The Mountains of Uganda: Glaciers on the Equator

Short answerUganda has three mountain systems worth a traveller's time: the Rwenzoris in the west, glaciated and topping out at 5,109 m on Margherita Peak; Mount Elgon in the east at 4,321 m, with one of the largest calderas on earth; and Uganda's three Virunga volcanoes in Mgahinga, each climbable in a day. The Rwenzoris are a serious expedition. The other two are not.

Uganda is not thought of as a mountain country, which is odd given it holds Africa's highest range, permanent equatorial glaciers, and a volcano with a caldera you could lose a city in. Here is the whole picture.

The mountains, ranked

The Rwenzoris — the serious one

The Rwenzori Mountains are the highest range in Africa. Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya are taller individual peaks, but both are free-standing volcanoes; the Rwenzoris are a genuine range, roughly 120 km long, thrown up by tectonics rather than eruption.

They are also glaciated, almost exactly on the equator. That is a very short list — the Rwenzoris, Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya are the only places in Africa with permanent ice, and the Rwenzori glaciers have retreated dramatically within living memory.

Ptolemy called them the Mountains of the Moon and put the source of the Nile in them, which turned out to be broadly right — their meltwater feeds the system. What you get on the ground is genuinely strange: giant groundsel and lobelia several metres tall, bog you sink into, moss over everything, and cloud most of the time.

Full detail in our Rwenzori trekking guide.

Mount Elgon — the accessible giant

Elgon is the opposite proposition, and underrated for it. It is an extinct volcano on the Kenyan border, the oldest in East Africa, and its caldera covers roughly 40 km² — among the largest in the world.

Wagagai, the summit, is 4,321 m, and — this is the part people miss — it is a walk. No glaciers, no ropes, no scrambling. Four to five days at a reasonable gradient through forest, bamboo and moorland to a caldera rim you can walk across. For anyone who wants a high summit without technical climbing, it is one of the best-value mountains in Africa, and you will meet almost nobody on it.

The lower slopes hold the Sipi Falls, which is where most visitors stop — see the Sipi Falls guide and Mount Elgon National Park.

The Virunga volcanoes

In the far south-west, Uganda owns a slice of the Virunga chain — the same volcanoes that hold the mountain gorillas. Three of them sit in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, and all three can be climbed in a day.

• Muhabura (4,127 m) — the tallest and hardest of the three, a relentless steep cone with a small crater lake at the summit and, on a clear day, a view across the whole chain.
• Sabinyo (3,669 m)— the interesting one. The name means “old man's teeth” for its jagged ridge, and the route climbs a series of ladders. Stand on the summit and you are in Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo simultaneously.
• Gahinga (3,474 m) — the gentlest, through bamboo where golden monkeys live, to a swampy crater at the top.

The ones nobody climbs

North-east Uganda has mountains too, and essentially no climbers. Mount Moroto (3,083 m) rises out of the Karamoja plains with dry forest on its flanks. Mount Morungole (2,750 m), on the edge of Kidepo Valley, is home to the Ik — one of the smallest ethnic groups in Uganda — and the trek there is really a cultural journey with a summit attached.

Neither is a polished tourist product. Both are extraordinary if you want country nobody else is walking in.

Which one should you climb?

We run the Rwenzori as a full expedition alongside gorilla trekking, and we will happily talk you out of Margherita if the shorter circuit is the better trip for you. See how our trekking itineraries are built, or tell us what you want to climb.

Uganda's mountains: common questions

What are the main mountains in Uganda? The Rwenzori Mountains in the west, topping out at Margherita Peak at 5,109 m; Mount Elgon in the east at 4,321 m; and the Ugandan share of the Virunga volcanoes — Muhabura, Sabinyo and Gahinga — in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in the far south-west. Beyond those sit Moroto, Napak and Morungole in the Karamoja north-east.

What is the highest mountain in Uganda? Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley in the Rwenzori range, at 5,109 m. It is the third-highest point in Africa after Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, and unlike either of those it is a glaciated, technical climb rather than a walk-up.

Are there snow-capped mountains in Uganda? Yes. The Rwenzoris carry permanent glaciers despite sitting almost exactly on the equator — one of only three glaciated ranges in Africa, alongside Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. The ice is retreating fast and is a fraction of what it was a century ago.

Which Ugandan mountain is easiest to climb? Mount Elgon. It is a walk-up rather than a technical climb, with no glaciers, no rope work and a gentler gradient, and Wagagai summit is usually reached over four to five days. The Rwenzoris are a serious mountaineering undertaking by comparison.

Can you climb the Virunga volcanoes in Uganda? Yes — Mgahinga Gorilla National Park offers day climbs of Muhabura, Sabinyo and Gahinga. Each is a single long day rather than an expedition, and the UWA fee for volcano climbing at Mgahinga is $100 for foreign non-residents. Sabinyo's summit is the point where Uganda, Rwanda and the DR Congo meet.

Do you need technical climbing experience for the Rwenzoris? For the Margherita summit, yes — the final section crosses glacier and requires rope, crampons and ice axe, and guides will not take you up without them. The lower Rwenzori circuits to Bugata or Mutinda are trekking rather than climbing and need only good fitness.