Africa, often envisioned as a land of sprawling savannas and vast deserts, is also home to some of the world's most spectacular mountain ranges. From the iconic Mount Kilimanjaro to the ancient Atlas Mountains, these peaks offer a diverse range of landscapes, challenges, and natural beauty.
Mount Kilimanjaro from space
Mount Kilimanjaro: The Roof of Africa
Located in Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest mountain at about 5,895 meters (19,340 feet). It is the largest free-standing mountain rise in the world, meaning it is not part of a mountain range. Also called a stratovolcano (a term for a very large volcano made of ash, lava and rock), Kilimanjaro is made up of three cones: Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira.
The origin and meaning of the name Kilimanjaro is disputed. Although the Chagga people of the Kilimanjaro Region have no name for the mountain, they call its two peaks Kipoo and Kimawenze. The peaks' names-usually rendered Kibo and Mawenzi-mean "spotted" in reference to Kibo's snow and "broken top" due to Mawenzi's jagged peak. "Kilimanjaro" may originate from the Chagga calling the mountain unclimbable-kilemanjaare or kilemajyaro-and explorers misinterpreting this as its name.
Kibo is the summit of the mountain and the tallest of the three volcanic formations. While Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, Kibo is considered dormant and could possibly erupt again. Scientists estimate that the last time it erupted was 360,000 years ago. The highest point on Kibo’s crater rim is called Uhuru, the Swahili word for “freedom.”
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No one knows how Kilimanjaro got its name. It may come from the Swahili word Kilima (meaning “mountain”) and the KiChagga word Njaro (meaning “shining” or “whiteness”); the mountain is known for its snow-capped peak. Some local people living in the foothills of the mountain, including the Chagga and the Maasai, view it as the seat of God.
In 1973, the mountain and its six surrounding forest corridors were named Kilimanjaro National Park. The park was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site in 1987. These measures can help protect the area’s unique environment. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level and 4,900 m (16,100 ft) above its plateau base. Kilimanjaro's southern and eastern slopes served as the home of the Chagga Kingdoms until their abolition in 1963 by Julius Nyerere.
As one of the Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro is a major hiking and climbing destination. There are seven established routes to Uhuru Peak, the mountain's highest point. One of several mountains arising from the East African Rift, Kilimanjaro was formed from volcanic activity over 2 million years ago. Its slopes host montane forests and cloud forests. Multiple species are endemic to Mount Kilimanjaro, including the giant groundsel Dendrosenecio kilimanjari.
Kilimanjaro continues to be a popular hiking spot. This is partly because the hiking routes do not require as much equipment or experience as mountains of similar heights. Tens of thousands of climbers ascend the mountain each year. The climb is still dangerous, however, because of the risk of altitude sickness. Climbers can experience altitude sickness if they ascend too quickly, and it can be deadly if not treated right away.
Located in Western Uganda, the Rwenzoris aka the Mountains of the Moon, feature some of last remaining glaciers of equatorial Africa. They are also home to amazing flora, from tropical rainforest vegetation and meadows, to snow-capped peaks. Hiking in the Rwenzoris is very good, and can easily be combined with trip to the Virunga Mountains in the Eastern part of the DRC, which is famous for its active volcanoes and gorilla trekking.
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One of several mountains arising from the East African Rift, Kilimanjaro was formed from volcanic activity over 2 million years ago. Its slopes host montane forests and cloud forests. Multiple species are endemic to Mount Kilimanjaro, including the giant groundsel Dendrosenecio kilimanjari.
Kilimanjaro's main peaks are Kibo (left) and Mawenzi (right), as named by the Chagga. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim.
Eruptive activity at the Shira center commenced about 2.5 million years ago, with the last important phase occurring about 1.9 million years ago, just before the northern part of the edifice collapsed. Shira is topped by a broad high plain at 3,800 m (12,500 ft), which may be a filled caldera. The remnant caldera rim has been degraded deeply by erosion. Before the caldera formed and erosion began, Shira might have been between 4,900 and 5,200 m (16,100 and 17,100 ft) high. It is mostly composed of basaltic lavas, with some pyroclastics. The formation of the caldera was accompanied by lava emanating from ring fractures, but there was no large-scale explosive activity.
