Natural history vegetation, flora and fauna

Vegetation and flora

The Rwenzori Mountain has a wide range of vegetation from the tropical rainforests through the alpine meadows to the glacier snow. Within the common vegetation it has unique species of giant groundsel, lobelia and the long heather covered in moss that grow on one of its peaks. The afro alpine family of vegetation is similar to some vegetation species that thrive in the desert world but rwenzori is never in shortage of water at any given time.

The vegetation in the Rwenzori Mountains is rare to the equatorial alpine Africa. There are five vegetation zones occupying the Rwenzori Mountains from the bottom to the top as the vegetation zones change with the altitude of the mountains. At higher altitude, some tree species grow to very huge large sizes namely lobelia and groundsels. Here are the vegetation zones on the ranges of rwenzori with their altitudes: the tropical rainforest zone (up to 2,800 meters), the bamboo zone (2,800 to 3,300 meters), the heather zone (3,000 to 3,800 meters), the alpine zone (3,500 to 4,500 meters), and the nival zone (4,400 to 5,000 meters)

Vegetation Zones of the Rwenzori Mountains