Mount Elgon
Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano on the border of Uganda to the west and Kenya in the east. Its crater has a diameter of about 12 kilometers. It was named after the ethnic group of Elgonyi who lived on the south side of the mountain until the 20th century. In the Maasai in Kenya, he was " Ol Doinyo Ilgoon ", called on the Ugandan side " Masawa ".
Location
Mount Elgon is after Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains National Park is the fourth highest mountain in East Africa, it is located 100 km north-east of Lake Victoria. Despite its height, the slope is on average only about 4 degrees. The Mountain Zone has an area of 80 km from north to south and 50 km in east-west direction. The international border runs along the river Suan which flows to the northeast, and the Lwakaka, which flows south to near Tororo and forms the border.
- Wagagai ( 4,321 m ) in Uganda
- Sudek ( 4,302 m ) in Kenya
- Koitobos ( 4,222 m ) in Kenya
- Mubiyi ( 4,211 m)
- Masaba ( 4,161 m)
Geology
He is the oldest of belonging to the African Great grave breach volcanoes. It originated in the Miocene, his last major outbreak happened before about 12 million years ago. For 3 million years, he has not erupted. At that time, mainly erupted lava, which is responsible for the present, gently rising shape of the shield volcano. Moraines at the summit, which descend to 3500 meters above sea level, and small crater lakes indicate that the mountain in the Pleistocene ( 1.5 million years ago ) was covered by glaciers.
Geography
The over both countries extending Mount Elgon National Park is accessible from the Ugandan and Kenyan side. Apart from the two border rivers originate at Mount Elgon some other rivers, including on the east side of the Nzoia, which flows into Lake Victoria. The Suan springs within the crater and flows through an approximately 3500 meter high, walk gorge in the caldera. At the lower end of the valley are hot springs. This and another canyon on the Ugandan side were formed by the flowing melt water of the glaciers in the soft volcanic rock. The protection status of the area is already justified by its important function as a water catchment area for the Lake Turkana and Lake Kyoga
By a mountain it can rain all year round, especially in higher regions, most rain falls from April to October. In the north and east are 1500 mm annual precipitation, measured 2000 mm in the south and west. The soils within the caldera and on the higher mountain slopes consist primarily of a thin layer with a dark permanent wet clay, are found only in deeper regions humus -containing red-brown clay soils that are suitable for a relatively intensive agricultural cultivation.
Species -rich lowland rain forest is practically non-existent. Up to 2500 meters height grows a mixed mountain forest in which the somewhat drier north Podocarpus, Juniper and Ekebergia ( a mahogany plants) and in the south of Prunus africana and Olea welwitschii ( genus olive trees ) prevail. Between 2400 and 3000 meters followed by clear bamboo forests, but do not form a closed belt. On the northern slopes of cattle grazing have led to an open grassland. Strengthened against the 1970 and 1980 years since the observed degradation in 1996 launched a project to protect the forest reserve.
Above 3500 meters the grass vegetation begins with ericaceous the African high moorland zone. Outside the caldera are a few cases as straw flowers and lobelia, within an Alchemilla elgonensis called dwarf bush. In the caldera, especially Senecio fall elgonensis eye. Overall, the area is very rich in animal and plant species, among which are elephants, leopards, primates ( black and white colobus monkeys and Rotschwanzmeerkatze ) and 144 species of birds.
History
Rudolf Kmunke (1866-1918) and Robert Stigler (1878-1975) ascended on 14 December 1911 Wagagai and Koitobos, whom they called the Kaiser- Franz -Joseph- top. For this expedition included four Europeans, and 200 to 250 African porters and helpers. The Sudek summit had been climbed in 1890 by Fredrick Jackson and Ernest Gedge. They crossed the caldera from north to south and 400 were servants go. The Scot Joseph Thomson explored in 1883 the southern slope of the mountain. 1896, the mountain range from the British colonial administrator Charles William Hobley ( 1867-1947 ) was first circumnavigated.
Population
The Mount Elgon area is due to its high rainfall and fertile soil for centuries a preferred settlement area. Since the 16th century, various Kalenjin groups settled partly in caves on the mountain; In the following centuries they spread out from the higher situated in deeper areas. Among the more slender and tall nilotischsprachigen ethnic groups of the region include the Nandi, the Ogiek and Sabaot. Most Kalenjin changed during the 20th century because of the scarcity of land from livestock ( cattle ) to agriculture; in the first place are the cultivation of maize and vegetables. In the 19th century wandered a Bantu -speaking groups of the Luhya, the lump sum referred to by the British as Kavirondo and were supported against the rebellious Kalenjin. They were soon outnumbered.
The also counted among the Kalenjin Elgonyi lived at the time of the British occupation of the end of the 19th century mainly in caves in upland forest areas and operated livestock. Beginning of the 20th century they switched to farming, in 1925 their number was estimated with a decreasing trend in 5000. By 1926 furnished in the higher elevations of the British forest reserve the Elgonyi were expelled from their ancestral region, partly they were forcibly relocated to Uganda. The Elgonyi were known in European professionals, as they were visited in 1925 by Carl Gustav Jung, who had traveled to Mount Elgon in order to question them about their dreams. Jung learned about it from the silent Elgonyi but virtually nothing.
Current policy
The high population density and the almost complete economic dependence of all groups of crops or livestock has led to an acute shortage of land. Since August 2006, people living in the area of Mount Elgon population is increasingly threatened by violence exerted by armed gangs, individual troops or police units. The Sabaot were settled in the 1930s during the British colonial period in the foothills of the mountain where they met with the settling in higher regions Ogiek. Due to the expansion of Mount Elgon National Park, the Ogiek were evicted in the territory of the Sabaot from the year 2000. The Saboat armed themselves from May 2006 to combat the preferred for their opinion of the government of the country in question Ogiek. They formed the Sabaot Land Defence Force ( SLDF ), the Ogiek were organized in the sequence in the Moorland Forces, supported by the Kenyan security forces and after their original settlement area, the high moors at Mount Elgon are named. The Sabaot rebels want weapons from Uganda or South Sudan obtained, which they use in fighting carried out by government military operations. The civilian population is exposed in the international conflict largely ignored the violence on both sides.