The Recession of Glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains
A 2022 Update
1) Introduction.
There are about 215,000 documented glaciers in the world today (outside of the three major ice sheets, e.g. WGMS or RGI 6.0 ) representing about 0.32 m of sea level rise ( Farinotti et al. 2019 , Hugonnet et al. 2021 , and references therein).
A total of about 30 glaciers were identified and 21 of them named in the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda ( Table 1 ) by the Duke of the Abruzzi Expedition in June and July of 1906 (Abruzzi 1907, de Filippi 1908, Whittow et al. 1963).
Considered as 'World Heritage Glaciers', the glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains are predicted to disappear no later than the middle of the 21st century even under the most-favorable future climate assumptions (Bosson et al. 2019).
This Story Map compiles the available research in an accessible and interactive format, illustrated with photographs and videos from a visit in the summer of 2019. The extent of the Rwenzori Glaciers is quantified in 2021 and 2022 using satellite imagery.
Background Photograph: The Stanley Plateau Glacier photographed on 4 July 2019 (Dr. Carsten Braun, Westfield State University).
The Rwenzori Mountains - The Stanley Plateau Glacier.
The 'Discovery' of the Rwenzoris
The Rwenzori Mountains are an approximately north-to-south trending mountain chain straddling the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) location between Lake Albert and Lake Edward. Claudius Ptolemy created an early map of the (known) world around AD 150 and sketched a icy mountain range into the interior of Africa as the origin of the Nile that he named Lunae Montes = the ‘Mountains of the Moon’. The Rwenzori Mountains were then 'officially discovered’ by H.M. Stanley in 1888 as he traveled along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Albert (Stanley 1890, Page 333):
“...we had admired the broad sweep and the silvered face of Lake Albert, and enjoyed a period of intense rejoicing when we knew we had reached, after infinite trials, the bourne and limit of our journeyings; but the desire and involuntary act of worship were never provoked, nor the emotions stirred so deeply, as when we suddenly looked up and beheld the skyway crests and snow breasts of Ruwenzori uplifted into an inaccessible altitude, so like what our conceptions might be of a celestial castle, with dominating battlement, and leagues of unscaleable walls.”
The existence of glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains was later confirmed by Moore (1901) when he reached the snowline at about 14,900 feet (4,520 m) (Whittow et al. 1963). The Rwenzori Mountains and its glaciers were subsequently mapped in June and July of 1906 by the Duke of Abruzzi expedition (see below).
The name ‘Ruwenzori’ used by Stanley originated from the Swahili word “rwe nzururu” = place of snow (Ring 2008, Eggermont et al. 2009). The common spelling changed to ‘Rwenzori’ with the establishment of Rwenzori Mountains National Park in 1990 as the Ugandan side of the mountain range (Kaser and Osmaston 2002).
Background Photograph: Mount Stanley with Alexandra and Margherita Peaks photographed from the summit of Mount Baker on 2 July 2019 (Dr. Carsten Braun, Westfield State University).
The Snows of the Nile (Abruzzi, 1907)
The climbing and scientific exploration of the Rwenzori Mountains began in earnest with the Abruzzi Expedition in June and July 1906 (Abruzzi 1907, de Filippi 1908). Here, Abruzzi took-on the challenge issued by Stanley a few years earlier during his lecture to the Royal Geographical Society for someone to:
“...take the Ruwenzori in hand and make a thorough work of it, explore it from top to bottom, through all those enormous defiles and those deep gorges.” (cited by de Filippi 1908, Page 285). The main challenge of this challenge was not the technical difficulty of the climbing, but rather the unfavorable weather conditions typically encountered in the Rwenzori Mountains (Abruzzi 1907, Page 124):
“The one point on which all explorers agreed, although they had attempted the mountain at different seasons, was the abominable weather weather encountered in the higher region: rain, almost perpetual; mists in the brief intervals between the downpours; rare clearances, and those only about dawn.” Of course, these unfavorable climatic conditions for climbing were precisely what created Abruzzi’s famous ‘Snows of the Nile’ in the first place - the extensive glaciation of the Rwenzori Mountains at that time.
