Kilimanjaro Facts
Kilimanjaro Facts
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| Interesting Kilimanjaro Facts: |
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| The origins of the name Kilimanjaro have been debated. Some believe that European explorers got the name from Swahilis living in the area while others believe that Kilimanjaro is a Kiswahili name. Neither claim is fully supported or proven. |
| The cone Kibo is Kilimanjaro's summit. The cone Mawenzi is at 16,893 feet, and the cone Shira is at 13,000 feet. |
| Kilimanjaro covers an area 100km long by 65 km wide. |
| The highest summit on Kibo is Uhuru Peak. |
| There are several climbing routes on Kilimanjaro to reach its summit including Mweka Route, Lemosho Route, Rongai Route, Machame Route, and Marangu Route. |
| Kilimanjaro does not have a bamboo zone, which is common to most of the tall mountains in East Africa. This means it does not have a good food supply for the animals common to the region. |
| The species that do thrive on Kilimanjaro include blue monkeys, olive baboons, bus pigs, leopards, mongoose, honey badgers, aardvarks, bushbabies, tree hydraxes, and civets. |
| The most recent volcanic activity on Kilimanjaro occurred about 200 years ago. |
| The last major eruption on Kilimanjaro occurred approximately 360,000 years ago. |
| There is a book in a wooden box at the top of Kilimanjaro at Kibo. Most of the climbers who reach Kibo's summit - Uhuru Peak - record their thoughts in this book. |
| A Frenchman named Valtee Daniel is the oldest person to ever reach Kilimanjaro's summit, at the age of 87. |
| Since 1912 the snow caps on Mount Kilimanjaro have diminished by more than 80%. It is estimated that within 20 years the snow caps will have completely melted. |
| There is an effort to plant trees at the base of Kilimanjaro to help decrease erosion and to protect water sources, initiated in 2008 by Tanzania's National Resources and Tourism minister. |
| Kilimanjaro's wettest season is from March to May. From April to October it is usually dry with little rain except on the lowest slopes. |
| A South African man named Bernard Goosen who was born with cerebral palsy has scaled Kilimanjaro twice in his wheelchair. |
| Europeans began climbing Kilimanjaro in the 1800s, but nobody reached the summit until October 6th, 1889. Hans Meyer, a German geology professor, and the Austrian Ludwig Purtscheller, along with a scout Yoanas Kinyala Lauwo arrived at the summit that day and confirmed that Kibo's crater exists. This was Hans Meyer's third attempt. |
| Hans Meyer named Kibo's highest summit Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze, but when Tanzania was formed in 1964 Kibo's summit was renamed Uhuru. |
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