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Hiking the Rwenzori Mountains Uganda – Africa

Text and Watercolors by Frits Ahlefeldt, Hiking.org

The Mountains of the Moon also called the Rwenzori Mountains is an up to 5,109 meter (16,762 ft) high mountain chain between The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda in mid Africa. The Rwenzori mountains are among the highest in Africa, with Africa’s third highest peak among them. A hike to the mountains can take 8 days or more

The Trail through the Rwenzori mountains starts in the dense tropical rainforest and moves up through in all five different vegetation zones, including different types of cloud forests and to more bare landscapes, to finally reach the snow covered high mountains. Local guides works as trail-finders help hikers navigate between the camps and huts often situated at day distances along the different routes.

Watercolor illustration of hikers in the Rwenzori mountains with the text Mountains of the Moon written in front. Painting by Frits Ahlefeldt — Hiking the Rwenzori mountains is a trek through five different and biodiversity rich zones from tropical rainforest to +5000m. / 16,000ft. high peaks.

Climate change and the Rwenzori Mountains

The Rwenzori mountains is said to have lost most of their snow cover due to climate change and just in the last hundred years the look of the high Rwenzori mountains have changed a lot as most of the snow has now disappeared. Climate experts have followed this this fragile and biodiversity rich Unesco World heritage site closely since the 1980’s to better understand how climate changes is working and what consequences it will have, not only in the Rwenzori Mountains but in the rest of the world too.