Abruzzi (1907, Page 144) estimated the snowline in the Rwenzoris at about 14,100 to 14,400 feet (about 4,350 m) with corresponded the lower limit “to which the glaciers descend on the mountain flanks.” Abruzzi’s lecture to The Royal Society (Abruzzi 1907) presents a very readable overview of the expedition, whereas the definitive account of the expedition, complete with many excellent photographs and maps, was provided by de Filippi (1908).
Finally, a January 1909 article in Blackwood’s Magazine included a more-colorful 'journalistic' treatment of the expedition and the Rwenzori Mountains (e.g. Page 69):
“And yet it [the Rwenzoris] remains almost the strangest of the world’s wonders, and its ascent will always be one of the finest human adventures. They are Mountains of the Moon rather than of this common earth.”
Background Photograph: Mount Stanley photographed from Edward Peak of Mt. Baker (original caption, de Filippi 1908, Page 200).
Scientific 'Rediscovery' of the Rwenzoris
The subsequent expeditions in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s (e.g. Humphreys 1927, 1933, de Grunne 1933, Hicks 1945, etc.) did not ‘add’ anything fundamentally new in terms of the basic geography of the Rwenzori Mountains and their glaciers but addressed a few minor mapping errors and inconsistencies (e.g. Busk 1953) and ascended the peaks that the Duke had ‘missed’ for one reason or another (e.g. Weissmann Peak).
Mary (Light) Meader and her husband Dr. Richard Light flew across the Rwenzori Mountains on 29 December 1937 and were able to capture the first set of usable aerial photographs . The December 1931 aerial photographs published by Humphreys (1933) are unfortunately of limited use due to issues with cloud cover, exposure settings, and viewing angles.
The Rwenzori Mountains were ‘rediscovered’ in a scientific sense in the late-1940s and a second wave of expeditions and explorations ensued that included important in-situ glaciologic measurements (e.g. Spink, Menzies, Osmaston, Whittow, Temple, and more).
Whittow et al. (1963) is arguably the best summary of the glaciers of the Rwenzori Mountains at the time. Spink (1949) summarized the modern glaciation of East Africa and noted that all glaciers in East Africa are receding and represent “surviving remnants of once vast glacierized areas” (Page 279). On the other hand, Spink also realized how the glaciers of the Rwenzori are different:
“It should be emphasised, however, that thanks to high precipitation due to a favourable geographical position, the Ruwenzori glaciers are far “healthier,” more vigorous and better nourished than the atrophied remnants on Kibo and Mount Kenya.” (Spink 1949, Page 279). Whittow (1960) was the first to formally connect the ‘health’ of the Rwenzori Glaciers back to climatologic variables beyond 'just' air temperature and snowfall such as surface albedo, cloud cover, and air mass origins and trajectories.
Rwenzori - The Elena Huts.
Background Photograph: Mount Baker and Mount Stanley mosaic on 29 December 1937 ( Light, 1937 ).
'Modern' Times
More recently, the work by Osmaston, Kaser, Hastenrath, Taylor, Mölg, and others have added much to our understanding of the Rwenzori Mountain glaciers using more quantitative approaches.
Kaser and Osmaston (2002, Chapter 6) can be considered as the ‘definitive’ scientific treatment of the Rwenzori Glaciers and the authors summarized the 20th century glacier history in the Rwenzoris as follows (Page 111, 112, Figure 6.8.9):
Before 1906, the glaciers of the Rwenzori had retreated from an advance which occurred not long ago [i.e. the LIA]. Up to the end of the 1930s, the total retreat was small. However, nothing is known of its course during that time. Between the 1930s and the 1950s, the glaciers of the Rwenzori underwent a generally drastic retreat, and at the beginning of the 1960s, some portions of the glaciers advanced slightly (Whittow et al. 1963, Temple 1968). Up to the end of the 1970s, a further retreat took place, which only caused slight area changes, as the few photographs indicate. Since then, the glaciers have melted heavily.”
20th-century glacier reccession in the Rwenzoris (Kaser and Osmaston, 2002).
Background Photograph: Mount Stanley and its glaciers as seen from the standard climbing route up Mount Baker on 2 July 2019 (Dr. Carsten Braun, Westfield State University). The small ice patch in the foreground is also visible on the 2021 and 2022 Sentinel-2A satellite imagery (Section 4).
