9-Day Rwenzori Mountains Trekking Expedition to Margherita Camp

• Meet your tour guide upon arrival either at your hotel in Entebbe or at the airport, then drive to Kasese, the nearest town to Rwenzori Mountains National Park. The journey takes approximately 8 hours, with a lunch stopover in Fort Portal before continuing to Kilembe.
• Check in at Sandton Hotel for dinner and an overnight stay.

• After breakfast, start at Trekkers at 1,450 meters and hike to Sine Hut at 2,596 meters, with a height gain of 1,146 meters. Those who are fit and wish to continue to Kalalama Camp at 3,134 metres may do so, and apart from the fantastic views, this gives you more time at Mutinda Camp, where you may climb up to Mutinda Lookout at 3,975 metres.
• Begin by walking up the valley floor through the tall forest trees of the Afro Montane Forest Zone. This is a steady climb with multitudes of birds and a chance to see blue monkeys scampering through the forest. Visitors may sometimes see troupes of 15 to 20 black-and-white Colobus monkeys swinging through the treetops. There are also rare sightings of the L'Hoest monkey, which is part of the Bukonzo cultural emblems and is protected by the King or Omusinga, or you may hear a wild chimpanzee in the distance. There is a wide variety of plant species, from forest trees and bamboo thickets to low shrubs, flowers, fungi, and many moss- and lichen-covered vines hanging from the tall trees, creating a great appeal. Enock's Falls are just 200 meters from Sine Hut and offer a splendid opportunity to capture fantastic memories.
• Stay in the wooden huts at Sine Camp, set at 2,596 metres between tall forest trees on a narrow ridge.

• Trekking starts at 8:30 am, and almost immediately you enter the Bamboo-Mimulopsis Zone, a steep climb with many high steps. In the wet season, the bamboo zone is rather muddy and slippery, making the going slow. However, the atmosphere and the forest are beautiful as you climb 551 metres in altitude over a distance of 1.8 km to Kalalama Camp at 3,147 meters, which is in the Heather-Rapanea Zone. Here, you can rest and enjoy a quick cup of tea or coffee before heading on to Mutinda Camp. The trail meanders up and over several small knolls along a ridge top, then drops down the side of the valley before climbing again, crossing several small streams and passing close to moss-covered waterfalls.
• Then climb steadily along the side of a beautiful mossy river that tumbles over the rocks under the Giant Heather trees, whose trunks are covered in green moss with old man's beard (Usnea lichen) hanging from the branches. The trail twists and turns as you climb up the deep valley, which has an enormous variety of plants and flowers. This valley is unique, with many Giant Heather trees creating a beautiful atmosphere often shrouded in mist. You may wish to climb to the top of the Mutinda Lookout, which takes one to two hours up and one hour down. The views are amazing as you stand on moss-covered rocks at 3,925 meters, looking across the Rwenzori Mountains and down to Kasese town and Lake George. For those clients who are climbing Margherita or any of the prominent peaks, climbing Mutinda at 3,975 meters is also an excellent way to acclimatise and reduce the risk of high altitude sickness.

• Cross the Mutinda Valley through tussock grass and everlasting flowers interspersed with many Giant Lobelias before climbing a steep section up to the Namusangi Valley at 3,840 meters. With sheer waterfalls behind you, you get fantastic views of the Mutinda Peaks. The Namusangi Valley is wide, with many ups and downs as the trail climbs steadily to Bugata Camp at 4,100 metres.

• Trek to Hunwick's Camp via Bamwanjarra Pass. As you leave Bugata Camp, you pass up a ridge and then drop down slightly before ascending to Bamwanjarra Pass at 4,450 meters, where there is a hut in case the weather turns nasty. From the pass, on a clear day, you get excellent views of the three prominent peaks.
• Continue along a trail that passes down the valley and around the edge of some bogs, thick evergreen vegetation, moss, giant groundsel, and lobelia. This is possibly the best place in all the Rwenzori to observe the Malachite Sunbird as it feeds on the many lobelia flowers, and it is also a known breeding site. There are some steep sections before a steady climb up and over a ridge to Hunwick's Camp, which is situated at the top of a deep valley and has good views of Mt Stanley, Mt Baker, Weismann's Peak, and McConnell's Prong.

• Go mountain hiking in the Rwenzori in Uganda. This is the most crucial walk of the hike to Margherita Camp, which is followed by the summit attempt the next day.
• Walk along the ridge before crossing several wet areas and small rivers from Mt Baker and Freshfields Pass.
• Then continue up to Scott Elliott Pass, an enjoyable climb through the pass and up the ridge of Mt Stanley to Margherita Camp at 4,485 meters, below Elena Hut of the Rwenzori Mountaineering Services. A ring of high rocks shelters the camp, and it is the original camp used by the Italian Prince Luigi Amadeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi. You have great views of Mt Baker, Scott Elliott Pass, and some of the high glaciers on Mt Stanley.
• The day's hike to this camp is 4.2 kilometres.
• Reach the camp late in the evening and relax for a little while.
• Then prepare and go through what will transpire on the following summit day. This exercise includes preparing the ropes, hiking shoes, ice-breaking axes, and crampons. You will also be shown how to use this equipment and attire before retiring to your cabins for the night.

• Start the day by climbing up a ridge towards McConnell's Prong, where you get the best views of all three peaks and Scott Elliott's Pass before reaching Oliver's Pass at 4,505 metres. The distance from Hunwick's Camp to the top of Oliver's Pass is 3 km. The trail then cuts across below Weismann's Peak to the confluence of the Nyamwamba River, which flows down through Kilembe and Kasese to Lake George in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
• After crossing the confluence, the trail meanders down the valley to Kiharo Camp, situated in a deep valley with high cliffs and dense vegetation. On the way down the valley, after each bog, you will climb over a ridge of stones and earth that seems out of place but was pushed there by slow-moving glaciers, which eventually stopped moving, melted, and left a pile of rocks and debris in front of where the glacier once stood.

• Cover the distance from Kiharo Camp to the park gate, which is 12.2 km, and then another 2.8 km down to Trekkers Hostel. The walk takes 5 to 8 hours, so those who need to connect to flights back to Kampala or travel on to other activities need to leave Kiharo early. The trail down the Nyamwamba Valley is mostly downhill and stunning, with beautiful views, moss-covered rocks along the river, cascading waterfalls, deep valleys, and forests that are possibly the best in the Rwenzori Mountains. This part of the trail took six years to find an easy route for tourists to use. In 1937, the explorer and geologist McConnell tried to find a way up this valley but failed and had to turn back and search for another route up the mountain. Now you can experience this truly beautiful valley.
• A few kilometres from Kiharo Camp, the path turns off to the right to pass along the river. You may catch a glimpse of a duiker quietly feeding in small clearings as you continue along the river through the open areas. If you wish, you may prefer to walk down the river itself, hopping across the rocks as you go. A few kilometres farther down, the river becomes very steep with multitudes of waterfalls, so the trail moves away from the river and follows a narrow ridge to bypass the steep sections. At the bottom, you meet the river again, where there is a vast rock shelter and a place to rest for a while.

You will find the tour guide waiting to pick you up from the base and transfer you to the hotel for dinner and an overnight stay at Sandton Hotel.

• Have breakfast and start the drive back to Kampala for your flight home.