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Uganda Mountains
Southern Uganda lies at an altitude of 1,134 meters
above sea
level
(see
fig. 3). The plateau that stretches northward
from
Lake Victoria declines gradually to an altitude of 914
meters on
the Sudan border. The gradually sloping terrain is
interrupted by
a shallow basin dipping toward the center of the country
and
small areas of tropical forest, which mark the western
border
with Zaire.
Both eastern and western borders are marked by
mountains. The
Ruwenzori Mountains (often called the Mountains of the
Moon) form
about eighty kilometers of the border between Uganda and
Zaire.
The highest peaks of Mount Stanley, in the Ruwenzoris, are
snowcapped . Foremost among these are Margherita (5,113 meters)
and
Alexandra (5,094 meters). Farther south, the northernmost
of the
Mufumbiro volcanoes reach 4,132 meters on Mount Mahavura;
3,648
meters on Mount Mgahinga; and 3,477 meters on Mount
Sabinio,
which marks the border with Rwanda and Zaire.
In eastern Uganda, the border with Kenya is also marked
by
volcanic hills. Dominating these, roughly 120 kilometers
north of
the equator, is Mount Elgon, which rises from the
1,200-meter
plains to reach a height of 4,324 meters. Mount Elgon is
the cone
of an extinct volcano, with ridges radiating thirty
kilometers
from its crater. Rich soil from its slopes is eroded into
the
plains below. North of Mount Elgon are Kadam (also known
as
Debasien or Tabasiat) Peak, which reaches a height of
3,054
meters, and Mount Moroto, at 3,085 meters. In the far
northeast,
Mount Zulia, Mount Morungole, and the Labwor and Dodoth
Hills
reach heights in excess of 2,000 meters. The lower Imatong
Mountains and Mount Langia, at 3,029 meters, mark the
border with
Sudan.
Data as of December 1990
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