Rwenzori Mountains National Park

Ptolemy called them the Mountains of the Moon, and the Rwenzoris are still the strangest landscape in East Africa: a permanently wet, permanently misted range carrying the third-highest peak on the continent and some of Africa's last equatorial glaciers.

Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley stands at 5,109 metres and takes seven to nine days on the Central Circuit or the Kilembe route. It requires ice axe and crampon work on the summit day and genuine mountain fitness; this is a climb, not a hike.

You do not have to summit to see the best of it. Three- and four-day treks reach the giant lobelia and groundsel zone, a plant community that exists nowhere else on earth at this scale, and they suit any reasonably fit walker.

Highlights

• Margherita Peak, 5,109m (Africa's third-highest summit)
• The afro-alpine zone of giant lobelia and groundsel
• Shorter 3–4 day treks to Weismann's Peak and the lakes
• Rwenzori turaco and Albertine Rift endemic birding
• Bakonzo community trails in the foothills

Best time to visit

Late December to February and June to August are the driest windows. The Rwenzoris are wet by nature, and you should expect rain in any month.

Getting there

Trailheads sit near Kasese, seven hours by road from Kampala or a short flight to Kasese airstrip. It pairs naturally with Queen Elizabeth National Park.