When to visit Rwenzori national park
The Rwenzoris have also got a very short dry season which is between June and August and the other is between December and February. These are also the best times to visit this national park. Though even in the dry season, you can ideally expect rains and these occur less frequently and mostly at night.
It’s also so possible to move outside the small windows, Marshall and Gane staff have also visited this mountain during March and experienced some light rainfall and the conditions in the Rwenzoris are not so reliable and it’s good to stick to the above travel windows in case you want to avoid the bad conditions.
The Rwenzoris are also beautiful throughout the year and there is no green season and you should also not assume that wet season will be the best time to travel in case you are interested in botany. The change from dry to wet season will doesn’t bring any dramatic changes to the fauna and flora of the range, the only thing that doesn’t change usually is the depths of the bog that you pass through.
The weather in the Rwenzoris is so wet and the peaks masked in mist most times. Even though this makes the wild rime formations on the higher summits as well as glaciers, this can also make hiking and route finding difficult.
All over the world, there is a band of air rising near the equator which leads to heavy rains which is known as the inter topical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). This is also called the doldrums. In June, this moves and migrates north wards that gives India and the Himalaya its monsoon season. And in December, it’s in the southern hemisphere that gives heavy rains to the northern Australia and in such places. More so during the spring and the fall, the zone of heavy rainfall goes over the equators. Since the rwenzoris are so equatorial, fall and spring are bad time of visiting! In January and February, there is always the dry NE Monsoon and in June and July, there is the drier SE Monsoon. There are also considered to be the best months to visit. With this reference, I went for my visit in July and met rain every single day that I was at the mountains. Even though the rain and snow in this time are not so heavy or long lasting and the days are fine for the back packing and those moving around the peaks.
In case you are planning a peak climb, it’s good to do so in the morning. And the best weather is between the hours of 2:00 am and about 8:00am when the mist and the clouds are veiling the peaks. While I was there, there were continuous thunder storms at night and at dawn and in the afternoons and not the hours of 7:00 am to 10: 00 am. More so, if you want to ski on the Stanley plateau, you might take a trip right at the changes between the dry and wet seasons, since later on during the dry season, the glaciers might be just bare ice in most of the places.