Ugandan wildlife authorities have warned that the ice cap on Africa's second highest mountain has split due to the effect of global warming.

Melting has caused a six-meter-wide crevasse in the ice cap on Mount Margherita in western Uganda, according to Nelson Guma, senior warden of the Rwenzori National Park inside which the mountain is located.

The park official added that tourists aspiring to ascend the 5,119-meter mountain peak can no longer make their climbs because the ice cap split had cut off the mountaineering route.

The Rwenzori National Park has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Local environmental protectionists have said that the ice cap on Mount Margherita covered 10.35 square kilometers in the 1950s and now covers under 2.58 square kilometers.

Mount Margherita is situated just north of the Equator.