Mount Elgon National Park is one of the hidden gems of Uganda, with a variety of wildlife including Mount Elgon Savanna Elephants. Sitting on the Uganda-Kenyan border, that is 100 kilometers north of Lake Victoria, it is home to a very special population of elephants. Currently numbering about 100 individuals, this population was hit hard by ivory poaching in the 1980s and 90s. Now Born Free is supporting Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) to ensure their protection.
So, Mount Elgon Savanna Elephants are so special because many land-living herbivores elephants experience ‘salt hunger’. Their diet of plants does not supply them with enough minerals (e.g. sodium), so they seek these out in any digestible form that they can find. In many places this leads to animals congregating at salt licks.
On Mount Elgon, however, the only natural source of salt is more obscure and it is found in the deep, natural caves on the sides of the mountain. Herds of elephants enter these caves, and walk as far as 15 meters into the pitch darkness to find a salt seam in the rock. They then excavate the mineral-rich rock with their tusks, chipping off rough chunks and eating them as a vital dietary supplement. This is a unique behavior, known only from this tiny population of elephants.
In 2001 Born Free started funding the Mount Elgon Elephant Monitoring Team (MEEM), composed of local trackers and KWS rangers. The establishment of a MEEM team addressed a need to learn more about Mount Elgon Savanna Elephants prior to filming by the BBC Natural History Unit for David Attenborough’s new series ‘Life of Mammals’. However, in recognition of the importance of the work, since 2002, Born Free has continued support of the MEEM team.
Mount Elgon is the fourth highest in East Africa and eighth in Africa and has the largest base area of any free-standing volcano in the world. The elephants on the mountain are savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana), not the forest elephants of West & Central Africa.
The most frequently visited cave in Mount Elgon is called Kitum – ‘Place of Ceremonies’ in Masai and it stretches for 160m into the mountain. As well as the extraordinary elephants, Mount Elgon is home to colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, leopard, and giant Forest hog, bushbuck, eland, and buffaloes among others.
It is often referred to as the ‘Elephants Den’ due to its unique ecosystem, and the high fertility rate in this species at this location. The elephants here thrive on healthy reproduction that is un-matched anywhere else in East Africa. The secret lies in the privacy and additional nutrition of the Lava Tube Caves – elephants hidden and tucked away in the slopes of Mount Elgon, North west Kenya bordering Uganda.
The landscape of this ecosystem consists of rocky slopes of the mountain, forest trees and shrubs, with surrounding historic volcanic caves that contain a high-level of salt; a much favored nourishment for the elephants. This hidden backdrop and the high-level of salt nutrition (aids in water retention) provide the environment that has enabled survival for continued generation of elephants. Come witness this amazing journey to learn more about the hidden dark caves, the stirring elephant trunk trumpets that rumbles through the mountain, and learn why protection of this species in this environment is critical.
The lure of salt draws a special group of elephants to a place they are rarely found, deep underground. For thousands of years, Kitum cave at the base of Mount Elgon in Kenya stretches almost 200 meters into the mountain and it is believed that the salt-licking elephants and other animals have contributed over time in the expansion of the caves. One generation teaches the next, the secrets of the cave, despite the horrific memory of poachers who attacked their ancestors at the very mouth of this sacred place, reducing their herd from about 1,000 to just about 100.
Therefore, under the cover of night, out of sight and fearful of harm at the hands of humans, the elephants journey to the cave to cure their salt cravings. The last remaining elephant population of Mount Elgon is the world´s only elephants which go underground into huge, dark caves and holding the unique culture of salt mining.
For thousands of years, the caves on the slopes of Mount Elgon in Kenya have been personal salt mines for this elephant’s population. The elephant’s mine, by the use of their tusks, breaking the salty rocks from the cave walls, deep inside the volcano.
You will learn about their environment, survival, and why so many baby elephants are born and survive here. Enjoy a day in Mount Elgon National Park, an eco-footprint of these unique salt-licking elephants habituating in Kitum caves which stretches about 200 meters into the mountain. You will be exposed to the diversity of the surrounding of animals and plants in the forest; nocturnal caves – a favorite elephant and other animals hideaway; a forest diversity that includes Elgon Teaks, Cedar trees, and natural basalt columns; the protected blue monkeys, a rift Valley native; and numerous bird species. Come learn, enjoy this natural eco-system and appreciate Kenya’s passion to continue to conserve it.
Besides the savannah elephants in Mount Elgon National Park, you can also complement your visit with a visit to Semuliki National Park further west of Uganda to see the dwarf elephants as part of the park’s wildlife. Don’t miss the much more giant African elephants of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Further south west of the country, you can’t afford to miss the lifetime gorilla trekking safari in Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks.