Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro () is a large dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano in the Eastern Hemisphere and the fourth most prominent peak on Earth.

Kilimanjaro's southern and eastern slopes served as the home of the Chagga Kingdoms until their abolition in 1963 by Julius Nyerere. The origin and meaning of the name Kilimanjaro is unknown, but may mean "mountain of greatness" or "unclimbable". Although it is described in classical sources, German missionary Johannes Rebmann is credited as the first European to report the mountain's existence, in 1848. After several European attempts, Hans Meyer reached Kilimanjaro's highest summit in 1899.

The mountain was incorporated into Kilimanjaro National Park in 1973. As one of the Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro is a major hiking and climbing destination. There are seven established routes to Uhuru Peak, the mountain's highest point. Although not as technically challenging as similar mountains, the prominence of Kilimanjaro poses a serious risk of altitude sickness.

One of several mountains arising from the East African Rift, Kilimanjaro was formed from volcanic activity over 2 million years ago. Its slopes host montane forests and cloud forests. Multiple species are endemic to Mount Kilimanjaro, including the giant groundsel Dendrosenecio kilimanjari. The mountain possesses a large ice cap and the largest glaciers in Africa, including Credner Glacier, Furtwängler Glacier, and the Rebmann Glacier. This ice cap is rapidly shrinking, with over 80% lost in the 20th century. The cap is projected to disappear entirely by the mid-21st century.

Toponymy

The origin and meaning of the name Kilimanjaro is disputed. Although the Chagga people of the Kilimanjaro Region have no name for the mountain, they call its two peaks Kipoo and Kimawenze. The peaks' names—usually rendered Kibo and Mawenzi—mean "spotted" in reference to Kibo's snow and "broken top" due to Mawenzi's jagged peak. "Kilimanjaro" may originate from the Chagga calling the mountain unclimbable—kilemanjaare or kilemajyaro—and explorers misinterpreting this as its name. This Kichagga language etymology relies on kileme, "that which defeats", or kilelema, "that which has become difficult or impossible". The -jaro could be derived from njaare, a bird, or jyaro, a caravan.

Early Western etymologies used a compound Swahili origin, with kilima translated as "mountain". In 1860, Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote that the Swahilis used the name Kilimanjaro and that it meant either "mountain of greatness" or "mountain of caravans", with a translation of njaro as greatness or jaro as "caravans". In 1885, Scottish explorer Joseph Thomson reported "white mountain" as an alternative, with njaro denoting whiteness. This Swahili etymological approach is criticized as kilima is a diminutive of mlima (mountain) and actually means "hill". However, mlima may have been misreported as kilima via conflation with the two peaks' names, Kipoo and Kimawenze.

Krapf mentions an 1849 visit with a Wakamba chief that called the mountain Kima jajeu, meaning "mountain of whiteness". Another explanation is that jyaro may refer to a god or a deity that guarded the mountain from trespassers.

In the 1880s, the mountain became part of German East Africa and was called Kilima-Ndscharo in German. In 1889, Hans Meyer reached the highest summit on Kibo, which he named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze for Kaiser Wilhelm. Following the Zanzibar Revolution and the formation of Tanzania in 1964, the summit was renamed Uhuru Peak: "Freedom Peak" in Swahili.

Geology and geography

Kilimanjaro is a large dormant stratovolcano composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest; Mawenzi at ; and Shira, the lowest at . Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again.

Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim. The Tanzania National Parks Authority, a Tanzanian government agency, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization both list the height of Uhuru Peak as , based on a British survey in 1952. The height has since been measured as in 1999, in 2008, and in 2014. Tourist mapping was first published by the Ordnance Survey in England in 1988 based on the original DOS mapping at a scale of 1:100,000, with contour intervals, as DOS 522. West Col Productions produced a map with tourist information in 1990, at a scale of 1:75,000, with contour intervals; it included inset maps of Kibo and Mawenzi on 1:20,000 and 1:30,000 scales respectively and with contour intervals.

