Mountains
Africa's third highest peak, glaciated, mist-shrouded and endlessly dramatic.
Mount Stanley is Uganda's and the Rwenzori range's highest peak, rising to 5,109m at Margherita Peak, the third highest point in Africa after Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. Named for the explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley who was the first European to discover the Rwenzoris in 1888, the mountain is a block mountain of ancient folded rock, unlike the volcanic giants of East Africa.
The summit is permanently glaciated, one of Africa's last equatorial ice fields, and one that is visibly retreating with climate change. A typical summit trek takes 8 days, ascending through extraordinary ecological zones from montane forest through bamboo, giant heather, open moorland and finally the glacial summit.
The mountain is sacred to the Bakonzo people, who believe it is the home of the god Kitasamba. Standing on the summit, you can see across both Uganda and the DRC, one of the most extraordinary views in Africa.