The youngest dated rocks at Mawenzi are about 448,000 years old. Mawenzi forms a horseshoe-shaped ridge with pinnacles and ridges opening to the northeast, with a tower-like shape resulting from deep erosion and a mafic dike swarm. Several large cirques cut into the ring and the largest of these sits on top of the Great Barranco gorge. Also notable are the East and West Barrancos on the northeastern side of the mountain. Most of the eastern side of the mountain has been removed by erosion.
Kibo is the largest cone on the mountain and is more than 24 km (15 mi) wide at the Saddle Plateau altitude. The last activity here, dated to 150,000-200,000 years ago, created the current Kibo summit crater. Kibo still has gas-emitting fumaroles in its crater. Kibo is capped by an almost symmetrical cone with escarpments rising 180 to 200 m (590 to 660 ft) on the south side. An almost continuous layer of lava buries most older geological features, except exposed strata within the Great West Notch and the Kibo Barranco.
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Kibo has more than 250 parasitic cones on its northwest and southeast flanks that were formed between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago and erupted picrobasalts, trachybasalts, ankaramites, and basanites. They reach as far as Lake Chala and Taveta in the southeast and the Lengurumani Plain in the northwest. Most of these cones are well preserved, except the Saddle Plateau cones which were heavily affected by glacial action. Despite their mostly small size, lava from the cones has obscured large portions of the mountain. The Saddle Plateau cones are mostly cinder cones with terminal effusion of lava, while the Upper Rombo Zone cones mostly generated lava flows.
Kibo's ice cap exists because Kilimanjaro is a little-dissected, massive mountain that rises above the snow line. The cap is divergent and at the edges splits into individual glaciers. Geological evidence shows five successive glacial episodes during the Quaternary period, namely First (500,000 BP), Second (greater than 360,000 years ago to 240,000 BP), Third (150,000 to 120,000 BP), Fourth (also known as "Main") (20,000 to 17,000 BP), and Little (16,000 to 14,000 BP).
In the late 1880s, the summit of Kibo was completely covered by an ice cap about 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) in extent with outlet glaciers cascading down the western and southern slopes, and except for the inner cone, the entire caldera was buried. Glacier ice also flowed through the Western Breach. The slope glaciers retreated rapidly between 1912 and 1953, in response to a sudden shift in climate at the end of the 19th century that made them "drastically out of equilibrium", and more slowly thereafter. In contrast to the persistent slope glaciers, the glaciers on Kilimanjaro's crater plateau have appeared and disappeared repeatedly during the Holocene epoch, with each cycle lasting a few hundred years.
It appears that decreasing specific humidity instead of temperature changes has caused the shrinkage of the slope glaciers since the late 19th century. No clear warming trend at the elevation of those glaciers occurred between 1948 and 2005. Although air temperatures at that elevation are always below freezing, solar radiation causes melting on vertical faces. Vertical ice margin walls are a unique characteristic of the summit glaciers and a major place of the shrinkage of the glaciers. They manifest stratifications, calving, and other ice features.
"There is no pathway for the plateau glaciers other than to continuously retreat once their vertical margins are exposed to solar radiation." The Kilimanjaro glaciers have been used for deriving ice core records, including two from the southern icefield. Almost 85 percent of the ice cover on Kilimanjaro disappeared between October 1912 and June 2011, with coverage decreasing from 11.40 km2 (4.40 sq mi) to <1 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Between 1912 and 1953, there was about a 1.1 percent average annual loss of ice coverage. The average annual loss for 1953 to 1989 was 1.4 percent, while the loss rate for 1989 to 2007 was 2.5 percent. Of the ice cover still present in 2000, almost 40 percent had disappeared by 2011. Ice climber Will Gadd noticed differences between his 2014 and 2020 climbs.
The glaciers are thinning in addition to losing areal coverage, and do not have active accumulation zones; retreat occurs on all glacier surfaces. The Furtwangler Glacier on Kilimanjaro is a remnant of the ice cap that once covered the mountain. This has retreated dramatically over the last century with over 80 percent glacial retreat. A complete disappearance of the ice would be of only "negligible importance" to the water budget of the area around the mountain.