Eruptive activity at the Shira center commenced about 2.4 million years ago, with the last important phase occurring about 1.9 million years ago, just before the northern part of the edifice collapsed. The formation of the caldera was accompanied by lava emanating from ring fractures, but there was no large-scale explosive activity. Two cones formed subsequently, the phonolitic one at the northwest end of the ridge and the doleritic Platzkegel in the caldera center.

Both Mawenzi and Kibo began erupting about 1 million years ago.

The youngest dated rocks at Mawenzi are about 448,000 years old. The Ash Pit, deep, lies within the Reusch Crater. About 100,000 years ago, part of Kibo's crater rim collapsed, creating the area known as the Western Breach and the Great Barranco.

An almost continuous layer of lava buries most older geological features, except exposed strata within the Great West Notch and the Kibo Barranco. The former exposes intrusions of syenite.

A continuous ice cap covering approximately down to an elevation of covered Kilimanjaro during the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pleistocene epoch (the Main glacial episode), extending across the summits of Kibo and Mawenzi. Ice cores taken from Kilimanjaro's Northern Ice Field (NIF) indicates that the glaciers there have a basal age of about 11,700 years, although an analysis of ice taken in 2011 from exposed vertical cliffs in the NIF supports an age extending only to 800 years BP. Higher precipitation rates at the beginning of the Holocene epoch (11,500 years BP) allowed the ice cap to reform.

thumb|left|Vertical margin wall of the [[Rebmann Glacier in 2005 with Mount Meru, which is away, in the background]]

In the late 1880s, the summit of Kibo was completely covered by an ice cap about in extent with outlet glaciers cascading down the western and southern slopes, and except for the inner cone, the entire caldera was buried. Glacier ice also flowed through the Western Breach. The slope glaciers retreated rapidly between 1912 and 1953, in response to a sudden shift in climate at the end of the 19th century that made them "drastically out of equilibrium", and more slowly thereafter. Their continuing demise indicates they are still out of equilibrium in response to a constant change in climate over the past century. It appears that decreasing specific humidity instead of temperature changes has caused shrinkage of the slope glaciers since the late 19th century. No clear warming trend at the elevation of those glaciers occurred between 1948 and 2005. Although air temperatures at that elevation are always below freezing, solar radiation causes melting on vertical faces. Vertical ice margin walls are a unique characteristic of the summit glaciers and a major place of the shrinkage of the glaciers. They manifest stratifications, calving, and other ice features.

thumb|A vertical glacier margin wall as seen from Gilman's Point on the crater rim at sunrise in 1998

Almost 85 percent of the ice cover on Kilimanjaro disappeared between October 1912 and June 2011, with coverage decreasing from to < Ice climber Will Gadd noticed differences between his 2014 and 2020 climbs. The glaciers are thinning in addition to losing areal coverage,

A complete disappearance of the ice would be of only "negligible importance" to the water budget of the area around the mountain. The forests of Kilimanjaro, far below the ice fields, "are [the] essential water reservoirs for the local and regional populations".

Drainage

Kilimanjaro is drained by a network of rivers and streams, especially on the wetter and more heavily eroded southern side and primarily above . Below that altitude, increased evaporation and human water usage reduce the water flows. The Lumi and Pangani rivers drain Kilimanjaro on the eastern and southern sides, respectively.

IUGS geological heritage site

In respect of it being 'the highest stratovolcano of the East African Rift that maintains a glacier on its summit', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included 'The Pleistocene Kilimanjaro volcano' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organization defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'

Human history

Chagga states

Kilimanjaro is attested to in numerous stories by the people who live in East Africa. The Chagga, who traditionally lived on the southern and eastern slopes of the mountain in sovereign Chagga states, tell how a man named Tone once provoked a god, Ruwa, to bring famine upon the land. The people became angry at Tone, forcing him to flee. Nobody wanted to protect him but a solitary dweller who had stones that turned miraculously into cattle. The dweller bid that Tone never open the stable of the cattle. When Tone did not heed the warning and the cattle escaped, Tone followed them, but the fleeing cattle threw up hills to run on, including Mawenzi and Kibo. Tone finally collapsed on Kibo, ending the pursuit.

