It Is Possible: Preparing for Mount Elgon

I meet my conference organizer Irene in the lobby of the hotel. She's waiting to meet us there, just as planned, surprisingly calm for someone who's running a conference the next day.

In fact, she has left the rest of her day open to help us plan our Mount Elgon trek. She walks us through the sweltering heat to the UWA (national parks) office at the edge of town.

Lonely Planet has told us it's possible to hike from Uganda into Kenya over the mountain, but we don't have any more details than that. At the office, we ask the woman…