The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches , and the range's upper regions are permanently snow-capped and glaciated. Rivers fed by mountain streams form one of the sources of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

. Because of this, European explorers linked the Ruwenzori with the legendary Mountains of the Moon, claimed by the Greek scholar

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

as the source of the Nile.

Virunga National Park Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from in the Semliki River valley to in the Rwenzori Mountains. F ...

in eastern DR Congo and

Rwenzori Mountains National Park Rwenzori Mountains National Park is a Ugandan national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Rwenzori Mountains. Almost in size, the park has Africa's third highest mountain peak and many waterfalls, lakes, and glaciers. The park is ...

in southwestern Uganda are located within the range.

Geology

The mountains formed about three million years ago in the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58crystalline rocks including

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

amphibolite Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose (flak ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

and

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

. The Rwenzori mountains are the highest non-volcanic, non-orogenic mountains in the world. This uplift divided the paleolake Obweruka and created three of the present-day

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in the ...

: Lake Albert, Lake Edward, and Lake George. The range is about long and wide. It consists of six massifs separated by deep gorges: Mount Stanley (), Mount Speke (),

Mount Baker Mount Baker ( Lummi: '; nok, Kw’eq Smaenit or '), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. ...

(), Mount Emin (), Mount Gessi () and Mount Luigi di Savoia (). Mount Stanley has several subsidiary summits, with Margherita Peak being the highest point.

Human history

The mountains are occasionally identified with the legendary " Mountains of the Moon", described in

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

as the source of the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ri ...

. Modern European explorers observed the range beginning in the late nineteenth century, with

Samuel Baker Sir Samuel White Baker, KCB, FRS, FRGS (8 June 1821 – 30 December 1893) was an English explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He also held the titles of Pasha and Major-General in the Ottoman ...

reporting what he called the "Blue Mountains" looming in the distance in 1864, and

Henry M. Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa and his searc ...

visiting the range in 1875 and 1888, when he recorded the name as "Ruwenzori". In 1906, the Duke of Abruzzi mounted an expedition to the Ruwenzori, the account of which was subsequently published by Filippo De Filippi. The expedition scaled the highest peaks of the range, several of which were named by the duke, while Mount Luigi di Savoia was named in his honour. Accompanying the duke was photographer Vittorio Sella, who had previously visited the mountains. His photographs of the

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

s and

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sh ...

s of the Ruwenzori demonstrated that the glaciers were already in retreat. Sella's photographic work is conserved at the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

and at the Istituto di Fotografia Alpina Vittorio Sella in

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin an ...

, both in Italy. The

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of n ...

, Uganda, also has a selection of his images.
Flowers of the Moon, Afroalpine vegetation of the Rwenzori Mountains
'', Schutyser S., 2007, 5 Continents Editions, . The first traverse of the six massifs of the Ruwenzori was done in 1975, starting on 27 January and ending on 13 February. The traverse was done by Polish climbers Janusz Chalecki, Stanisław Cholewa and Leszek Czarnecki, with Mirosław Kuraś accompanying them on the last half of the traverse.
Wielka Grań Ruwenzori 1975
', Wojtera T., Taternik iss 3. 1976. Since Uganda's independence from the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...

, the Rwenzori Mountains have repeatedly become sanctuaries to rebel groups. The

secessionist Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...

Rwenzururu movement The Rwenzururu movement was an armed secessionist movement active in southwest Uganda, in the subnational kingdom of Tooro. The group was made up of Konjo and Amba fighters and was led by Isaya Mukirania. It disbanded in 1982 following success ...

fought an insurgency in the mountains in the 1960s. In course of the

Ugandan Bush War The Ugandan Bush War, also known as the Luwero War, the Ugandan Civil War or the Resistance War, was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number o ...

, the Rwenzururu movement reemerged and continued its struggle until signing a peace deal with Ugandan President

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 t ...

's government. In the Bush War's later stages, the

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA), the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), was a rebel army that waged a guerrilla war, commonly referred to as the Ugandan Bush War or Luwero War, against the government of Milton Obote, and ...