Another Chagga legend tells of ivory-filled graves of elephants on the mountain, and of a cow named Rayli that produces miraculous fat from her tail glands. If a man tries to steal such a gland but is too slow in his moves, Rayli will blast a powerful snort and blow the thief down onto the plain.

Early records

The mountain may have been known to non-Africans since antiquity. Sailors' reports recorded by Ptolemy mention a "moon mountain" and a spring lake of the Nile, which may indicate Kilimanjaro, although available historical information does not allow differentiation among others in East Africa like Mount Kenya, the mountains of Ethiopia, the Virunga Mountains, the Rwenzori Mountains, and Kilimanjaro. Before Ptolemy, Aeschylus and Herodotus referred to "Egypt nurtured by the snows" and to a spring between two mountains, respectively. One of these mentions two tall mountains in the coastal regions with a valley with traces of fire between them. Martín Fernández de Enciso, a Spanish traveler to Mombasa who obtained information about the interior from native caravans, said in his Summa de Geografía (1519) that west of Mombasa "stands the Ethiopian Mount Olympus, which is exceedingly high, and beyond it are the Mountains of the Moon, in which are the sources of the Nile".

European exploration

thumb|upright=1.2|A German illustration of Kilimanjaro in 1911

The German missionaries Johannes Rebmann of Mombasa and Johann Krapf were the first Europeans known to have attempted to reach the mountain. According to English geographer Halford Mackinder and English explorer Harry Johnston, Rebmann in 1848 was the first European to report the existence of Kilimanjaro. Hans Meyer has claimed that Rebmann first arrived in Africa in 1846 and quotes Rebmann's diary entry of 11 May 1848 as saying,

Climatic zones

Bushland / Lower Slope:,
Rainforest:
Heather / Moorland:
Alpine Desert:
Arctic: . generated US$51 million in revenue in 2013, the second-most of any Tanzanian national park. The Tanzania National Parks Authority reported that the park recorded 57,456 tourists during the 2011–12 budget year, of whom 16,425 hiked the mountain; the park's General Management Plan specifies an annual capacity of 28,470. The mountain hikers generated irregular and seasonal jobs for about 11,000 guides, porters, and cooks in 2007. Concerns have been raised about the poor working conditions and inadequate wages of these workers.

There are seven official trekking routes by which to ascend and descend Kilimanjaro: Lemosho, Lemosho Western-Breach, Machame, Marangu, Mweka, Rongai, Shira, and Umbwe. The Machame route can be completed in 6 to 7 days, Lemosho in 6 to 8, and the Northern Circuit routes in 7 or more days. The Lemosho Route can also be continued via the Western-Breach, submitting via the western side of the mountain. The Western Breach is more secluded and avoids the 6-hour midnight ascent to the summit (like other routes). The Rongai is the easiest of the camping routes. The Marangu is also relatively easy, if frequently busy; accommodation is in shared huts. The Lemosho Western-Breach Route commences on the western side of Kilimanjaro at Lemosho and continues to the summit via the Western-Breach Route.

Mawenzi technical climbing

Technical climbing routes are available on the Mawenzi cone of Mount Kilimanjaro. Unlike the traditional routes to Uhuru Peak on Kibo, which are open to the general public, climbing Mawenzi requires a special permit from the Tanzania National Parks Authority. These permits are issued exclusively to experienced climbers with appropriate equipment. Climbing on Mawenzi is limited to a maximum of two climbers at a time and is restricted to daytime hours.

Climbing records

thumb|upright=1.5|Climbing routes

Oldest

The oldest person to climb Mount Kilimanjaro is Anne Lorimor, aged 89 years and 37 days, who reached Uhuru Peak at 3:14 p.m. local time on 18 July 2019.

The oldest man to summit is American Fred Dishelhorst, who reached the top on 19 July 2017 at the age of 88 years, 5 months, and 28 days old. Dishelhorst used supplemental oxygen on summit day.

Youngest

Despite an age limit of 10 years for a climbing permit, Keats Boyd from Los Angeles reached the summit on 21 January 2008 at the age of 7. This record was equaled by Montannah Kenney from Texas in March 2018 and again in July 2018 by Coaltan Tanner from New Mexico.

