Rwenzori Mountains National Park - Uganda
In Danger from 1999 to 2004
Area: 996 km2
Inscribed: 1994
Criteria: (vii) aesthetic; (x) biodiversity
Values: The Rwenzori Mountains are steep, rugged and very wet. They owe their origins to thrusting of the earth's crust associated with the creation of the Albertine Rift, which makes them geologically quite different to the other high East African mountains (which are of volcanic origin). The Park covers most of the centre and eastern half of the range (the other side forms part of the contiguous Virunga park in DR Congo). It includes Africa's third, fourth and fifth highest peaks in an alpine highland of glaciers, snowfields and lakes of astonishing beauty. It protects five distinct vegetation zones, many rare, endemic and endangered species, and the richest montane flora in Africa - a very unusual cloud forest of giant heathers, groundsels and lobelias, draped in cushions of luxuriant mosses.
Slideshow of the Rwenzori Mountains National Park
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Links: Google Earth |WCMC Site Description |Official UNESCO Site Details | Management Authority: UWA | Promotional NGO | WWF Project | Birdlife IBA