(NRA) rebel force operated in the mountains. After the NRA seized power in Uganda in 1986, another civil war broke out. This time, the Rwenzori Mountains hosted the bases of the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) and the "Partie de Liberation Congolaise" (PLC), an anti-

Mobutu Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997) was a Congolese politician and military officer who was the president of Zaire from 1965 to 1997 (known as the Democratic Republic ...

rebel group. In the early 1990s, a Congolese rebel group known as the

National Council of Resistance for Democracy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(''Conseil National de Résistance pour la Démocratie'', CNRD) led by André Kisase Ngandu began to wage an insurgency against Mobutu from the Rwenzori Mountains. Militias aligned with the old Rwenzururu movement's ideology occupied the Rwenzori Mountains from 1997 to June 2001. In 2020, after being defeated across the border by the

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: Forces armées de la république démocratique du Congo ARDC is the state organisation responsible for defending the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FARDC was rebuilt pat ...

, some elements of the

Allied Democratic Forces The Allied Democratic Forces (french: Forces démocratiques alliées; abbreviated ADF) is an Islamist rebel group in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government. It was o ...

moved into the Rwenzori Mountains.

Natural history

Flora

The Ruwenzori are known for their vegetation, ranging from

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

through alpine

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artif ...

s to snow. The range supports its own species and varieties of

giant groundsel ''Dendrosenecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is a segregate of ''Senecio'', in which it formed the subgenus ''Dendrosenecio''. Its members, the giant groundsels, are native to the higher altitude zones of ten mo ...

and

giant lobelia Giant lobelia is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Lobelia'' and may refer to: *'' Lobelia aberdarica'' *'' Lobelia bambuseti'' *''Lobelia deckenii'' *''Lobelia giberroa'' *'' Lobelia gregoriana'' (syn. ''L. deckenii'' subsp. ''keni ...

and even has a tall heather covered in

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

that lives on one of its peaks. Most of the range is now a World Heritage Site and is covered jointly by Rwenzori Mountains National Park in southwestern Uganda and the Virunga National Park in the eastern Congo. There is no water shortage in the Ruwenzori; yet, several members of the afro-alpine family resemble species that normally thrive in desert climates. The reason lies in their similar water economy. Water is not always readily available to the afroalpine plants when they need it. In addition, nightly frosts affect the sap transport in the plants and the intake of water by its roots. As the day begins, the air temperature and radiation level rise rapidly, putting strenuous demands on the exposed parts of the plants as they try to meet the transpiration demands of the leaves and maintain a proper water balance. To counter the effects of freezing, the afro-alpine plants have developed the insulation systems that give them such a striking appearance. These adaptations become more prominent as the elevation increases. There are five overlapping vegetation zones in the Ruwenzori: the evergreen forest zone (up to ); the bamboo zone (); the heather zone (); the alpine zone (); and, the nival zone (). At higher elevations, some plants reach an unusually large size, such as lobelia and groundsels. The vegetation in the Ruwenzori is unique to equatorial alpine Africa. Sources:

Glacial recession

An ongoing concern is the

impact of climate change The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...

on the Ruwenzori's glaciers. In 1906, forty-three named glaciers were distributed over six mountains with a total area of , about half the total glacier area in Africa. By 2005, less than half of these were still present, on only three mountains, with an area of about . Recent scientific studies, such as those by Richard Taylor of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, have attributed this retreat to global climate change and have investigated the impact of this change on the mountain's vegetation and

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity' ...

. In 2012 Klaus Thymann lead an expedition with the environmental charity Project Pressure creating comparative photographs to visually document the glacier recession, the findings were published in global media including The Guardian. The alteration can be seen in comparative images. As the temperature rises and the glaciers recede, vegetation slowly creeps up the mountain.

Notes

References

* * ''Glaciers of the Middle East and Africa'', Williams, Richard S., Jr. (editor) In: U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1991, pp.G1-G70 * ''Guide to the Ruwenzori'', Osmaston,H.A., Pasteur,D. 1972, Mountain Club of Uganda. 200 p.
''Recession of Equatorial Glaciers. A Photo Documentation''
Hastenrath, S., 2008, Sundog Publishing, Madison, WI, , 144 pp. * ''Tropical Glaciers'', Kaser, G., Osmaston, H.A. 2002, Cambridge University Press, UK. 207 p. * ''Ruwenzori'', De Filippi, F. 1909. Constable, London. 408 p.
Greenpeace article "The Death of the Ice Giants"

BBC Article "Fabled ice field set to vanish"

* Kaser et al. 2006, in ''International Book of Climatology'' 24: 329–339 (2004) * *

External links

*
UWM.edu: 1937 aerial photographs of Rwenzori Mountains
– ''University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries Digital Collections''. * {{Authority control Albertine Rift montane forests Mountain ranges of Uganda Mountain ranges of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Great Rift Valley Kasese District North Kivu