Station 01, Sacred, Birding, Passage III
Uganda
Walked down from 4,321 metres.
Eight stations on one staircase, from Wagagai to the Nile.
Begin the DescentThe staircase starts on a moorland above the clouds.
Station 01 · Sacred
Wagagai, Mount Elgon
4,321m
An extinct volcano with one of the largest calderas on earth, and the mountain the Bagisu hold as the source of imbalu, the initiation that orders a man's life. Jackson's Francolin and Alpine Chat on the moorland.
- Sacred
- Birding
- Passage III
Photograph © Sacred Earth
Station 02 · Cosmology
Mount Moroto and the Tepeth
3,083m
Dry-country forest on a mountain the Tepeth have farmed and held for centuries, above the Karamojong plains where cattle are kinship, wealth and ritual at once.
- Cosmology
- Community
- Passage III
Photograph RobertaNK / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Not a tour of Uganda. A descent through it.
Station 03 · Birding
Mubwindi Swamp, Ruhija
2,340m
The trail serious birders cross the world for: African Green Broadbill, Grauer's Rush Warbler, Handsome Francolin. Over twenty Albertine Rift endemics in forest older than the last ice age.
Wagagai, Mount Elgon · 4,321 m◆Mount Moroto and the Tepeth · 3,083 m◆Mubwindi Swamp, Ruhija · 2,340 m◆Sipi Falls and the coffee slope · 1,775 m◆Bigo bya Mugenyi · 1,256 m◆Pian Upe, and Uganda's only endemic · 1,200 m◆The Kazinga Channel · 910 m◆The Royal Mile, Budongo · 620 m◆
Photograph © Sacred Earth
Station 04 · Community
Sipi Falls and the coffee slope
1,775m
Three waterfalls off Elgon's flank, walked with a community guide, and Arabica taken tree to cup with the Bagisu grower who raised it.
- Waterfalls
- 3
- Above sea level
- 1,775
Photograph Kateregga1 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Station 05 · Cosmology
Bigo bya Mugenyi
1,256m
Ten square kilometres of ditch and berm on the south bank of the Katonga, radiocarbon-dated to roughly AD 1300–1500. The largest pre-colonial monument in Uganda, and the material trace of the people oral tradition remembers as the Chwezi.
Photograph Timothy Akolamazima / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Every station is a real place with a real number beside it.
Station 06 · Birding
The Descent, in numbers
Seasonally-flooded grass and acacia holding Fox's Weaver, found in Uganda and nowhere else on earth, alongside the Karamoja Apalis. Uganda's second-largest protected area, and almost nobody in it.
Altitude lost so far
3,121 m
Total drop to the Nile
3,701 m
Stations · passages · days
8 · 4 · 8
Photograph avocat / iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Station 07 · Wildlife
The Kazinga Channel
910m
The densest population in Africa
Hippo
Cutting the surface at dusk
Skimmer
Stacked on the bank
Pelican
Photograph Jchambacha / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The index
Eight stations, four passages, one staircase
Top of the staircase
4,321 m
Total drop to the Nile
3,701 m
Passages, days each
4 · 8
Station 03, Birding, Passage II, Passage IV
Mubwindi Swamp, Ruhija
Station 05, Cosmology, UNESCO tentative, Passage I
Bigo bya Mugenyi
Station 07, Wildlife, Birding, Passage II
The Kazinga Channel
Film, Community, Passage III
Sipi, the falls, on film
Station 02, Cosmology, Community, Passage III
Mount Moroto and the Tepeth
Station 04, Community, Passage III
Sipi Falls and the coffee slope
Station 06, Endemic, Birding, Passage III
Pian Upe, and Uganda's only endemic
Station 08, Birding, Passage I, Passage II
The Royal Mile, Budongo
Film, Birding, Passage I
The Royal Mile track, on film
Station 08 · Birding · 620 m
The finest single stretch of birding in East Africa.
The staircase ends at the river.
Four passages, eight days each. A deposit of 30% on acceptance, the balance 60 days before departure.
| IThe Chwezi Road | 8 days | from US$9,733 |
|---|---|---|
| IIThe Rift Road | 8 days | from US$11,887 |
| IIIThe Eastern Endemic | 8 days | from US$12,203 |
| IVThe Hour | 8 days | from US$13,672 |
Record a deposit
30% on acceptance · balance 60 days before departure
Paper payment · deposit record
Record a bank deposit against your proposal
A deposit of 30% is due on acceptance and the balance 60 days before departure. Prices are per person, six sharing. This form issues a tracking reference and a record for you to send with the slip; nothing is stored on this site.
Photograph Josefito123 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0