Mount Kilimanjaro

Mt. Kilimanjaro / Mount Kilimanjaro

Mt. Kilimanjaro was formed during the most recent faulting of the Rift valley two to three million years ago, an event that also led to the formation of Mt. Kenya. Kilimanjaro was certainly an active volcano

100,000 years ago when the crater below Kibo Peak was formed. The glaciers around the peak probably

began to form some 11,700 years ago. However, it is thought that due to global warming they will have melted within another 20 years. In the sixth century, Chinese sailors returned home with tales of a great inland mountain, but Kilimanjaro remained something of an enigmatic legend to non-Africans well into the nineteenth century. In 1848, the German missionary, Johannes Rebmann, while venturing inland in a bid to convert the local tribes to Christianity, sighted the snow-capped mountain from Tsavo but his report was met with ridicule. It was not until 1861 when Dr. Otto Kersten and Baron Karl Klaus von der Decken scaled the mountain to a height of 4,300m. The first Europeans to reach the summit were Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller in 1889. Mawenzi peak was first climbed in 1912. The mountain has retained a legendary and almost mystical aura throughout the twentieth century. Mt. Kilimanjaro’s huge

snow-capped summit dome, rising high above the surrounding savanna, is one of Africa’s all time classic images. It is the highest free standing volcano in the world and the tallest in Africa, at an attitude of 5,895m (19,340ft). While it is acknowledged that to summit the “mountain of greatness” is not easy, it is very achievable.