Earth as Art
Mount Elgon, Kenya and Uganda
Credit: KING
Clouds dot the high rim of Mount Elgon’s massive caldera in this Landsat 5 image from 1984. As the oldest and largest solitary volcano in Africa, Mount Elgon straddles the border between Uganda and Kenya and is protected on both sides by national parks. Named Ol Doinyo Ilgoon by the Maasai, this long-extinct volcano has an intact caldera about 6,500 meters across and consists of five major peaks over a distance of 4,100 meters. In the image, the lush green that surrounds the volcano shows the fertility of the rich volcanic soil at the lower elevations. The upper left corner shows one of the arms of the large shallow lake complex of Lake Kyoga.
