Rwenzori, Uganda

[walkingpoles]

A short report and some photos (in a second post) about my hiking trip to the top of the Rwenzori mountains (5109m) in Uganda.

The Rwenzoris are a national park in Uganda and share a border with DR Congo. Its highest park is Margherita Peak (5109m) of Mount Stanley. It is the third highest mountain in Africa after Kilimandjaro and Mount Kenya. The approach to it is a rather long hike.

A Swiss mountaineering guide organised the trip, using birduganda safari Ltd as the local agent, which was an excellent choice. For the hike we had 3 local guides, a chef and 17 porters (for 4 tourists, including our Swiss guide). Fortunately no ranger/military came with us.

Apart from summit day, most of the hike is on good paths, but some sections are extremely boggy. Most days we were walking in welly boots. I managed to find 3 spots of bogs which were deeper than the welly boots, but these spots are rare. The huts are slightly better equipped than bothies. There are toilets (cabin with hole in the ground kind) and matrasses. Sleeping bag is still required. Nights were of the cold kind.

Day 1 took us from the gate to Nyabitaba hut (2500m), 3h. Jungle is at its best. We spotted an abundance of birds and some blue monkeys. We walked in sandals, which is fine as long it is not raining. We encountered some unfriendly ants on the way.

Day 2 was more tiring, leading us through different sections of the rain forest to John Maate hut (3500m), 5h. Seeing the vegetation change was a highlight. Blue monkeys from close. Walking in welly boots strongly advised.

Day 3: walk over the bigo bogs to Bujuku hut (4000m), 5h. Both swamps are boarded which a structure inbetween a bridge and a raft, so that it is no problem anymore to cross them. The board walk also helps against erosion. Welly boots again. The vegetation changes and opens up. Huge Lobelias and Dendrosenecios are now dominating the landscape.

We spent 2 nights at Bujuku hut in order to help with acclimatisation. That was absolutely the correct decision and paid off during summit day. In our extra day there, we climbed Mount Speke (4800m). 2 sections are climbing on grade 3. Our guide put a fixed rope in to help us over it.
I experienced some headache due to the height, so I was really glad that we stopped there for two nights. On summit day, the headache was gone.

Day 5: hike to Elena hut (4500m) 3h. Rather short hike but very boggy in places. Occasionaly there were great sights down into the jungle and up towards mount Baker or mount Speke. Vegetation finally stops shortly before reaching Elena.

Day 6: Summiting on Margherita Peak and Alessandra Peak (we started shortly before 6. Finishing at Kitandara hut at about 4, but with a long break in Elena on the way down). If you are experienced and fit, it is also possible to include Alberto peak (Has to be organised at the gate, fees are different when you only summit on one peak). We were in good shape due to the acclimatisation. All the others I've seen struggled heavily with the thin air.

From the hut, the first section is scrambling/climbing up to grade 3. A fixed rope is already installed. After this, a rather harmless glacier plateau awaits. We roped up, but could have gone without doing so (and didn't bother with ropes on the way back). The tracks from all the groups that go over the glacier can't be missed. After it is a downclimb and traverse on rocks before reaching the second glacier. This glacier has a rather steep section where we used a screw. Without crampons it's impossible to go up there (and come back down). Stiff soles are also a must, as front spikes of the crampons are essential. There are also lots of small crevasses under the snow. Not roping up would have been stupid. The summit itself is reached over some rocks. There are again some grad 3 climbs on the rocks and some fixed ropes. For Margherita Peak, there are mostly paths. Not many people go on Alessandra Peak, which is a hard scramble with lots of loose rock. We climbed up using the crampons. The loose rock is not to be underestimated. We came back the same way, abseiling most of it and then walked back to Elena in the same tracks as when we climbed it. We used our trusted Swiss style for roping techniques and had the African guides building a rope party on their own. A refresher in Alpine mountaineering standards wouldn't be wrong. But I didn't see extremely bad stuff and wouldn't have minded being on the same rope as them. Climbingwise they were in great form and knew the mountain well.
The night before it rained heavily and we already thought that we won't be able to climb the mountain. The stones get extremely slippery in no time. But the guides prayed for strong wind and, indeed a strong wind dried the stones over night. Conditions on summiting day were perfect. Lots of great sights (the heart of darkness is somewhere there on the other side). On most days the mist stays up there, so we were extremely lucky.

After returning to Elena hut, just before the rain, we got some noodle soup before descending further to Kitandara hut (4000m). Descending from Elena was a nightmare with the slippery rocks. Fortunately, the rain didn't persist and at some stage we were back in vegetation. The valley we descended into had a completely different climate than the ones we saw on the way up. It might have to do with the north-south direction of the valley. For example there were a lot more flowers (including some orchids) on this side of the mountain. Unfortunately no hyrax came out to greet us.

Day 7: Hike over Freshfield pass (4300m) to Guy Yeoman hut (3500m) 6h. Wonderful hiking. There were lots of sunbirds on top of freshfield pass. The descent to Guy Yeoman is rather boggy in places but keeps being wonderful. In the afternoon we followed the river for some more birding.

Day 8: Hike back to Nyabitaba hut and the gate, 5h. I enjoyed diving back into the jungle.

I concluded my journey in Uganda with visits to Queen Elisabeth Park (yep, named after her majesty. She was there before Uganda gained independence), Bwindi Impenetrable forest (that's were half the Mountain Gorillas live) and Mabamba Swamp (home to the Shoebill).

As a bonus, december is grashopper time. Fried, they taste like peanuts that look at you. Food was generally good, and I was never served local food which might be an acquired taste, unless I asked about it. Goat stew was my favorite, Matooke (mashed bananas) is a tasty staple, and the best avocados grow in Africa.

Tipping porters and guides is always an awkard issue. Especially because it's more like a substantial salary part than a tip. We discussed the issue with our leadguide and got away with 20$ per porter and 33$ per guide and cook (in total 460$ for the four of us) as well a sensible amount of gear (crampons, harness, boots, trousers, Goretex layers, backpack etc.). All in all, the tip probably was at the lower end of the spectrum. Porters get about 2.5$ per day as their regular salary (only for the days they work. They are not employed but hang around the gate and hope to get hired for a trip (unless a guide cares to give them a call beforehand). None of them has health insurance or a pension plan.)