African Safaris » Mountain Safari Africa

No other mountain range in Africa, perhaps in the world, is as steeped in legend as the Ruwenzoris—Ptolemy’s fabled Mountains of the Moon. A trek to the ice fields of this range is no ordinary climb it is a journey to the pulse of the African continent. The Ruwenzoris lie along the western border of Uganda and rise approximately 3,960 metres (13,000 feet) above the western Rift Valley. The range is some 112 kilometres (70 miles) long by 50 kilometres (30 miles) wide and was formed from a block which was tilted and thrust up during the development of the rift. Unlike Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya it is not of volcanic origin.

In the centre of the range there are six major peaks all draped with permanent snow and glaciers. Mount Stanley at 5,106 metres (16,763 feet) is the summit of the Ruwenzoris and it is surrounded by a complex system of other mountains such as Speke (4,886 metres/16,042 feet), Baker (4,840 metres/15,889 feet), Gessi (4,712 metres/ 15,470 feet), Emin (4,788 metres/15,720 feet) and Luigi di Savoia (4,624 metres/ 15,179 feet). On each of these mountains there are several peaks and glaciers. Early travellers acknowledged the Ruwenzoris as the source of the Nile and the first information to be brought back from the interior was by Henry Morton Stanley after his 1888-89 expedition. The first expeditor to explore the mountains thoroughly was led by the Duke of the Abruzzi in 1906.

Unlike the other great mountains of East Africa, the Ruwenzoris rarely dazzle the surrounding countryside with their shimmering snowfields. In fact they are hardly ever seen from the plains, being almost continually wrapped in thick cloud. The range is arguably one of the wettest in the world but it has its worthy compensations in that it is a botanist’s paradise. Giant groundsels and lobelia grow in thick forests above 3,046 metres (10,000 feet) and attain heights of up to 15 metres (50 feet). Heather can be found in clumps nine metres (30 feet) high.

For the traveller the Ruwenzori Mountains offer problems that other East African peaks do not. Merely reaching their base can be a mini expedition in its own right. Ascents to the peaks can be made from both Zaire and Uganda, but the former does not compare in either beauty or ambience. The approach from Uganda is the traditional way up to the icefields.