10 biggest mountain in africa

mountain in africa

Mountains are built by the same forces that cause earthquakes. Colliding plates crumple continental crust into ranges of fold mountains. When crust is pulled apart, some pieces slip downward, leaving high walls of rock on each side. Molten magma oozing up from below can solidify in great masses of hard rock that may be exposed if softer covering rock is worn away.

Africa is famous for its newly formed folded mountains. Prominent mountain ranges with some of the very high raised mountain peaks are the specialty of African Continents. Some of the well known mountain ranges are:

1.Atlas Mountains

It is situated on the north western part of the continent stretching over an area of 2400 km towards the south west direction across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

The range is again sub divided into high , medium and Anti – Atlas group. The Jebel Toubkal is among such highlands or mountain whose height is 4165 m from sea level.

It is a physical separator between the extensive coasts of Mediterranean and Atlantic Sea and the Sahara Desert.

Product of collision The bulk of the Atlas Mountains were pushed up by a collision between the African and Eurasian plates, with the main uplift taking place 30–20 million years ago.

Today, the appearance of the Atlas varies between forested slopes in the north and much more arid southerly subranges. The region contains some of the world’s largest and most diverse mineral resources.

However, certain parts were created during an earlier period of mountain building, from around 250 million years ago.

2.Ruwenzori Mountains

Stretching over an area of 240 sq. miles the range borders Uganda and Congo (Kinshasa) and thought to be the “Mountains of the Moon.

It is a gigantic horst of six separate glaciated masses which falls steeply westward to the Western Rift Valley.

Mount Stanley at Margherita Peak (5,119 m is the highest pick of this mountain system.

largest mountain in africa

3.Mount Elgon

• The height is about 4,321 km from the mean sea level.

It is an extinct Kaieteur Falls volcanic mountain situated at the north east part of lake Victoria on the Uganda Kenya border.

As a volcanic mountain it has a crater which is 610 m deep and 8 km across.

4.The Tibesti Mountains

• The highest peak is 3,415 m. from mean sea level.

These are mostly situated in the northern part of Chad and spread west into northern Niger and the Southern border area of Libya. They have a volcanic origin.

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5. Ahaggar Mountains

The Ahaggar Mountains, also known as the Hoggar, are a highland region in central Sahara, or southern Algeria near the Tropic of Cancer.

They are located about 1,500 km south of the capital , Algiers. Mount Tahat is the highest peak (2, 918 m). It has a volcanic formation.

top ten largest mountain in africa

6.The Drakensberg

• These mountains are the highest in Southern Africa rising up at Thabana Ntlenyana at 3,482 m (11,422 ft) in height.

They are located in the eastern part of South Africa, running from some 1,000 km. The highest peak is Thabana Ntlenyana at 3,482 m (11,422 ft). It is also the highest peak of Lesotho.

Meaning “Dragon’s Mountain” when translated from Afrikaans, the Drakensberg is the eastern part of a long, winding escarpment, the Great Escarpment, which forms the edge of a high plateau of central southern Africa.

Rivers rising in the plateau behind the escarpment have carved some impressive gorges. The local fauna and flora includes vultures, rock hyrax, and 300 species of indigenous plants.

A giant, eroded step From its base, the escarpment appears like a giant step. This is continuously worn down by gravity and the flow of water. The landscape is diverse, with steep cliffs, pinnacles, and caves.

highest volcanic mountain in africa

7.Mount Kenya

• Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around 150 km (95 miles) north-northeast of Nairobi.

Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya, and the second highest in Africa (after Mount Kilimanjaro).

The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (5,199m – 17,058 ft), Nelion (5, 188m – 17,022 ft) and Lenana (4,958 – 16,355 ft).

8.Kilimanjaro

• Kilimanjaro is the tallest free-standing mountain rise in the world rising 4,600 m (15,100 ft) from its base, and includes the highest peak in Africa at 5,895 meters (19,340 ft).

Kilimanjaro with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawensi and Shira, is an inactive stratovolcano in north-eastern Tanzania.

The Brandberg formed around 130 million years ago when a large glob of magma from deep in Earth’s crust pushed up through the surrounding rock layers before solidifying. Later, the granite mass was exposed by erosion of the surrounding rocks.

9.The burning mountain

The Brandberg is the highest mountain in Namibia, with its most elevated point at an altitude of 8,442 ft (2,573m).

The indigenous San people call it the “burning mountain” because it appears to glow red in the light of the setting Sun. With its considerable height and breadth, the Brandberg influences the local climate, drawing more rain to its flanks than the desert below. The rain slowly seeps out through springs. Unique animal and plant species thrive in its high-altitude environment, and prehistoric cave paintings decorate rock faces hidden within ravines around the base of the mountain.

10.Table Mountain

Approximately 2 miles (3km) long and edged by impressive cliffs, Table Mountain is one of the most iconic landmarks in Africa. With its high point at 3,563ft (1,086m), it lies at the northern end of a sandstone mountain range that terminates about 30 miles (50km) to the south at the Cape of Good Hope.

Table Mountain once had much thicker, softer layers of rock above it, but these eroded away to produce the flat top. This is often enveloped in a “tablecloth” of clouds, formed when onshore winds are directed up the mountain’s slopes into colder air, where the moisture they carry condenses.