Uganda is well gifted with lots of elevated landscapes naturally known as mountains. Uganda is one of the most mountainous areas in Africa with over 600 mountains. Uganda has Fold Mountains, Block Mountains and the famous Volcanic Mountains. The most interesting thing about these mountains in Uganda, they have some many beautiful features to enjoy at an encounter. On some mountains of Uganda, there are unique flora and fauna and also volcanic and glacier features to see and enjoy. Some of the mountain areas in Uganda have been registered as national parks i.e. Rwenzori Mountain and Mountain Elgon.
Climbing these mountains is the main source of interest as thousands of people hike them year in year out. Mountain climbing is a very interesting challenge for adventure lovers.
Though Uganda has so many mountains not all of them enhance tourism. There are a few popular ones that have graced tourism and many tourists visit them to have a great time. Here are some of the mountains that are visited by tourists in Uganda mostly;
Tororo Rock
This unique elevated feature is located in Tororo District East of Uganda and in the district is where it derives its name. It is 230 kilometers East of Kampala the capital of Uganda. This is a volcanic steep which stands at a height of 1800 meters above sea level. It is a very unique and interesting landmark in Uganda.
Tororo Rock is one of the main tourist attractions in the East of Uganda. This very much depicts cultural interests since it has ancestral caves and various rock painting that was done by the indigenous people who lived in the area. The paints and caves are seen when one takes a hike on the rock. The rock is also coated with rare but beautiful vegetation of grass, bamboo and some Afro alpine.
At this rock still, there is limestone extraction a mineral that is used to make building cement. Near it there also a cement making company called Tororo cement.
During the Tulambule campaign that was conducted in 2018, the government proposed to build aerial cable cars so that tourists can have a very good view of the rock and other surrounding landmarks.
Rwenzori Mountain
The Rwenzori Mountains are located in Western Uganda at the border of Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a UNESCO heritage site that is known worldwide due to its rare feature of being snowcapped in the equatorial region. It is also known as the mountains of the moon. The range is 120km long and 65 km wide. It has six main peaks namely:
Mount Stanley (5,109m),
Mount Speke (4,890m),
Mount Baker (4,843m),
Mount Emin (4,798m),
Mount Gessi (4,715m)
Mount Luigi di Savoia (4,627m)
Among the ranges of rwenzori mount Stanley is the largest and with the highest peak of Margherita.
Rwenzori has several vegetation as it goes on changing in correspondence to the altitudes. These are the vegetation on the rwenzori from bottom to top in order; grassland, montane forest, bamboo, heather and at the most top is fro-alpine moorland.
On the Rwenzori Mountains, there exists tremendous biodiversity from the exotic animals like the elephants, leopards to different species of primates and birds. Due to the abundance of biodiversity, it is gazzatted as national park in Uganda.
Mountain Elgon
A dominant volcano situated at the border of Uganda and Kenya in the Eastern region 235km away from Kampala city. It has a surface area of 3,500 sq.km. Its highest peak is called Wagagai which is 4,312m in height above the sea level. Elgon is the eighth highest mountain in Africa.
The vegetation on Mount Elgon is one of the amazing features that makes it a place to be for tourists. This includes the grassland, tall afro montane forest, low-canopy montane forest, bamboo, heather belt and Afro-Alpine vegetation. Within the vegetation on Mount Elgon, there is the calderas which are one of the most sought after tree species by tourists.
Elgon is also a catchment of rivers that is Lwakhakha River and Nzoia River which flow to Lake Victoria and Suam River that flows to Lake Turkana.
Elgon is a home to variety of wildlife species like leopards, buffaloes, sitatungas, duiker and different species of primates and birds.
If a tourist wants something mystical, Elgon is a place to be since it has so many caves to encounter and overcome your fear. These caves include Kitum, Ngwarisha, Makingeny and Chepnyalil.