing by the windows. Reach the Rwenzori base camp in the afternoon.

Overnight Rwenzori base camp.

Rwenzori base camp

DAY 3: STAGE 1: FROM NYAKALENGIJA TO NYABITABA HUT, 2.652 M.

From the Rwenzori Mountains National Park Head Quarter at Nyakalengija, 1.646 m., you will receive the briefing from the guides, with the possibility of hiring equipment. The Rwenzori mountains hike starts through the plantations and homes of the Bakonjo, the people of the mountain, gradually reaching garden plots and elephants grass. You follow the Mobuku river, until crossing the Mahoma river. The trail passes through an open fern slopes and Podorcarpus Forest, up to Nyabitaba Hut, 2.652 m., which is the arrival point for the day. This will take from 5 to 6 hours. From the location, you are facing on the North the Portal Peaks, 4.627 m. and in front Mount Kyniangoma. During the day, you might see monkeys, the Rwenzori Turaco and hearing the chimpanzees.

Rwenzori Turaco

DAY 4: STAGE 2: FROM NYABITABA HUT TO JOHN MATTE HUT, 3.414 M.

From Nyabitaba Hut you cross the Kurt Shaffer Bridge, through a muddy area along the Mubuku river. Then the trail climbs up through the bamboo forest. You reach a steep rocky area, which leads to Nyamuleju Hut. This point marks the start of the giant lobelia and groundsel zone. The trail proceeds through a number of typical plants along the Bujuku river. The final point is John Matte Hut, 3.414 m. for spending the night. From Nyabitaba Hut to John Matte it can take approximately 6 hours. Enjoy the view of Mount Stanley and snow capped Margherita and Elena Peaks.

Margherita peak

DAY 5: STAGE 3: FROM JOHN MATTE HUT TO BUJUKU HUT, 3.962 M

From John Matte Hut you continue the Rwenzori Mountains hike by crossing the Bujuku River and enter the lower Bigo bog, a grassy bog where you experience how to jump from tussock to tussock. You reach Bigo Hut and enter the upper Bigo bog, proceeding to Lake Bujuku, where it is starting the alpine savannah zone of little vegetation. You finally arrive at Bujuku Hut, 3.962 m. This day hike can take up to 5 hours. There you have a view on the peaks of Mount Stanley, Mount Baker and Mount Speke.

lower Bigo bog

DAY 6: STAGE 4: FROM BUJUKU HUT TO ELENA HUT, 4.540 M.

From Bujuku Hut you continue hike the Rwenzori Mountains with a climb through moss draped groundsel vegetation, to Scott Elliot Pass, 4.372 m., between Mt. Baker and Stanley. Here you divert to Elena Hut, 4.540 m. for spending the night before climbing Mt. Stanley.

Elena Hut

DAY 7: STAGE 5 FROM ELENA HUT TO KITANDARA HUT, 4.023 M.

From Elena Hut you ascend the last tract of rock and ice which leads to Margherita Peak on Mt. Stanley, 5.109 m. Time to complete the climbing about 3 hours. After you descend to Upper Kitandara lake and through thick mud to Lower Kitandara lake where is located Kitandara Hut, 4.023 m where you will spend the night. Time to complete the hike about 3 hours more. From Kitandara Hut you can proceed for climbing Mount Baker or Mount Luigi di Savoia and the peak Vittorio Sella. Enjoy the view of Mt. Luigi di Savoia.

Luigi di Savoia

DAY 8: STAGE 6: FROM KITANDARA HUT TO GUY YEOMAN HUT, 3.261 M.

From Lake Kitandara you climb to Freshfield Pass, 4.282 m., a long flat of high alpine mossy glades, before descending the circuit among rocky and boggy areas. The panorama is dominated by the glaciers of Mounts Stanley and Baker and Mount of Savoy. The trail leads to Akendahi, Bujongolo and Kabamba rock shelters, where starts the Kabamba valley down to Guy Yeoman Hut, 3.261 m. This can take up to 6 hours. The hut is surrounded by a beautiful landscape of mountains, vegetations and rivers.

Guy Yeoman Hut

DAY 9: STAGE 7: FROM GUY YEOMAN HUT BACK TO NYAKALENGIJA

Final descent back to Nyakalengija. The trial is attractive along the valley of the Mobuku and Kichuchu rivers, rich in plants and flowers of the heather zone before reaching the bamboo forest. See Kabamba falls on the way. Time to reach Nyabitaba Hut is about 4 hours. From Nyabitaba starts the 40 minutes trial to see Lake Mahoma and back to the hut for descending to the Park Head Quarter. The trial takes more 2 to 3 hours. By the base camp your guide meets you to take you to the lodge by Queen Elizabeth national park for the night as you have finished the Rwenzori mountains hike.

Overnight in Pumba safari cottages

Pumba Safari Cottages.

DAY 10: RELAXED MORNING AND BOAT-CRUISE IN AFTERNOON, QUEEN ELIZABETH NP

Enjoy a relaxed morning by the lodge to let the body rest after finishing hike the Rwenzori Mountains. Have breakfast overlooking the savanna of Queen Elizabeth national park and relax up to lunch time. After having lunch at the lodge you set off with your guide to go for the afternoon boat-cruise on Kazinga channel. This is a 2hrs boat ride on the famous 36km Kazinga channel linking Lake George and Lake Edward. From the boat you can see land and water adapted hippopotamuses yawning and some slashing canines to each other, the National Geographical society killing machine the Nile crocodile gaping along the banks, possibly elephants and savanna.

Overnight Pumba safari cottages

Pumba Safari Cottages

DAY 11: TRANSFER TO ENTEBBE/KAMPALA

After breakfast it is time to head back towards Kampala/Entebbe. Along the way you make stop over for lunch in Mbarara or Masaka and also at the Equator for some photo poses where the southern and northern hemisphere meets. Your guide drops you in Kampala /Entebbe at the end of your Hike Rwenzori Mountains safari. If flying out the same day plan for an evening flight.