Note that the small upper cluster of huts represents the historic Elena Huts built by Henry Osmaston in 1951 (cf. Bergström 1955) that served as an important research base throughout the 1950s and 1960s (e.g. Whittow et al. 1963). The lower and larger cluster of huts are are referred to Margherita Camp and are operated by Rwenzori Trekking Services .
2) Background.
Physical Geography.
The Rwenzori Mountains represent an uplifted and tilted horst block comprised of mainly metamorphic igneous rocks (Ring 2008) with uplift starting about 2.3 million years ago. The Rwenzoris are thus not an extinct volcano like many of the other East African Mountains (e.g. Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, etc.).
Roller et al. (2012) argued that weathering and erosion is limited in the Rwenzori Mountains by the dense vegetation cover and therefore exposed bedrock only occurs at high-elevations above about 4,000 m.
“Rwenzori, as a cool, moist island rising from the dry tropical plains…” (Eggermont et al. 2009, Page 245).
Topography.
The Rwenzori Mountains are comprised of six individual mountain ‘massif’ above 4,500 m in elevation:
- Mount Stanley (5,109 m)
- Mount Speke (4,889 m)
- Mount Baker (4,842 m)
- Mount Gessi (4,715 m)
- Mount Emin (4,791 m)
- Mount Luigi di Savoia (4,626 m)
Each of these mountains, in-turn, supports several individually-named peaks. For example, Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley is highest peak location in Uganda with 5,109 m elevation and marks the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Mount Stanley, Mount Speke, and Mount Baker form the central Rwenzori Mountains and support(ed) the largest glaciers.
The style of glaciation differs between the three central mountain massifs. Mount Stanley and Mount Speke each support a plateau icefield that serves an ice ‘disperal’ center for a series of outlet glaciers (e.g. Elena Glacier, Speke Glacier, etc.). Mount Baker, on the other hand, does not support a plateau icefield as it is a narrow ridgeline with formerly glaciers draped on either side (e.g. Moore Glacier, etc.).
See Table 1 for a compilation of glacier names used in the Rwenzori Mountains between 1906 and 1960.
Recent Glacial History.
The glaciers of the Rwenzori Mountains expanded down to an elevation of about 4,000 m to 4,200 m during the generally cool and wet Little Ice Age (LIA, known locally as the Lake Gris Stage), reaching their maximum extent of about 10 km2 by about 1880 (Osmaston 1989). This maximum LIA glacier extent occurred just prior to the Abruzzi Expedition of June and July 1906 (Kaser 1999), thus ‘biasing’ what one might consider as ‘normal’ levels of glaciation in the Rwenzori Mountains. The favorable climatic conditions of the LIA (cool/wet) abruptly ‘switched’ to much drier conditions across East Africa at about 1880 (e.g. Verschuren et al. 2000), setting the stage for glacier recession in the 20th and 21st century (e.g. Hastenrath 2001, 2010, Kaser and Osmaston 2002, Eggermont et al. 2009).
Climate and Glaciers.
Climatically, the Rwenzori Mountains are located in the inner humid tropics according to the classification of Kaser (2001) with stable humidity and temperature conditions all-year leading to ablation and accumulation potentially occurring at the same time throughout the year.
3) Maps.
Maps play a critical role in how we understand the world or, as in this case, how we identify, measure, and evaluate the changing glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains.
The document embedded here compiles many of the published glacier maps in more-or-less chronological order, beginning with the original ‘Abruzzi Map’ resulting from the Abruzzi Expedition in June and July 1906 (Abruzzi 1907, de Filippi 1908). The remainder of this section highlights eight of the published maps for the Rwenori Mountains.
Abruzzi (1907).
H.R.H. the Duke of the Abruzzi presented an overview of his expedition to the Rwenzori Mountains in June and July 1906 to The Royal Society (Abruzzi 1907).
The paper is quite readable and offers a useful summary of previous explorations, a record of the expeditions climbing achievements and travels, and is illustrated with a series of excellent photographs and a superb map.
The Duke described the glaciers as follows (Page 144):
“At present the glaciers are of small extent and all in retreat.”
Background Map: The Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers of Ruwenzori (Abruzzi 1907).
de Filippi (1908).
de Filippi (1908) is the complete record of the Abruzzi Expedition of June and July 1906 and the book is particularly notable for its annotated panoramic photograph s taken by the expedition photographer Vittorio Sella.
