In 2012, a wildfire scorched 42 sq km of the Rwenzori alpine zone; lake cores showed it was the first large-scale fire there in 12,000 years, with charcoal jumping over 100-fold

A wildfire that swept through the high-altitude alpine zone of Africa's Rwenzori Mountains in 2012 has been identified as the first large-scale fire to strike the region in at least 12,000 years, according to a study published in Nature. By analysing ancient lake sediment cores (cylindrical samples of layered mud from the lake bed), researchers reconstructed the mountains' fire history and discovered that the 2012 blaze left an unprecedented charcoal signature, more than 100 times greater than anything recorded in the previous 12 millennia.

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