The Ruwenzori Mountains define the north-eastern border between Congo and Uganda. They have a long-fabled history as they were originally described in 150 A.D. by Claudius Ptolemy, the Greek geographer, as "The Mountains of the Moon". The mountains rise steeply out of the plains of east-central Africa from an elevation of about 2400 ft. and top out at 16,795 ft. One of the most fascinating aspects of these mountains is the diverse stratification of ecological habitats along their vertical height. This diverse and unique habitat has also allowed many endemic bird species to evolve which are unknown anywhere else in the world. We were excited to see many rare species. The ultimate goal in climbing was to reach the permanent glacial snowpack at the peak.

The lowest level of trails leading up to the mountain peaks were mixtures of bamboo and hardwood rainforest.

The second ecological zone was very "other-worldly" and consisted of layers of dense mosses and intertwined roots and small twisted trees.

The third ecological zone was cloud forest which had a very prehistoric feel. The principal plants were giant groundsel and giant lobelia.

The fourth ecological zone consisted of "Alpine" meadows of heather and patches of giant groundsel.

We didn't own very warm clothes and you're simply not going to find a winter jacket for sale in Central Africa. Unfortunately, after two years in a tropical environment, our tolerance for cold had become quite low.

The final camp consisted of a run down stone cabin. There were no shutters for the window openings and the front door was racked so that it wouldn't close. We huddled together on the floor trying to get some sleep as we watched our fire being smothered from lack of oxygen. It was extremely cold at this altitude and we were greeted in the morning by frost and frozen puddles.

Early mornings were amazing up above the clouds.

The last day, we got up early so we could make the final ascent to the snow fields and then decend to the lower cabin that same evening.

This is looking back down the way we came to the cloud layer obscuring the plains far below and the first of three cirque lakes which lined the ancient path of the glacier which once filled this mountain valley.

Almost to our final climb. Tina is looking at the second of the three cirque lakes.

Some stretches we had to climb practically on all fours up the skree. Far below you can see the third of the cirque lakes.

Almost there...This was the fifth and final ecological zone. At this altitude there was no true vegetation; only lichens growing on the rocks.

After 3 days of climbing we finally reached the glacier near the top at about 16,000 feet! We didn't have crampons or iceaxes so it would have been unsafe to climb the final 500 yards or so to the top. We had to be satisfied making it this far.

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