Original copies of the book are obviously difficult to find and quite expensive, but there are two useful alternatives that nicely complement each other:
- A reprint/reproduction copy with poor quality photographs.
- A free online version with high-quality photographs and free downloads.
Background Map: The Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers of Ruwenzori (de Filippi 1908) - a slightly different version of the Abruzzi (1907) map.
Humphreys (1927).
Humphreys (1927) reported on his two expeditions to the Rwenzori Mountains in 1926 aimed at establishing new climbing routes and repeating some of the first ascents by the 1906 Abruzzi Expedition. Humphreys noted the following with respect to the state of the glaciers in the Rwenzoris (Page 525):
“Glacial action is traceable in the valleys many miles below the present level of snow, and the diminution of the glaciers would appear still to persist.”
Background Map: Humphreys 1926 map of the Rwenzori Mountains that accompanied his 1927 paper in The Geographical Journal.
Humphreys (1933).
Humphreys (1933) included the first aerial photographs of the Rwenzori Mountains acquired in December 1931. These are, unfortunately, of only limited scientific use due to cloud cover, exposure settings, and issues with viewing angles.
Humphreys returned once again in 1932 for several more expeditions and was therefore able to evaluate glacier changes since his last visit in 1926 (Humphreys 1927):
“As we flew around each of the six snow mountains I was struck by the recession of the glaciers since six years ago.” (Page 483)
Background Map: Humphreys 1932 map of the Rwenzori Mountains that accompanied his 1933 paper in The Geographical Journal.
Osmaston (1989).
Osmaston (1989) was dissatisfied with the available topographic and glacier maps and therefore prepared his own series of maps (at a scale of 1:12,500) depicting the glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains in about 1955 (his Figures 4, 5, 6).
Background Map: The glaciers of Mount Stanley in 1955 (Osmaston 1989, Figure 4).
Whittow et al. (1963).
Whittow et al. (1963) summarized the comprehensive glaciological research conducted over the course of six expeditions by the Makerere University College to the Rwenzori Mountains between December 1957 and July 1961 and concluded (Page 581):
“...all the glaciers examined are shown to have been drastically reduced in size, with an apparent acceleration in melting since the 1940s. Six glaciers are known to have disappeared completely, whilst several others have split into smaller units.”
Whittow et al. (1963) also included a useful Table 1 comparing glacier names used in 1906 and in 1960.
Background Map: Whittow et al. (1963, their Figure 1, Page 586). The original caption reads: “Central Ruwenzori, Approximate ice distribution in 1960 with the routes followed by the Makerere College expeditions.”
Mölg et al. (2003).
Mölg et al. (2003) provided this glacier map of the central Rwenzori Mountains (Mount Stanley, Mount Baker, and Mount Speke) in 1906, 1955, and 1990 (their Figure 2) along with a table that included the corresponding reconstructed glacier surface areas (their Table 1).
Hinzmann et al. (2024).
Hinzmann et al. (2024) represents the most-recent comprehensive glacier mapping effort in the Rwenzori Mountains: 0.38 km2 on 12 January 2022.
Rwenzori Trekking Services Map.
The Rwenzori Trekking Services (RTS) map is , in-practice, the most-important map of the Rwenzori Mountains today showing the location of the main trekking trails and associated camps/huts all the way from Kilembe to the highest parts of the Rwenzori (cf. Section 6).
In addition, EWP Publications published the Rwenzori Mountains - Map and Guide (2012) that shows present-day glacier extent based on 2005 aerial photographs and ground observations.
4) Glaciers.
Much of the glaciological field work has been concentrated over the years on or near the glaciers on Mount Stanley (Elena Glacier and Savoia Glacier) and Mount Speke (Speke Glacier) ( Table 2 ).
The one notable exception is the Moore Glacier (e.g. Whittow 1959, Whittow et al. 1963, Temple 1968) located at the head of the Mobuku Valley. Here, the Abruzzi Expedition marked the glacier margin location on 7 July 1906 with red paint (de Filippi 1908, Page 269). The Moore Glacier, however, was located in an unusual topographic situation and therefore not used by Kaser and Osmaston (2002) in their glacier reconstruction for the Rwenzori Mountains.
