4 Days Summit Mount Stanley

Start the day by approaching the base early in the morning in order to hire equipment if so and arrange for guides, chef and porters at once. The hiking starts from the park gates to Nyabitaba a distance of 7km takes 5-6 hours and an ascent of 1200 meters.

The trail at the beginning goes through homes and fields progressing through high elephant grasses and dense bush. You will climb over cliffs and bluffs crossing river Mahoma then ascending steeply into Nyabitaba camp. Certain animals can be spotted such as the white and black colobus monkeys, three horned chameleon and the Rwenzori Turaco birds.

Stay an overnight at the Nyabitaba camp.

From Nyabitaba you descend to your right follow the trail that drops down through the forest for a half an hour to the Kurt Shafer Bridge, just before the confluence of the Mubuku and Bujuku rivers.

The walk is then easy going for a couple of hours passing through the bamboo forest and then becomes more difficult kind of like spelunking, traverse through a long and exhausting stretch of slippery moss-covered rocks. From the Nyamileju rock shelter, Mount Stanley and Mount Speke can be seen before passing into the zone of the giant Heather, lobelia and groundsel. Finally reach John maate camp for hot lunch after passing through the tiring bog. While here, high chances of catching the nice views of Mount Stanley and Margherita glacier. After quick lunch hit your journey to Bujuku camp for dinner and an overnight.

From Bujuku camp the trail drops to Irene junction and enters lower Irene bog, the home of giant lobelias, jumping from tussock to tussock, the bog is finally crossed but rarely without the feet sampling some of the freezing ooze, continuing on to the upper Irene rocks you will follow the Irene river that sometimes runs underground from lake Irene with views of mount Baker to the South and mount Stanley to the west. Continue up to Margherita glacier 4541m and it takes 5 hours walk from Bujuku to Margherita peak. After taking some pictures return back to John maate for dinner and an overnight.

The descend to Nyabitaba takes around 6-7 hours but with an early start and it’s possible to make it all the way down to Nyakalengija.

Below John maate, the route descends the cliffs of Nyamileju takes you through the Heather forest zones down to Nyabitaba for either dinner and an overnight or lunch and continue down to Nyakalengija for hot showers.