Dawn over the retreating Stanley glacier
John Wendle
AFRICAN glaciers are a few of the fastest-melting on the planet. On Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania they might be passed by 2040, whereas these of Mount Kenya and the little-studied Rwenzori mountains that span Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo could vanish this decade.
The melting nostril of the Stanley glacier
John Wendle
Their loss will deprive scientists of important ice cores recording the largely undocumented climatic historical past of equatorial Africa, and will drive uncommon plant and animal species to extinction in these distinctive ecosystems on the mountain slopes.
Along with my spouse and fellow journalist, Alessandra Prentice, I spent eight days mountain climbing within the Rwenzoris to {photograph} a few of the glaciers on this vary earlier than they disappear.
Enock Bwambale (L), deputy cheif information for the Rwenzori Trekking Providers, and Uzia Kule (R)
John Wendle
The principle picture exhibits dawn over the retreating Stanley glacier, huddled within the valley between the peaks of Margherita (the third highest level in Africa at 5109m) and Alexandra, which type a part of Mount Stanley. Images from 1906 present thick ice masking the tops of the vary, however glaciers now cowl lower than 1 sq. kilometre.
A large rosette of a lobelia
John Wendle
To get to this location, we hiked for six days, generally slipping into the knee-deep mud of the Rwenzoris, which implies “the rainmaker” within the native language, Konjo.
Porters stroll by a fog shrouded panorama of big tree heathers coated in lichen
John Wendle
The remaining pictures present: the melting nostril of the Stanley glacier; an enormous Senecio; guides Enock Bwambale and Uziah Kule from Rwenzori Trekking Providers; the large rosette of a lobelia; a porter carrying provides by the large heathers of the Rwenzoris (pictured above); Bwambale and Prentice on the Stanley glacier (pictured beneath).
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