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Using their massive tusks, the elephants pull off chunks of the walls to crush and lick up the salt. Over the centuries this has resulted in a noticeable increase in the size of the cave as well as walls that are covered in tusk marks. The trip to the depths of the cave is not without its dangers; there is a deep crevasse into which many younger, more inexperienced elephants have fallen, leaving behind an elephant graveyard.
The surface of the cave is made of pyroclastic sediment (previously it was also assumed to be a lava tunnel). The cave is located about 200 meters above the foot of Mount Elgon and is about 200 meters long. Remnants of salts crushed by elephants also come here to chew other animals such as buzzard, buffalo or hyena. There are many cracks in the cave, where some baby elephants fell and died here. Bats live in the cave and are filled with their guano (feces).
Mount Elgon
Mount Elgon is an extinct gable volcano in East Africa. It is located north of Kisumu and crosses the state border between Uganda and Kenya. The volcano base measures 80 km from north to south and 50 km from west to east, with a crater diameter of 8 km. The highest point is called Wagagai and has an altitude of 4321 m. Mount Elgon is one of the ultraprominent peaks.
It is the oldest volcano in East Africa, which originated in the Miocene period, the last major eruption occurred twelve million years ago. Numerous moraines testify to Pleistocene glaciation. The soil consists of laterite. There are caves (the best known is the Kitum Cave), which is sought after by elephants and other animals due to salt reserves. On the slopes of the volcano rises the rivers Nzoia and Turkwel.
Arabian coffee is grown at an altitude of 1600 to 2000 meters. In 1968, Mount Elgon was declared a national park with an area of 1279 km², where the African buffalo, tiara and bearded vulture live. There is a rare primrose flower Ardisiandra wettsteinii.
The mountain was first described by Joseph Thomson and the first ascent took place on December 14, 1911 by Rudolf Kmunke and Robert Stigler. The name comes from the indigenous people of the Elgonyi ethnic group.
From 2005 to 2008 there was a Sabaot uprising in the area around Mount Elgon against the Kenyan government.
Rock forming a cave
Pyroclastic rocks or pyroclastics (derived from the Greek: πῦρ, meaning fire; and κλαστός, meaning broken) are sedimentary clastic rocks composed solely or primarily of volcanic materials. Where the volcanic material has been transported and reworked through mechanical action, such as by wind or water, these rocks are termed volcaniclastic. Commonly associated with unsieved volcanic activity—such as Plinian or krakatoan eruption styles, or phreatomagmatic eruptions—pyroclastic deposits are commonly formed from airborne ash, lapilli and bombs or blocks ejected from the volcano itself, mixed in with shattered country rock.
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