News

Glacier's atop one of Africa's tallest mountains are melting at an alarming rate and are likely to disappear in the next 30 years, the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) said on Monday.

The Rwenzori Mountains, which straddle the border between Uganda and Congo, are one of Africa's three mountains that are capped by a thick layer of ice. But like Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya further north, Rwenzori's glaciers are also shrinking.

"The impact of melting of glaciers was felt by the team when it discovered that the route leading from Congo to Uganda used a glacier that no longer exists, forcing the team to open a new route," said Marc Languy, head of WWF's Great Lakes region programme.

"However, the impact is more severe on wildlife and the vegetation that can not adapt to the new condition fast enough," he said after an expedition to photograph the glaciers, 5 119 metres above sea level.