Mountains of the Moon
A Coolamon Rotary Club Initiative
Welcome to the Official site for the Rotary Club of Coolamon Mountians of the Moon Project. Due to the unprecedented success of the Kili Project, we are doing it again!..the mysterious mists, gorillas, elephants and unique prehistoric flora of the MotM await. A unique and adventurous way to raise money for the most vulnerable children and babies in the world!
Current list of Climbers
Audio BBC Documentary on AIDS in Africa
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...This presentation from the BBC is an excellent audio documentary on the AIDS issue in Africa and covers some very pertinent points that should never be far from our minds.
Aids kills some 6,000 people each day in Africa - more than wars, famines and floods. Millions of children are orphans, many more live with HIV or Aids. This special report, with correspondents’ despatches, key facts, audio, video and interviews, asks why the devastation continues.
RFFA and Marion on youTube.com
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Here is some RFFA including the wonderful Marion Bunch of RFFA. The Mountians of the Moon project is proud to be assosciated with the O.R.K. and RFFA.
At the 2007 Rotary International Convention in Salt Lake City in June, RI President Bill Boyd recognized the work of Marion Bunch and Rotarians for Fighting AIDS (RFFA). More info at www.rffa.org
Did You Know?
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Here is some info on the Mountains of the Moon from Wikipedia’s entry, for those wanting to know a bit more about the fascinating history of the elusive apline painted mountains!
The term Mountains of the Moon or Montes Lunae referred to a mountain range in central Africa that was long believed to be the source of the White Nile, but whose actual location was – and remains – uncertain. (Nyungwe Forest Park, Rwanda -
2°16′55.92″S, 29°19′52.32″E)
The ancient world had long been curious as to the source of the Nile, especially Ancient Greek geographers. A number of expeditions up the Nile failed to find the source.
Eventually a merchant named Diogenes reported that he had traveled inland from Rhapta in East Africa for twenty-five days and had found the source of Nile. He reported it flowed from a group of massive mountains into a series of large lakes. He reported the natives called this range the Mountains of the Moon because of their snowcapped whiteness.
These reports were accepted as true by Ptolemy and other Greek and Roman geographers, and maps he produced indicated the reported location of the mountains. Late Arab geographers, despite having far more knowledge of Africa, also took the report at face value, and included the mountains in the same location given by Ptolemy.[1]
It was not until the colonial period, in the nineteenth century, that Europeans resumed the search for the source of the Nile. James Grant and John Speke in 1862 found that the source was not primarily in the mountains but rather in the Great Lakes. Henry Morton Stanley finally found glacier-capped mountains possibly fitting Diogenes’s description in 1889 (they had eluded European explorers for so long due to often being shrouded in mist). Today known as the Ruwenzori Range, the peaks are the source of some of the Nile’s waters, but only a small fraction.
Many modern scholars doubt that these were the Mountains of the Moon described by Diogenes, some holding that his reports were wholly fabricated. G.W.B. Huntingford suggested in 1940 that the Mountain of the Moon should be identified with Mount Kilimanjaro, and “was subsequently ridiculed in J. Olver Thompson’s History of Ancient Geography published in 1948; Huntingford later noted that he was not alone in this theory, citing Sir Harry Johnston in 1911 and Dr. Gervase Mathew later in 1963 having made the same identification.[2] O. G. S. Crawford identified this range with the Mount Abuna Yosef area in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia.
New MotM Website!
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...Well after setting up the last site not very long ago at all, its seemed that blogger was becoming just a bit too unbearable. Too unreliable and limited function..google has Gblogs or similar in the works to be released a bit later on this year and I guess that has been taking all their attention while they ignore the plight of blogger perhaps?..The upside is we are now wordpress across the board with all its speed, adaptability and function. We are staying with our pinkness feel as a salute to the Kili project which was pink from front to rear! It seemed to bring us luck and some very tough and capable female climbers! We hope you enjoy the site.
The Mountains of the Moon Await!
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...
Snow on the equator.
The high peaks on Mount Stanley in the Rwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon). Off to the right of this photo is the highest peak, Margherita Peak.
The third highest peak in Africa at 5,109 metres.
The Mountains of the Moon.