Rwenzori Mountains- Mountains of the Moon – Uganda Trekking.

The Ruwenzori mountain range are on the borders of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), and are thought to be the ” Mountains of the Moon ” as referred to by the ancient Egyptians lying s lightly north of the Equator in the western arm of the East African rift valley. The Rwenzori Mountain ranges are 95.5 km  long and has a maximum breadth of 48 km.

Ice Capped Peaks on Rwenzori Mountains.

Glaciation refers to the overall effect of glaciers on the landscape resulting into both erosion and deposition features with in the Mountains and mostly Rwenzori Expeditions team define glaciers of Rwenzori as accumulated/compacted mass of ice/snow moving in a restricted channel/valley from a highland to a lowland which are thought to the source of rivers and lakes within Rwenzori Mountains.

Ruwenzori glaciers are sub- divided into six ice-capped mountains and several lower peaks which are periodically snow-covered as most of the portal peaks which rise above 4,8 78 m. all but one are on Mount Stanley which claims the highest point, Margherita Peak (5, I I I m. ) . The six largest mountains are separated by passes, the average elevation of which is 4,268 m. , and by deeply incised valleys. The permanent snow line stands at almost 4,573 m on the Uganda slopes and 4,750m  on the Congo slopes, although there is evidence of an earlier glaciation down to 2, I 34m. on the eastern slopes.

History of Rwenzori Mountains

The Rwenzori Mountains are located on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although the isolated volcanoes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya ( 14 Days Mountaineering Tours)  are taller, they are the highest range of mountains in Africa with the highest summit of Mt. Stanley reaching 5109 meters.

When the peaks were first explored at the end of the 19th century, there were six separate massifs that held glaciers on their flanks. At this point, the number has dwindled down to just three, with one of those holding only tattered remnants of its earlier glaciation. The peaks found in this range are not as shear or as individually spectacular as those seen in the Himalaya, the Andes or even the Alps.

However, there is something about the range: its perpetual mists, the wild plants that seem better suited for some otherworldly science fiction fantasy than anywhere that is actually real, the rime encrusted glaciers less than 50 kilometers from the equator, its long and fabled history or the difficulty of access and frequent political instability around it that make this place one of the world’s greatest treasures.

Studies about Rwenzori Mountains by Makerere University.

Six expeditions have been organized by Makerere University College to study the glaciers of the Ruwenzori range. Five of these expeditions were planned as a direct contribution to the I.G.Y. programme and four of them were led by F. P. Henderson ( Department of Geo logy, Makerere University College).

The first expedition (December 1957- January 1958) conducted a general reconnaissance of the area to assess the possibilities of glaciological investigations and also established a second bivouac hut at 4,5 1I m. close to the Elena Glacier which was to serve as an advance base for later work. Four further expeditions followed (June 1958; December I958 – January 1959 ; June – July 1959; December I 959 – January 1960) at six- monthly interval s and the last, after a gap of 18 months , was in June – July 1961. The parties generally dividing themselves between a base ca mp at Bujuku hut (3,963 m. ) and an advance base at the Elena bivouac huts (4,5 I r m. ).

This enabled detailed observations over a considerable period to be mad e on the behavior of the two major glaciers of the Uganda side, namely , the Speke Glacier and the, Elena Glacier. Reconnaissance work was also done on other parts of the range: on Mount Baker in Jun e 1958 and Jun e 196 1, on Mount Emin and Gessi in July 1959, on Mount Luigidi Savoia in January 1960 an d on the Savoia Glacier of Mount Stanley in Jun e 1961 . This work is reported on the website.

Rwenzori Mountains

Rwenzori Mountains are made up of six peaks and all of them were first explored in 1906 by the great explorer Abruzzi that visited the Rwenzori Mountains.

• Mount Stanley
• Mount Speke
• Mount Baker
• Mount Emin
• Mount Gessi
• Mount Luigi di Savoia