Table 3 embedded here compiles all published glacier area measurements and estimates in the Rwenzori Mountains since 1906. The estimates for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) are included simply for context).
The mapping approaches and methodologies used in these studies obviously varied, making it difficult to evaluate their relative accuracy, consistency, and reliability.
That being said, it is reasonable to consider the values for 1906, 1955, 1990, 2005, and 2022 highlighted in red as the most-reliable glacier area measurements available.
The values for 2021 and 2022 (highlighted in yellow) are satellite-based glacier area measurements using Sentinel-2A imagery - see notes below.
Figure 1: All Data/Years.
A simple scatter plot (Figure 1) of all the data compiled in Table 3 reveals the expected overall decrease in glacier area since 1906, but also a surprising degree of what appears to be inconsistencies and discrepancies between the published glacier area estimates and measurements.
This presumably reflects a myriad of reasons such as methodological differences and limitations, typos and transcription errors, legitimate differences in opinion as to what constitutes a ‘mappable glacier’ (be that in the field or from space), and whether or not the glacier cover in smaller massifs of Mount Emin, Mount Gessi, and Mount Luigi di Savoia are included in the mapping and subsequent analysis.
Figure 2: Selected Data/Years.
Figure 2 visualizes what may be considered as the ‘best available’ glacier area measurements for the Rwenzori Mountains (Table 3, red rows):
- 1906, 1955, 1990, 2005, and 2022 (Mölg et al. 2006, Hinzmann et al. 2024).
- 11 June 2021 and 12 January 2022 using Sentinel-2A satellite imagery (this study, see below).
11 June 2021.
Map 1 embedded here presents a simple swipe comparison for 11 June 2021:
- Left image: Sentinel-2 L2A Short wave infrared composite (SWIR).
- Right image: Sentinel-2 L2A Normalised Difference Snow Index (NDSI) classification (B3-B11/B3+B11).
Glacier area = 0.353 km2
Source and Details: https://sentinelshare.page.link/2yv1
12 January 2022.
Map 2 embedded here presents a simple swipe comparison for 12 January 2022:
- Left image: Sentinel-2 L2A Short wave infrared composite (SWIR).
- Right image: Sentinel-2 L2A Normalised Difference Snow Index (NDSI) classification (B3-B11/B3+B11).
Glacier area = 0.358 km2
Source and Details: https://sentinelshare.page.link/a9Qc
5) Climate.
Lentini et al. (2011) operated an automatic weather station (AWS) at about 4,750 m a mere 50 m or so from the terminus of the Elena Glacier and collected reasonably reliable meteorological data between October 2006 and August 2007 and from July 2008 to June 2009 as summarized in their Table 2.
- Mean air temperature = ‒0.35°C.
- Daily temperature cycle is about 5-6°C.
- Average daily precipitation = 4 mm.
This study is to my knowledge the only published paper reporting on actual on-site meteorological measurements in the high elevations of the Rwenzori Mountains.
The value of ‒0.35°C at 4,750 m compares well with the mean annual temperature at 4,200 m of about 2°C (Russell et al. 2009) when assuming a reasonable lapse rate. It is interesting to note that Osmaston (1989) placed the regional ELA on Mount Stanley in 1955 at about 4,720 m (see below).
The total annual precipitation value of about 1,460 mm measured by Lentini et al. (2011) also compares well with the estimates given by Osmaston (1989) of greater than 1,000 mm for the highest elevations of the Rwenzori Mountains.
Freezing Level Heights.
Figure 3 presents the mean annual atmospheric freezing level heights (FLH, m) in the Rwenzori Mountains calculated from NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis 1 (gridded) data between 1948 and 2021.
Freezing level height (= the elevation of the 0°C isotherm) is a useful generalized proxy for the equilibrium-line altitude of glaciers (e.g. Braun and Bezada 2013 ).
The slow rise of the FLH over the Rwenzori Moutnains between 1948 and 2021 is obvious despite the high-degree of interannual variability.
The overall values shown here compare reasonably well with the FLH estimates by Osmaston (1989) of 4,600 to 4,700 m from about 1900 to 1960. Osmaston (1989) estimated the regional ELA on Mount Stanley at about 15,500 feet (4,720 m) in 1955 and concluded that it followed approximately the 0°C to ‒2°C isotherm.
