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Africa
Travel Newsletters > Mighty Kilimanjaro
1. Mighty Kilimanjaro - The
Worlds' Most Accessible Summit
Snow-capped Kilimanjaro, floating
above the clouds is no doubt one of the most beautiful and
impressive
sights in the natural world. Even hard-boiled non-believers, in their
unguarded moments, empathise with the Maasai who call it the
“House of
God”. The mountain is one of the Seven Top Summits of the world –it has
the highest point on the African continent. Though
there are higher
mountains, they form part of mountain ranges, Everest for example. But
Kili, as it is popularly known, is the highest freestanding
mountain in
the world. It rises gently from 3,000 feet, reaches for the heavens and
only halts after a 16,000 feet ascent. The diameter at the base is
an
amazing 64 kilometres. No wonder Kilimanjaro is one of the most popular destinations in
Tanzania
safaris.
Kilimanjaro
is located to the northeast of Tanzania, on the border with Kenya.
There is a popular myth of how the mountain came to be part
of
Tanzania, which was at one time part of the German Empire. Queen
Victoria is supposed to have granted the mountain to her German
grandson Wilhelm
(later Kaiser Wilhelm II) as a birthday gift. It is
also said that the Germans had been grumbling at the blatant unfairness
of missing a snowcapped
mountain within their empire while the Queen
has two – the second being Mount Kenya.
Though historians have
discredited the myth, it has
refused to die and it is still a source of
amusement for many. Unwilling to allow the truth to stand in the way,
some anti-colonial historians fume
with indignation, citing how the
boundaries of Eastern Africa were arbitrarily decided in the capitals
of the imperial powers. To most people in the
west, Kilimanjaro has
long been associated with Ernest Hemingway on account of his 1936 short
story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”. In 1952,
Hollywood fascinated by the
magic of Kili the book evokes, turned it into a movie with Gregory Peck
and Ava Gardner in leading
roles.
Kilimanjaro is young as far as
mountains go, and geologists allow it only 750,000 years. The mountain
is made up of three dormant
volcanoes -Kibo (19,340 feet), Shira
(13,000 feet) and Mawenzi (16,896 feet). Kibo occasionally belches some
steam and sulfur. The highest point on
Kibo is Uhuru Peak, where you
see some awesome glaciers and fantastic views of the country below.
Though Kili is only three degrees south of the
equator, the peaks of
Kibo and Mawenzi are covered in ice and snow year round. Many learned
people in Europe hotly disputed that a snow-capped mountain
could be
found at the equator when the German missionary Johann Rebmann reported
it in 1849.
Going up the mountain, you move from tropical
to
artic conditions. There are five distinct climatic zones, with each
zone taking approximately 3,300 feet. The zones are- the lower slopes,
then
forest, then moorland, alpine desert and the summit. The lower
slopes are cultivated and agriculture flourishes. The forest region is
dry in the north
and wet towards the southern slopes. The forest
carries many tree species including podocarpus, camphor, fig and olive
trees and bamboo. The only
animals to be found here are blue and
Colobus monkeys and a variety of birds including hornbill and turaco.
At the moorland region, you find the giant
groundsels and lobelias
common in the high altitude mountain regions of eastern Africa. Further
up, vegetation and animal life are
sparse.
Kili is the worlds’
most accessible summit. Any reasonably strong and ambitious person,
without using any special mountaineering
equipment can conquer this
giant. It is however hard work. Altitude and the resulting thin air
will be the main challenge and not your failing
strength. To avoid
succumbing to high altitude sickness, you guides will constantly
advise, you take the mountain slowly, slowly or “pole
pole” as they say
in Swahili. You should therefore avoid a quick ascent and take time to
acclimatise to the mountains’ oxygen challenged
air. By ignoring such
good advice many young males fail to reach the summit, when older more
deliberate climbers make it.
Help and More Information for Tanzania!
Are you
planning to go for a Mt Kilimanjaro climbing expedition during your next Tanzania safari?
Contact
us
today and we will assist you in all your preparations and Tanzania travel arrangements.
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