African Mountains Photo Essay

Africa’s mountains are huge in comparison to Australia’s. Mt Kenya sits neatly on the equator yet it is so high that it keeps some snow on its cap all year round. Kilimanjaro is similar.

The physical enormity of the continent allows for an incredibly diverse number of geological formations, from ancient granite outcrops to relatively young volcanic craters. It’s all just so fascinating!

So to begin with you have to have the highest mountain in Africa: the very famous Mount Kilimanjaro.

Then the next most impressively huge: Mount Kenya.

Both of these two amazing behemoths we were only able to observe from a distance when their enshrouding clouds parted. Kilimanjaro was only seen from a long way off, but we actually got onto the lower slopes of Mt Kenya at about 3500 metres but then a thick wall of precipitation ominously approached, spitting ice cold drops onto our shoulders, so we pulled the pin on the planned walk. Plus the guard told us that no one could wander off the tarred road without an armed escort. Talk about party pooping! That would be no fun!

Another memorably mighty mountain was the Spitzkopf of Namibia.

This gorgeous granite gargantuan was an amazing contrast to the surrounding starkly flat deserts. Ancient smoothly rounded rocks jutting up to amazing heights and standing out against the broad blue African sky.

Of course no mention of Namibia would be complete without the magnificent sand dunes of the Namib Naukluft National Park. Words are insufficient to describe the grandeur of these enormous clean mountainous dunes.

Namibia has some weird glittery mountains too. The mineralogy of its numerous mountain ranges is complicated and puzzling, with combinations that are totally unique. This moonscape took our breath away.

Fish River Canyon was gob-smackingly huge. It is yet another of Namibia’s wonders.

The wet forests and lush grasslands of Tanzania’s Ngoro Ngoro Crater stood high above the dry and harsh Serengeti plains.

The windswept rocky coastline of the South West Cape of South Africa was incredibly dramatic.

This sharply rocky terrain was covered in the weird and colourful feinbos scrub which clung so tenuously to those crumbling steep escarpments.

South Africa also has the breathtaking Blyde River Canyon.

And then, of course, there is Table Mountain:

The stunning grandeur of all those different African Mountains will stay with us forever.