7 Days Rwenzori Hiking Through the Central Circuit Trail

Day 1: Hike to Nyabitabba (2651m) from Nyakalengija at the foothills.

Your hike briefing will take place at the RMS headquarters in Nyakalengija, so make sure to head there after breakfast at the camp. Awaken in Nyakalengija and make your way through the Bakonjo settlements to the gate of Mount Rwenzori National Park. Here, you must register before you can enter the park. Beginning your journey along the central circuit trail, you will encounter lush tropical vegetation, towering elephant grass, and abundant bushes.

Animals such as forest elephants, chimpanzees, hyraxes, black-and-white colobuses, duikers, three-horned chameleons, and L’Hoest’s monkeys are all found in this forest. A wide variety of trees and plants can be found here, in addition to numerous bird species such as the Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Turaco, Long-eared Owl, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Strange Weaver, Archers’ Robin-chat, and Rwenzori Batis. Most likely, you will encounter a few of them.

The distance between Nyakalengija and the Nyabitaba hut is approximately 8 kilometers. The Nyabitaba hut will serve as your dinner spot and your bed for the night.

Day 2: Trek to John Matte (3505m) from Nyabitaba

There is a full breakfast at the hut. Then you have about 30 minutes to walk through dense trees and bushes to the Kurt Shafer Bridge, where the Bujuku and Mubuku rivers meet. You will spend the next two hours making your way through a mountain forest, rocks covered in moss, and bamboo. Along the way, you could also observe the diverse range of birds that inhabit the forest. Your next stop on the way up is Nyamulejju Rock Shelter for lunch. This rock shelter is where early hikers sometimes camped and stayed the night. From here, you can see Mount Stanley and Mount Speke if the sky is clear.

You’ll then keep walking through the mountain forest until you reach the John Matte hut. There you can rest your exhausted head and eat a big meal. Most hikers cool off in the Bujuku River, which is close to the house. From your position on Mount Stanley, you can see the Margherita Glacier, nestled between the Alexandra and Margherita peaks. It takes 11 kilometers to get from Nyabitaba to John Matte.

Day 3: Hike to Bujuku Hut from John Matte Hut (3962m)

After breakfast at the cabin, you will cross the Bujuku River and go through the bush to get to the lower Bigo bog. Large lobelias thrive in this wet valley. It used to be the hardest part of the Rwenzori because it was so swampy. Most walkers, especially women, had trouble jumping from tussock to tussock. A walk board has been added all the way to the end of the swampy part of the trail, making it much easier for walkers to complete. You will likely see groundsel, giant lobelias, and flowers that bloom all the time as you pass through.

Next, you’ll have to climb steeply along a hill to reach the start of the upper Bigo bog. There is also a path that goes up to Lake Bujuku. You will try to get to the Bujuku hut by going through the small swampy area that is left over after the boardwalk but doesn’t have any walk boards. From here, you can see mountain ranges such as Speke, Baker, Stanley, and Lake Bujuku. You can now get to Mounts Speke and Stanley. There are about 5 kilometers between John Matte and Bujuku. Spend the night in Bujuku.

Day 4: Hike to Elena Hut (4541 m) from Bujuku camp

After breakfast at Bujuku Hut, the walk to Elena Hut will take five to seven hours. You have to walk along the sides of the upper Bigo bog to get there. The next part of your walk will take you across Lake Bujuku’s rough ground. You’ll see more bogs and the exciting Ground Gully on your way to the 4372-meter Scott-Elliot Pass, which is on the western slopes of Lake Bujuku.

You will need to use a metal ladder to get across the steep area at the top of the gully. Thereafter, the road splits in half. The trail on the right goes to the Elena Hut and then climbs steeply over big rocks to reach Mt. Stanley. The trail on the left goes down to Kitandara Lakes via Scott-Elliot Pass. Her hut is on Mount Stanley’s rocky side, too cold to be near. You can see both Mount Baker and Mount Speke from this spot at the top of the Rwenzori Mountains. It’s almost impossible to see these two mountains when the fog comes in. After dinner, spend the night at Elena’s hut.

Day 5: Hike to Kitandara Hut (4023 m) from Elena Hut via Margherita Peak

Please ensure you are up by 2:00 a.m. today. Wear warm clothes, put on your harness, gloves, and headsock, and make sure your lights, helmets, and sunglasses are in your daypack. Have breakfast at Elena Hut. Go up the Stanley hill until you reach the top of Mount Stanley, which is also called Margherita Peak. Utilize the ropes as a way to move through rough and hilly terrain.

The guide will show you how to use the gear on the ice. In the mountainous areas, you will need crampons, an ice axe, and your own physical strength. The Stanley Plateau Glacier is where you start your short, two-hour journey to the base of the Margherita Glacier. This section of the trek is the most challenging for those who have previously hiked in the Rwenzori Mountains. You can walk across this ice to get to the Margherita summit (5109 m) on top of Mount Stanley. You can see Ireen Lake, Mount Speke, and the land below from the top.

Thereafter, have lunch at Elena Hut and then go to Kitandara via the most beautiful part of the Rwenzori, the Scott Elliot Pass. Have dinner at Kitandara and then go to bed for the night. If there are many people in the group, they might stay an extra night at Elena’s hut and continue the next day. You can skip the climb of Mount Stanley on days 4 and 5 by taking a different path from the Bujuku Hut to Scott-Elliot Pass. At the pass is the start of the track that leads to the Elena Hut. Just south of the pass lies a rocky area. However, after a short distance, the ground levels out, and the trail continues to Kitandara Lake Hut.

Day 6: Hike from Kitandara to Guy Yeoman via Freshfield Pass (3505m)

First, have breakfast at Kitandara. Then, carefully make your way across the dangerous base of Mount Baker. From Kitandara, the trail goes steeply up the headwall and along the southern slope of Rwenzori Mountain until it reaches Fresh Field Pass.

It starts at the base of Mount Baker and goes out into the distance. From the pass, the steep descent through the mud continues until it reaches the rock shelter at Bujangolo. The site was the Duke of Abruzzi’s base camp during his famous trip in 1906. This campsite is an excellent location to stop for dinner and spend the night after a trip that should take no longer than five to seven hours. The Guy Yeoman hut is on the banks of the Mubuku River.

Day 7: Trek downhill from Guy Yeoman to Nyabitaba to Nyakalengijja

You can begin your journey to Nyabitaba at Guy Yeoman. The path descends through the bamboo trees. You must be careful on the way down because the ground is slippery and dirty, and there isn’t much to hold on to. After about five hours of hiking, you will have lunch at the Nyabitaba hut. We will be going down to Nyakalengija for the next three hours. As soon as you get to Nyakengija in the late afternoon, you can either drive back to Kampala, spend the night in Kasese town, or do more safari activities, like gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.