In equatorial East Africa there are ice-capped mountain peaks where near-Arctic conditions prevail. The second of three films about Africa in this Natural
World series visits these unique wildlife communities of smoking volcanoes and icy summits.

The ancient volcano Mount Kenya, three miles high, is home to antelopes with fur like mountain sheep, and to a type of hyrax - a hoofed animal resembling a rodent - that must sunbathe for two hours each morning before it can exert itself in the thin air.

On the peaks of the Aberdares heather grows 20 feet high and the bongo, a rare forest antelope, staves off extinction. Higher still, on Kilimanjaro, lives a vulture that can swallow foot-long bones in order to extract every trace of nourishment.

The camera crew climbed to the summit of the 19,500f Kibo to film its glaciers. Says producer Patrick Morris: "It took five days with the help of 30 porters from the Chagga tribe. The strength and speed of these mountain people was phenomenal, but for us each footstep was exhausting." Narrated by John Hurt.