10 days Rwenzori Mountain hiking (A date with the Mountains of the Moon and Queen Elizabeth): Tour Code: CH 0010
Day One:
On arrival at Entebbe Airport, a guide from Churchill Safaris will
meet you and transfer you to Kasese and over night at Hotel Margherita
depending on time of arrival.
This evening, your guide will go to the park headquarters and the
Rwenzori Mountaineering Services concessions to arrange payments,
rent equipment and select guides and porters for the following day’s
journey. F/B.
Day Two:
This morning, you will begin your hike by leaving the
park head quarters (5400ft 1,646 m), walking past typical
“ wattle and mud” Buhonjo homes and gradually
moving upward through elephant grass and garden plots.
It takes approximately forty minutes to reach the National
Park boundary (which can be a pleasant half or one day
trip for someone not going further ).The trail then
follows the Mahoma River after about two and a half
hours. After crossing the River, you will have a very
steep climb through open bracken fern slopes and Podocarpus
forest up to Nyabitaba Hut ( 8,700 ft/ 2,652) reached
about an hour and a half past the Mahoma River crossing.
During this part of the trip, you may be able to see
Chimps and some times behind the Hut you can see Black
and White Colobus and Blue monkeys and catch glimpses
of the brilliantly -colored Rwenzori Touraco ( a bird
of the tree tops). Over night at Nyabitaba hut. F/B.
Day Three:
From Nyabitaba Hut that trail leads westward for a half km then drops
north (right) steeply to Kurt Shafer Bridge, crossing below the confluence
of Bujuku and Mubuku Rivers. By turning down the bridge you begin
the circuit counter clock wise.
After crossing the Shafer Bridge, the muddy slippery
trail climbs steadily up through bamboo forest. After
one and a half hours you encounter an area of slippery
boulder hopping which many hikers consider the most
difficult and dangerous footing on the circuit. Over
night at Nyamileju Hut. Nyamileju means “ a place
of beards” referring to the lichen and spanish
moss draping trees near by. On a rare day, Mts. Stanley
and Speke can be seen from the top of the rock near
the Hut. F/B.
Day Four:
After breakfast, you will continue to John Matte Hut (11,200 ft3,
414 m) which is through a tiring bog full of these extraordinary plants
and the slow pace can be a delightful chance to examine and photograph
this unique environment. Well situated, John Matte is newly constructed,
large and comfortable though muddy around the site. Hikers who feel
they have reached their limits by this point should consider John
Matte a reasonable stopping point. 
You
can just enjoy the unique vegetation in the bog and the great views
and the following day begin you return to Nyabitaba. F/B.
Day Five:
You leave John Matte Hut to cross the Bujuku River and
enter the lower of the two Bigo Bogs, where your first
real experience jumping from tussock to tussock in a
grassy bog begins. The trail is very muddy and follows
the left (southern) edge of Lower Bigo Bog until eventually
it reaches the round metal “uniport” of
Bigo Hut and it’s rock shelter.
