page_title: Rwenzori Mountains
section_title: Glacial recession
hierarchical_section_title: Rwenzori Mountains / Glacial recession
caption_attribution_description: English: Ornithologist James P. Chapin displays Flag #4 on expedition in the Ruwenzori Mountains, 1925.
context_page_description: The Ruwenzori, also spelled Rwenzori and Rwenjura, are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches 5,109 metres, and the range's upper regions are permanently snow-capped and glaciated. Rivers fed by mountain streams form one of the sources of the Nile. Because of this, European explorers linked the Ruwenzori with the legendary Mountains of the Moon, claimed by the Greek scholar Ptolemy as the source of the Nile. Virunga National Park in the Congo and Rwenzori Mountains National Park in Uganda are located within the range.
context_section_description: An ongoing concern is the impact of climate change on the Ruwenzori's glaciers. In 1906, forty-three named glaciers were distributed over six mountains with a total area of 7.5 square kilometres (2.9 sq mi), about half the total glacier area in Africa. By 2005, less than half of these were still present, on only three mountains, with an area of about 1.5 square kilometres (0.58 sq mi). Recent scientific studies, such as those by Richard Taylor of University College London, have attributed this retreat to global climate change and have investigated the impact of this change on the mountain's vegetation and biodiversity.
caption: Ornithologist James P. Chapin on a Ruwenzori expedition under flag of The Explorers Club, 1925
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