Major Mountain Ranges and Notable Peaks of Africa

Africa is often seen as a plateau continent — but this plateau isn’t flat like a table. It’s broken, bent, uplifted, and split into dramatic mountain ranges and towering volcanic peaks. These ranges tell a tectonic story, tracing Africa’s geological history, climatic zones, and even its biodiversity hotspots.

🧭 Overview of Major African Ranges and Peaks

Range	Location	Highest Peak
Atlas Mountains	Northwest Africa	Mount Toubkal (4,167 m)
Drakensberg	Southeastern South Africa	Thabana Ntlenyana (3,482 m)
Rwenzori Mountains	Uganda & D.R. Congo	Margherita Peak (~5,100 m)
Ethiopian Highlands	Ethiopia & Eritrea	Ras Dashen (4,533 m)
Virunga Mountains	DRC, Rwanda & Uganda	Mount Karisimbi (~4,500 m)
Eastern Rift Mountains	East African Rift (e.g., Kenya)	Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m)
Table Mountain	South Africa (Cape Town)	~1,086 m (flat-topped)

🏞️ Atlas Mountains – Maghreb’s Shield

📍 Location: Northwestern Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia)
🏔️ Highest Peak: Mount Toubkal (4,167 m) in Morocco

🔹 Key Features:

• Acts as a geological backbone of Maghreb countries.
• Separates the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the vast Sahara Desert.
• Contains multiple subranges:
  • Anti-Atlas, High Atlas, Middle Atlas, Tell Atlas, Saharan Atlas, and Aures Mountains.

📌 This is a fold mountain range, formed during the Alpine orogeny, like the Alps in Europe.

🏞️ Drakensberg – The Dragon’s Back

📍 Location: Southeastern coast of South Africa and Lesotho
🏔️ Highest Peak: Thabana Ntlenyana (3,482 m) – Highest point in Southern Africa

🔹 Key Features:

• Major watershed for the Orange River.
• Home to Tugela Falls – second-highest waterfall globally (after Angel Falls).
• It forms a natural barrier between South Africa and Lesotho.

🌧️ Due to elevation and moisture, it supports lush vegetation, making it ecologically significant.

🏞️ Rwenzori Mountains – The Glaciated Equator

📍 Location: Border of Uganda and the D.R. Congo
🏔️ Highest Peak: Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley (~5,100 m)

🔹 Key Features:

• Composed of six glaciated massifs, including Mounts Stanley, Baker, and Gessi.
• Historically referred to as “Mountains of the Moon”.
• Rich in copper and cobalt resources.

❄️ One of the few glacier-bearing ranges near the Equator — a climatic paradox.

🏞️ Ethiopian Highlands – The Roof of Northeast Africa

📍 Location: Central & northern Ethiopia, northern Eritrea
🏔️ Highest Peak: Ras Dashen (4,533 m)

🔹 Key Features:

• Divided by the Ethiopian Rift Valley into:
  • Abyssinian Massif (west)
  • Harar Massif (east)
• Sometimes called “The Roof of East Africa”.
• Volcanic in origin; supports high population density due to fertile soils.

🏛️ Historically important — cradle of ancient civilizations like Aksum.

🏞️ Virunga Mountains – Volcanic Chain of the Albertine Rift

📍 Location: Rwanda, Uganda, and DRC
🏔️ Highest Peak: Mount Karisimbi (~4,500 m)

🔹 Key Features:

• Composed of eight major volcanoes.
• Lies along the Albertine Rift (Western branch of the East African Rift).
• Includes active volcanoes:
  • Mount Nyiragongo (famous for lava lake)
  • Mount Nyamuragira
• Critical habitat for mountain gorillas.

🌋 A region of high seismic and volcanic activity due to rifting.

🌋 The Eastern Rift Mountains (Gregory Rift Line)

This refers to volcanic peaks along the eastern branch of the East African Rift System — not a single range, but a linear chain of massive volcanic mountains.

🏔️ Mount Kilimanjaro – The Roof of Africa

📍 Location: Tanzania
🌍 Elevation: 5,895 m – Highest peak in Africa

• Dormant stratovolcano with glaciers on its summit.
• Not part of a range — a free-standing volcanic peak.
• Symbolically called the “Roof of Africa”.

🧊 Despite being near the equator, its summit has glaciers — now rapidly retreating due to climate change.

🏔️ Mount Kenya

📍 Location: Central Kenya
🌍 Elevation: 5,199 m – Second-highest in Africa

• Extinct volcano with rugged peaks.
• Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Source of rivers like the Tana.

🏔️ Mount Elgon

📍 Location: On the Kenya-Uganda border
🌍 Elevation: ~4,321 m

• An extinct shield volcano.
• Home to the one of the world’s largest mountain caldera.
• Has one of the widest volcanic bases globally.

🧭 Its broad shield shape contrasts with the conical profile of Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.

⛰️ Table Mountain – Nature’s Stone Table

📍 Location: Overlooking Cape Town, South Africa
🌍 Elevation: ~1,086 m

🔹 Key Features:

• Known for its flat-topped structure, formed due to erosion of horizontal sandstone layers.
• A tourist magnet; often seen with a “Tablecloth” cloud — a fog layer formed by orographic winds.
• One of the oldest mountains on Earth — part of the ancient Cape Fold Belt.

🏞️ A symbol of South Africa, featured on its flag, stamps, and tourism campaigns.