Mountain Muhavura (The Guiding Mountain)

Muhavura is an extinct volcano situated at the eastern most end of the Virunga Mountains
in east central Africa. It is located in Kisoro district in southwestern Uganda and takes
about 8 hours of driving from Kampala city to the park.
It lies northeast of Lake Kivu on the border between Uganda and Rwanda. It is more than
13,500 ft high, and it contains a crater lake.
At 4,127 metres (13,540 ft) Muhavura is the third highest of the eight major mountains of
the mountain range which is part of the Albertine Rift.
Hiking is the most adventurous activity on Mount Muhavura and it takes about 8 hours,
covering a 12 kilometer round trip to the mountain’s summit and back down to its base.
There are also activities like trekking, Batwa trail experience, guided nature walks, caving
and bird watching.

[Tumushime Emmanuel]
The actual name is Mt Muhabura which is Kifumbira (a language spoken by people of
Kisoro district). The name means ” to guide” because it directionally guided locals to Kisoro
district. It’s part of Mufumbiro ranges (mufumbiro name came from the Bafumbira people
who used to see smoke coming out of the mountains during volcanic activity and thought
their ancestors were cooking “) and so the name Mufumbiro meaning a place where
cooking is done from. The name is given to eight peaks/ mountains that cover the Uganda
DRC – Rwanda boarder. They include Mt. Muhabura, Mt Gahinga & Sabyinyo, Nyiragongo,
Nyamulagira, Bisoke, Mikeno and Karisimbi (the tallest of all). However, it should be noted
that those at the Ugandan boarder are the first three. The rest are shared between Rwanda
and DRC.

[Mugisha Pian Rojo]
I can just supplement on the origin of Mt. Muhabura which means to “guide”, just as we all
know that during the pre-colonial era, there were no tarmac roads and very poor means of
transport, so the traders especially in LDT would move from the then Rwanda including the
present day ( Kisoro, Kabale, and Kigez) to lake Katwe for salt deposits. On their way back
home, they could only and easily identify their home places by looking at the mountain for
certainty, thus the name. Note that the name Kisoro came after 1912 when the British and
the Belgians signed some treaty in exchange of the Lado enclave.

Author: Phiona Kemigisa
PICS folder: Mt-muhavura