Fastest

The fastest ascent and the fastest round trip have been recorded by the Swiss-Ecuadorian mountain guide Karl Egloff. On 13 August 2014, after guiding a party to the summit the previous days, he ran from Umbwe Gate to the top in 4 hours and 56 minutes and returned to the Mweka Gate at in a total time of 6 hours, 42 minutes and 24 seconds.

The female round trip record is held by Fernanda Maciel from Brazil in a time of 10 hours and 6 minutes.

Climbs by disabled people

Several climbs by disabled people have drawn attention. Wheelchair user Bernard Goosen from South Africa scaled Kilimanjaro in 6 days in 2007. In 2012, Kyle Maynard who has no forearms or lower legs, crawled unassisted to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

BASE jumping

On 9 February 2015, Red Bull athlete Valerii Rozov performed the first wing-suit BASE jump from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. He flew approximately 3 kilometres before landing on the southern slope.

Safety

The climb is not technically as challenging as the Himalayas or Andes, but the high elevation, low temperature, and occasional high winds can make Kilimanjaro a difficult trek. Acclimatization is required, and even experienced and physically fit trekkers may suffer some degree of altitude sickness. A study of people attempting to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro in July and August 2005 found that 61.3 percent succeeded and 77 percent experienced acute mountain sickness (AMS). A retrospective study of 917 persons who attempted to reach the summit via the Lemosho or Machame routes found that 70.4 percent experienced AMS, defined in this study to be headache, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, or loss of appetite.

Kilimanjaro's summit is well above the altitude at which life-threatening high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), the most severe forms of AMS, can occur. These health risks are increased substantially by excessively fast climbing schedules motivated by high daily national park fees, busy holiday travel schedules, and the lack of permanent shelter on most routes. The six-day Machame route, which involves one day of "climbing high" to Lava Tower ( and "sleeping low" at Barranco Camp (), may delay the onset of AMS but does not ultimately prevent its occurrence.

Falls on steep portions of the mountain and rock slides have killed trekkers. For this reason, the route via the Arrow Glacier was closed for several years, reopening in December 2007. Now again it officially closed as of 20 January 2024. Due to strong El Niño, the Western Breach has washed down the mountain. This huge runoff has carved new ravines on the slopes and seems to be dislodging the sediment that cements the rock together, disrupting the rock stability.  At the route's base, rain water has opened new drainages and there is an active, flowing river through the Arrow Glacier Camp where there has been no water at all for decades. The improper disposal of human waste on the mountain environment has created a health hazard, necessitating the boiling of all water.

According to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, 25 people died from January 1996 to October 2003 while climbing the mountain. Seventeen were female and eight were male, ranging in age from 29 to 74. Fourteen died from advanced high altitude illness, including one with HACE, five with HAPE, and six with both HACE and HAPE. The remaining eleven deaths resulted from "trauma (3), myocardial infarction (4), pneumonia (2), cardio-pulmonary failure of other underlying cause (1), and acute appendicitis (1). The overall mortality rate was 13.6 per 100,000 climbers."

In literature and film

Journalist Tom Bissell noted that Kilimanjaro is "perhaps the world's most literary mountain". The mountain is prominently featured in Ernest Hemingway's 1936 short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which was adapted into a 1952 film starring Gregory Peck. Dave Eggers wrote about his ascent in the short story Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly. Writer Douglas Adams climbed the mountain in a rubber rhinoceros suit to raise money for African rhino conservation efforts.

Kilimanjaro was featured in Toto's 1982 song "Africa". An IMAX film documenting an ascent—Kilimanjaro: To The Roof Of Africa—was released in 2002. Kilimanjaro is also prominently featured in the Lion King franchise.

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

Academic articles

Books

External links

NASA Earth Explorer page
Glacial Recession on Kilimanjaro (pictures of southern icefields)
Mount Kilimanjaro live webcam
Kilimanjaro flora picture gallery
Aerial photographs of Mount Kilimanjaro, 1937–38