Kilimanjaro is drained by a network of rivers and streams, especially on the wetter and more heavily eroded southern side and primarily above 1,200 m (3,900 ft). Below that altitude, increased evaporation and human water usage reduce the water flows. In respect of it being 'the highest stratovolcano of the East African Rift that maintains a glacier on its summit', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The Pleistocene Kilimanjaro volcano' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022.
Kilimanjaro is attested to in numerous stories by the people who live in East Africa. The Chagga, who traditionally lived on the southern and eastern slopes of the mountain in sovereign Chagga states, tell how a man named Tone once provoked a god, Ruwa, to bring famine upon the land. The people became angry at Tone, forcing him to flee. Nobody wanted to protect him but a solitary dweller who had stones that turned miraculously into cattle. The dweller bid that Tone never open the stable of the cattle. When Tone did not heed the warning and the cattle escaped, Tone followed them, but the fleeing cattle threw up hills to run on, including Mawenzi and Kibo.
Another Chagga legend tells of ivory-filled graves of elephants on the mountain, and of a cow named Rayli that produces miraculous fat from her tail glands. The mountain may have been known to non-Africans since antiquity. Sailors' reports recorded by Ptolemy mention a "moon mountain" and a spring lake of the Nile, which may indicate Kilimanjaro, although available historical information does not allow differentiation among others in East Africa like Mount Kenya, the mountains of Ethiopia, the Virunga Mountains, the Rwenzori Mountains, and Kilimanjaro. Before Ptolemy, Aeschylus and Herodotus referred to "Egypt nurtured by the snows" and to a spring between two mountains, respectively. One of these mentions two tall mountains in the coastal regions with a valley with traces of fire between them.
The German missionaries Johannes Rebmann of Mombasa and Johann Krapf were the first Europeans known to have attempted to reach the mountain. According to English geographer Halford Mackinder and English explorer Harry Johnston, Rebmann in 1848 was the first European to report the existence of Kilimanjaro. Hans Meyer has claimed that Rebmann first arrived in Africa in 1846 and quotes Rebmann's diary entry of 11 May 1848 as saying, This morning, at 10 o'clock, we obtained a clearer view of the mountains of Jagga, the summit of one of which was covered by what looked like a beautiful white cloud. When I inquired as to the dazzling whiteness, the guide merely called it 'cold' and at once I knew it could be neither more nor less than snow.... Immediately I understood how to interpret the marvelous tales Dr.
In August 1871, missionary Charles New became the "first European to reach the equatorial snows" on Kilimanjaro at an elevation of slightly more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft). In June 1887, the Hungarian Count Sámuel Teleki and the Austrian Lieutenant Ludwig von Höhnel made an attempt to climb the mountain. Approaching from the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo, Höhnel stopped at 4,950 m (16,240 ft), but Teleki continued until he reached the snow at 5,300 m (17,400 ft). Later in 1887, the German geology professor Hans Meyer reached the lower edge of the ice cap on Kibo, where he was forced to turn back because he lacked the equipment needed to progress across the ice.
The following year, Meyer planned another attempt with Oscar Baumann, a cartographer, but the mission was aborted after the pair were held hostage and ransomed during the Abushiri Revolt. In the autumn of 1888, the American naturalist Abbott and the German explorer Otto Ehrenfried Ehlers approached the summit from the northwest. In 1909, London-born Gertrude Benham attempted to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. After her porters abandoned the expedition upon discovering the skeletons of previous climbers, Benham continued alone and reached the edge of Kibo Crater, later named Gilman’s Point.
The first ascent of the highest summit of Mawenzi was made on 29 July 1912, by the German climbers Eduard Hans Oehler and Fritz Klute, who named it Hans Meyer Peak. In 1989, the organizing committee of the 100-year celebration of the first ascent decided to award posthumous certificates to the African porter-guides who had accompanied Meyer and Purtscheller. One person in pictures or documents of the 1889 expedition was thought to match a living inhabitant of Marangu, Yohani Kinyala Lauwo.
