The giant trees of Mount Elgon

Back in 2016 I had the great pleasure to visit Mount Elgon in western Kenya on the border with Uganda. I shall have to write a long and detailed article on the adventures I had there with my father and cousin but this post shall just be about some of the amazing trees we saw there.

I have a great love for trees and I have been incredibly lucky so see some amazing specimens on my travels around the world but the trees we saw on mount Elgon where truly amazing. The high altitude forests there were dominated by Podocarpus gracilio. I had seen this species before but never had I seen them grow into such magnificent giants. Prized for their hardwood trees like this are hard to find these days.

At one point while traveling through the forest I could see a great tree extending well above all the others around it. I pushed in to find the base and discovered it was a true giant. This must be the biggest tree I have ever seen first-hand. Not as tall as other but huge in bulk and beauty. If I had to pick a favourite individual tree then this would be it.

Further up the mountain we found another lone giant not as big as the first but beautifully symmetrical. A near perfect specimen of the species (the image at the top).

Even further up we came across a large grove of Podocarpus. Here the trees where obviously competing for light and as a result had grown amazing tall reaching up into the sky. The effect was lovely with the mountain mist rolling through. I climbed down the slope to get amongst them to capture this silhouette looking up.

If you ever find yourself in this part of the world and you love trees, adventure and wildlife then I thoroughly recommend a trip to Mount Elgon National Park!