Mount Elgon Foundation
Preserve the cave mining elephants and support the local people of Mt Elgon, a massive extinct volcano on the Kenya-Uganda border.
Mount Elgon is a massive extinct volcano on the Kenya-Uganda border in East Africa. It is believed to have risen from the surrounding Africa plains in a period of intense regional volcanic activity 24 million years ago, probably forming the highest mountain in Africa at the time. It is now quiet and has eroded down to 4,321 meters at its highest peak, Wagagai in Uganda. However, at approximately 80 km north to south and 50 km east to west, it is still huge and is said, measured by its footprint, to be the largest free-standing volcano in the world.
The cultural heritage, landscape and ecology of Mount Elgon are under threat with serious consequences for people both locally and regionally. This includes Mount Elgon's elephants that go deep underground to mine salt. There are many factors driving this, a key one being deforestation which impacts on the hydrology of the mountain and results in soil erosion, the loss of biodiversity and human-wildlife conflict. This is exacerbated by a fragile economic environment of low security and opportunity. Mount Elgon's people and its rich biodiversity are largely being left behind in comparison with many areas of East Africa.
The aim of the Mount Elgon Foundation is to seek viable long-term measures that will help mitigate the challenges faced by Mount Elgon. More specifically, it wishes to:
• reduce human-elephant conflict, protecting people, their livelihoods and the elephants;
• prevent deforestation and promote reforestation;
• promote further recording and preservation of local cultural heritage, and
• provide alternative environmentally and culturally sensitive economic opportunities.
The Foundation and its trustees currently fund or have funded the East African Wild Life Society - Mount Elgon Elephant Project (EAWLS-MEEP), cultural heritage research and community livelihood / forestry related projects. To date, the projects supported are located on the Kenya side of Mount Elgon. We aim to also fund partners who work in Uganda or who are Kenya-based and collaborate on a trans-boundary basis with others in Uganda.
For more info, please visit our website: http://www.mountelgonfoundation.org.uk/.