Mountains Of The Moon: A Guide To Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains
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Loading... - Dembe Matovu
- 05 May 2023
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The Central Circuit will take you through Rwenzori and up Margherita Peak, the third highest mountain in Africa...
The Rwenzori mountains in Uganda, which are home to six of the highest mountains in Africa, are better known to many by the mythical moniker, 'the Mountains of the Moon'. But while 30,000 climb Mount Kilimanjaro in nearby Tanzania each year, only around 1,000 visit the deep valleys, montane forest, jagged peaks and glaciers of the Rwenzori. Despite offering so much in terms of trails and biodiversity this remains a paradise, off the tourist beat.
You may be familiar with the Alps and the Caucasus, the Himalayas and the Rockies, but if you have not explored Rwenzori, you still have something wonderful to see...
The Mountains of the Moon is not a new term. It’s ancient - over 2,000 years old, referring to a legendary mountain range in east Africa, known for being the source of the Nile. The term comes from a Greek merchant, Diogenes, who travelled to East Africa and claimed to have found the source of the Nile - which the natives called the Mountains of the Moon due to their snow-capped peaks.
It wasn’t until 1862 that British explorers James Grant and John Speke, also searching for the source of the Nile, ventured into the Rwenzori mountains, and found the summits blanketed in white, fitting Diogenes' description. Rivers fed by the upper streams of the mountains do form one of the sources of the great river.
Warfare took the Rwenzori mountains off the tourist map for decades but today, this remarkable landscape, where grassland, montane forest, jagged peaks and glaciers are layered by altitude, is one full of little-explored, world class hiking.
As British mountaineer Douglas Freshfield wrote in 1906, “You may be familiar with the Alps and the Caucasus, the Himalayas and the Rockies, but if you have not explored Rwenzori, you still have something wonderful to see.” And as author Cam Burns wrote in his 2006 guidebook: “Simply put, if you’re a mountaineer, the Rwenzoris are it when it comes to East African climbing.”
This is a place of serious summits and stunning beauty, the highest point being the enormous Margherita Peak, at 5,109m, which is at the summit of Mount Stanley - and is also the third highest point on the African continent.
It’s important to note that these route descriptions are only short summaries, designed to inspire but not to serve any navigational purpose. They are not intended to guide you on the route and further mapping and planning (or a local guide!) will be required if you want to safely walk any of the trails featured.
WHERE ARE THE RWENZORI MOUNTAINS? GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
The Rwenzori mountains, also sometimes spelled Ruwenzori, Rwenzururu or Rwenjura, are in western Uganda along the Uganda-Congo border, split between the four districts of Kasese, Kabarole, Ntoroko and Bundibugyo. The range is 120km long and 61km wide - covering 995km2 in total.
To get to Rwenzori Mountains National Park, you’ll take a four to six-hour drive from Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Another option is to take a charter flight from Entebbe International Airport to Kasese Airstrip, and then drive under an hour from there to the national park. You can also reach the Rwenzori mountains National Park from the Democratic Republic of the Congo - though it requires a 4x4 and some challenging roads. The best way to get there is from Uganda. Read More…
