Three Day Nature Experience on the Sasa Trail

Day one is a 7.1km walk with an altitude gain from Elgon Trekkers Base Camp above Bugiboni village at 1,720m ascending to Hunwick’s Camp at 2,882m giving an altitude gain of 1,162 metres (if you slept in Mbale City which sits at 1,150m, the altitude gain in one day would be 1,732 metres) The walk takes around 4 to 5 hours.

The trek starts at Elgon Trekkers Base Camp and crosses through coffee plantations to the Gasawa steel ladders just above Bugiboni Village with some steep sections above the ladders. It then flattens out to pass through the community where the main source of income is coffee, onions, potatoes and maize.

Or if it is not raining you may save a bit of energy and time to enjoy more of the national park, you may get a boda boda up to 2,070 metres to start your hike. From here it is a steady walk up to the park boundary directly below Dirigana Falls with a height of 61 metres flanked by sheer cliffs. We have constructed switchbacks in the trail to make it a easier to reach the top of the escarpment. This is a completely new trail which has never been accessible to tourists before and a great addition to the Sasa Trail. The trail climbs up along the Dirigana Valley and the base of the cliffs where there is a large rock shelter in case you need shelter when raining to the base of the falls where you stand below the falls to get fantastic photos before continuing to the top of the escarpment where you are treated to awesome views across the valley.

The trail crosses above the falls as you enter the montane forest with huge Podacarpus trees and thick vegetation. You continue up the Dirigana valley for some distance before there is a bridge and a lunch spot near the river. After a short break you continue up a steady climb to Mukoola Ridge where you will get fantastic views of the valleys below. You continue up the Dirigana valley before crossing the river where there is a fantastic rest spot next to the river for a short break and something to eat before a steady climb up to the Mukoola Ridge and Hunwick’s Camp at 2,882 metres. A short climb to the top of the hill from Hunwick’s camp you get fantastic views across the hills and valleys to Mbale City, Sironko and other towns. At night you see the lights of towns far away. It is also the site for our dinning hut from where you may experience excellent views up to Masaba Peak and Masaba Table where our next camp is situated.

Day two is a relatively easy walk through some stunning forest and down along the Dirigana River past a series of waterfalls.

To start there is a steady climb up through the montane forest on the edge of the cliffs of the Sironko Gorge to 2,930 metres where there is a view point of the valley below, then you turn left and drop gently down through the forest to the Dirigana River. The trail meanders along close to the river where possible so as to view several small waterfalls and rapids. Early morning the air is filled with the different sounds of birds as you breath in the crisp air and enjoy the best of nature. After about two kilometres the trail joins the main trail for a few hundred metres before a stardy climb up to the Sasa River Camp at 2,880 metres where you spend a night.

Descend down through the forest along the original Sasa Trail before turning and cutting across to the top of Dirigana Falls through and area of Giant Tree Ferns and down to Elgon Trekkers Base Camp at Bugiboni.