KILIMANJARO

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcanic mountain in Kilimanjaro National Park, Kilimanjaro Region,Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet above sea level (the Uhuru Peak/Kibo Peak).^[4] A private organization in February 2013 designated Mount Kilimanjaro as one of the seven natural wonders of Africa.^[5]

Climbing Kilimanjaro

We will be taking the Shira route up the mountain, the trek taking a total of eight days.   Kilimanjaro is a relatively safe climb, and most climbers who fail to summit experience altitude-related issues or harsh weather near the peak. Temperatures at the peak can be 0 degrees F (minus 18 C), and if the winds are blowing, the wind chills reach dangerous levels.

The climb can be done any time of year but the rainy winter season make the summer and early fall a popular time to climb.

Kilimanjaro has five climbing routes to the summit: Marangu Route; Machame Route; Rongai Route; Lemosho Route; and Mweka Route. The popular Machame and Lemosho routes are scenic, while the busy Marangu is the easiest until the difficult final ascent to the rim of the crater.

In 1861, the German officer Baron Carl Claus von der Decken and British geologist Richard Thornton  made a first attempt to climb Kibo, but had to turn back at 8,200 feet (2,500 meters).

Von der Decken tried a second time the following year, and with Otto Kersten got as far as 14,000 feet (4,280 meters).

In 1887, during his first attempt to climb Kilimanjaro, German geology professor Hans Meyer reached the base of Kibo, but was not properly equipped to handle the deep snow and ice and retreated.

On Oct. 5, 1889,  Meyer, Marangu scout Yoanas Kinyala Lauwo and Austrian Ludwig Purtscheller were the first team to reach the summit. They were the first to confirm that Kibo has a crater, which was filled with ice at the time.

Honey badgers and bushbabies

Kilimanjaro encompasses a wide variety of ecosystems, including tropical jungle, savannah, and desert to montane forests, subalpine plants, and the alpine zone above timberline.

Kilimanjaro has a large variety of forest types that harbor 1,200 vascular plant species. Montane Ocotea forests occur on the wet southern slope. Cassipourea and Juniperus forests grow on the dry northern slope. Subalpine Erica forests at 13,451 feet (4,100 meters) represent the highest elevation cloud forests in Africa.

Another feature of the forests of Kilimanjaro is the lack of a bamboo zone, which occurs on all other tall mountains in East Africa with a similarly high rainfall. Because there is no bamboo zone there is a limited supply of food for animals.

However, there are a number of species that thrive in the area. Blue monkeys, which are not actually blue but grey or black with a white throat, gather in the forest zone on the Rongai Route. Olive baboons, civets, leopards, mongooses and bush pigs, which have a distinctive white stripe running along its back from head to tail, are abundant.

There are honey badgers and aardvarks, but visitors rarely get to see these nocturnal creatures. Noisy bushbabies, which are also nocturnal creatures, can be more easily heard more than seen. There are also small-spotted genets with distinctive black-and-white tails, and the loud tree hydraxes that are similar to chipmunks.