On the other hand, Whittow et al. (1963) placed the regional firn line / ELA on the eastern side of the Rwenzori "at present" [presumably in the late 1950s/early 1960s] at an elevation of "almost 4,573 m" and thus about 150 m lower in elevation.
Precipitation.
Assessing the long-term changes in precipitation across the Rwenzori Mountains is much more difficult due to a) the lack of in-situ data, b) the difficulties associated with precipitation measurements, especiall those involving snowfall and snow accumulation in the high mountains and on glaciers, and c) the fundamental problem of regionalizing points measurements across highly-variable topography such as the Rwenzoris.
That being said, the general consensus in the scientific literature (e.g. Diem et al. 2019a, b) argues for overall increased precipitation in the region since the 1980s and into the future.
Background Photograph: The Speke Glacier shrouded in clouds on 4 July 2019 photographed from the climbing route to Margherita Peak (Dr. Carsten Braun, Westfield State University).
6) Synopsis.
The ‘Snows of the Nile’ (Abruzzi 1907) have shrunk considerably to an area of only about 0.35 to 0.38 km2 in January 2022 since they were first mapped at about 7.51 km2 in the summer of 1906 (Table 3). This result is obvious and not surprising given the global state of glaciers (in-general) and the consensus of the scientific research conducted in the Rwenzori Mountains (in-particular) over the years. In terms of causality, the following quote by Panizzo et al. (2008, Page 326) offers a succinct summary:
“As recognised by Taylor et al. (2006b) in the Rwenzori Mountains of East Africa, increasing air temperature and reduced air humidity remain plausible and likely related hypotheses to explain recent glacial recession.” The papers by Whittow (1960), Kaser (1999, 2001), Kaser and Osmaston (2002), Taylor et al. (2006), Mölg et al. (2003, 2013), and Hinzmann et al. (2024) offer much more-detailed analyses of the connections between weather, climate, and glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains.
It seems reasonable that the overall increases in precipitation since the 1980s (and associated increases in cloudiness and humidity) counterbalanced at-least some of the impacts of warming temperatures (e.g. rising FLH, Figure 3) and thus slowed glacier recession in the Rwenzori Mountains. The glaciers of the Rwenzoris are clearly quite responsive to changes in precipitation as the few wet years of the early 1960s caused limited, but immediate glacier advances (Temple 1968, Kaser, 1999). Anderson et al. (2019) used the term ‘glacier death’ as the time when the ELA rises ‘up into the sky’ and thus above the highest local topography, thereby eliminating the accumulation area of the glacier.
This situation is appears to be quickly approaching for the glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains as, for example, the terminus elevation of the Stanley Glacier today (about 4,750 m, Lentini et al. 2011) used to be its approximate ELA in the 1950s (4,720 m, Osmaston 1989).
The largest remaining glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains are all characterized by a ‘top-heavy’ plateau-style hypsometry (cf. Boston and Lucas 2019 ) and thus relatively small changes in the ELA can literally put the entire glacier below the ELA, rapidly initiating ‘glacier death’.
Much of this is obviously conjecture and inference, but there is still sufficient time to implement a robust glacier mass and energy balance measurement program on the remaining glaciers in the Rwenzori Mountains. Here, the elevational transect provided by the hut system operated by Rwenzori Trekking Services would offer an excellent scientific and logistical framework.
Background Photograph: On the Stanley Plateau Glacier on 4 July 2019 (Dr. Carsten Braun, Westfield State University). This glacier clearly does not support an accumulation area today as evidenced by the exposure of bare, dirty ice and the lack of snow/firn cover.
The Stanley Plateau Glacier on 4 July 2019.
7) Materials and Resources.
The following resources compile relevant historical information, maps, photographs, charts, and tables for the glaciers of the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda).
The Rwenzori Mountains.
Individual Glaciers and Mountains.
Further Reading.
- Whittow et al. (1963) is a highly-readable scientific account of the Rwenzori Glaciers in the 1950s.
- Pluth (1996) offered a beautiful photo essay and included a good summary of the exploration and climbing history of the Rwenzori Mountains.
- Eggermont et al. (2009) provided a highly-readable overview of the geography, ecology, and history of scientific exploration of the Rwenzoris.
- Hinzmann et al. (2024) represents the most-recent glacier mapping effort in Africa.