Lauwo did not know his own age, nor remember Meyer or Purtscheller. He did recall joining a Kilimanjaro expedition involving a Dutch doctor who lived near the mountain, and that he did not wear shoes during the climb. Lauwo claimed that he had climbed the mountain three times before the beginning of World War I. The committee concluded that he had been a member of Meyer's team and therefore must have been born around 1871. Lauwo died on 10 May 1996, 107 years after the first ascent.
Large animals are rare on Kilimanjaro and are more frequent in the forests and lower parts of the mountain. Elephants and Cape buffaloes are among the animals that can be potentially hazardous to trekkers. Bushbucks, chameleons, dik-diks, duikers, mongooses, sunbirds, and warthogs have also been reported.
Natural forests cover about 1,000 km2 (250,000 acres) on Kilimanjaro. In the foothill area, maize, beans, sunflowers and, on the western side, wheat are cultivated. There are remnants of the former savanna vegetation with Acacia, Combretum, Terminalia and Grewia. Between 1,000 m (3,300 ft) and 1,800 m (5,900 ft), coffee appears as part of the "Chagga home gardens" agroforestry. Native vegetation at this altitude range (Strombosia, Newtonia, and Entandrophragma) is limited to inaccessible valleys and gorges and is different from vegetation at higher altitudes. On the southern slope, montane forests first contain Ocotea usambarensis as well as ferns and epiphytes; farther up in cloud forests Podocarpus latifolius, Hagenia abyssinica and Erica excelsa grow, as well as fog-dependent mosses. On the drier northern slopes olive, Croton-Calodendrum, Cassipourea, and Juniperus form forests in order of increasing altitude. Records from the Maundi crater at 2,780 m (9,120 ft) indicate that the vegetation of Kilimanjaro h...
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Atlas Mountains
Atlas Mountains, series of mountain ranges in northwestern Africa, running generally southwest to northeast to form the geologic backbone of the countries of the Maghrib (the western region of the Arab world)-Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. They extend for more than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometres), from the Moroccan port of Agadir in the southwest, to the Tunisian capital of Tunis in the northeast.
Their thick rim rises to form a high sill separating the Mediterranean basin to the north from the Sahara to the south, thus constituting a barrier that hinders, without completely preventing, communication between the two regions. Across the mountains filter both air masses and human migrations. It is, however, only in the east-west direction that the Atlas Mountains facilitate movement. These are the conditions that create at the same time both the individuality and the homogeneity of the Atlas countries.
Although the Saharan region is more likely to be described as the archetypal North African habitat, it is the well-watered mountains north of this vast desert that provide the foundation for the livelihood of most of the peoples of North Africa and a striking green or white background for many North African towns.
Physiography
The Atlas mountain system takes the shape of an extended oblong, enclosing within its ranges a vast complex of plains and plateaus. The northern section is formed by the Tell Atlas, which receives enough rainfall to bear fine forests. From west to east several massifs (mountainous masses) occur. The first of these is Er-Rif, which forms a half-moon-shaped arc in Morocco between Ceuta and Melilla; its crest line exceeds 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) above sea level at several points, reaching 8,058 feet at Mount Tidirhine. East of the gap formed by the Moulouya River the Algerian ranges begin, among which the rugged bastion of the Ouarsenis Massif (which reaches a height of 6,512 feet), the Great Kabylie, which reaches 7,572 feet at the peak of Lalla Khedidja, and the mountains of Kroumirie in Tunisia are all prominent.
The southern section, which is subject to desert influences, is appropriately called the Saharan Atlas. It includes in the centre a palisade formed by shorter ranges, such as the Ksour and Ouled-Naïl mountains, grouped into massifs between two mighty ranges-the Moroccan High Atlas to the west and the Aurès Mountains to the east. The High Atlas culminates in Mount Toubkal at 13,665 feet (4,165 metres), the highest point in the Atlas Mountains, which is surrounded by high snowcapped peaks; the Aurès Mountains are formed of long parallel folds, which reach a height of 7,638 feet at Mount Chelia.
Geology
If the relief of the Atlas region is relatively simple, its geology is complex. In essence, the two Atlases comprise two different structural regions. The Tell Atlas originally arose out of a basin filled with sediment, which was dominated to the north by a marginal rim, of which the massifs of Tizi Ouzou, Collo, and Edough are the remnants. Its elevation took place during a lengthy mountain-building process that was marked by upheavals in the Paleogene and Neogene periods (i.e., about 65 to 2.6 million years ago); over the cluster of folds that were uplifted from the rift valley were spread sheets of flysch (deposits of sandstones and clays), which were carried down from the north over the top of the marginal rim. Thus the Tell Atlas represents an example of a young folded mountain range still in the process of formation, as is shown by the earth tremors to which it is subject.
To the south the Saharan Atlas belongs to another structural grouping, that of the vast plateaus of the African continent, which form part of the ancient base rock largely covered by sediments deposited by shallow seas and by alluvial deposits. The Saharan Atlas is the result either of the mighty folding of the substructure that raised up fragments of the base rock-such as the horst (uplifted block of the Earth’s crust), which constitutes the Moroccan High Atlas-or else of the crumpling into folds of the Earth’s crust during the Jurassic Period (about 200 to 145 million years ago) and the Cretaceous Period (about 145 to 65 million years ago).
Drainage
The seasonal character of the rains, which fall in torrents, determines the characteristics of drainage in the Atlas: the runoff feeds streams that are of great erosive capacity and that have cut their way down through the thickness of accumulated layers of sediment to form deep narrow gorges difficult to cross. The pre-Roman fortress of Cirta (now called Constantine) in Algeria stands on a rock sculptured out by one such stream, the winding Rhumel River. The great Maghribian wadis (French: oueds; channels of watercourses that are dry except during periods of rain) issue from the Atlas ranges. Among the more perennial rivers are the Moulouya, which rises from the Middle Atlas, and the Chelif, which rises from the Amour Mountains. Destructive of the soils of their headstreams, they deposit their loads of silt at the foot of the mountain ranges or else leave a long line of conical deposits locally known as dirs (“hills”).
Soils
Good soil is sparse at higher altitudes in the Atlas region. Most often nothing is to be found but bare rock, debris, and fallen materials incessantly renewed by landslides. Two materials predominate-limestone, which forms ledges that are half-buried in rough debris, and marls (chalky clays) cut by erosion into a maze of ravines and crumbling gullies. The rarer sandstones favour forest growth. The best soils are the alluvia found on the terraced slopes and on the valley bottoms.
Atlas Mountains in Morocco
Other Notable African Mountains
Aside from Kilimanjaro and the Atlas Mountains, Africa boasts several other impressive peaks:
- Mount Kenya: The second highest mountain in Africa, known for its challenging climbing routes and diverse ecosystem.
- Mount Stanley (Rwenzori Mountains): Shared by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, this mountain range features stunning glaciers and unique vegetation.
- Mount Meru: Located in Tanzania, often used as acclimatization for Kilimanjaro climbers.
- Ras Dashen (Simien Mountains): The highest peak in Ethiopia, offering breathtaking views and unique wildlife.
Here is a table summarizing the top 10 highest mountain ranges in Africa:
| Range | Countries | Highest Point | Height (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas Mountains | Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia | Mount Toubkal | 4,167 |
| Drakensberg | South Africa | Thabana Ntlenyana | 3,482 |
| Ethiopian Highlands | Ethiopia | Mount Abuna Yosef | 4,550 |
| Marrah Mountains | Sudan | Deriba Caldera | 3,042 |
| Magaliesberg | South Africa | Nooitgedacht | 1,852 |
| Nuba Mountains | Sudan | Unknown | 1,325 |
| Rwenzori Mountains | Uganda / DRC | Mount Stanley | 5,109 |
| Simien Mountains | Ethiopia | Ras Dashen | 4,550 |
| Swartberg | South Africa | Seweweekspoortpiek | 2,325 |
| Virunga Mountains | Uganda | Mount Karisimbi | 4,507 |
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