Five Intriguing Facts About Mount Kilimanjaro : The Magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro located in Northern Tanzania is the tallest mountain in Africa as well as the tallest free-standing mountain in the world standing at the height of 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) above sea level making it the tallest mountain on the African continent.
Intriguing Facts About Mount Kilimanjaro
Rising majestically above the plains of Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro has been climbed by many climbers since the first recorded summit in 1889. If you are among the people who are interested in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, here are the facts that will make you fall in love with this magnificent mountain more.
Here are the five Intriguing facts about Mount Kilimanjaro
MOUNT KILIMANJARO IS SITUATED CLOSE TO THE EQUATOR
As it is already known, the equator is an imaginary line that divides the earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere passing through the Earth’s Center. The equator divides the planet in half, because the regions around the equator experience high amounts of solar radiation year-round. The equator experiences high amounts of solar radiation year-round, the equator climate stays nearly the same throughout the year.
It is amazing that Mount – Kilimanjaro, snow – capped mountain lies just about 200 miles south of the equator. Thus, when people first reported that they saw glaciers on the mountain, it was dismissed as a rumor because it was believed that ice couldn’t form this close to the hot, equatorial sun.
MOUNT KILIMANJARO IS MADE UP OF THREE VOLCANIC CONES
Mount Kilimanjaro was formed as a result of volcanic activity, the mountain has three volcanic cones that is Kibo, Shira and Mawenzi.
Kibo – 19,340 feet / 5,895 meters in the center
Mawenzi – 16,893 feet / 5,149 meters to the east
Shira – 13,000 feet / 3,962 meters to the west
Kibo is the tallest volcanic cone and is the cone that is present at the center, Kilimanjaro’s summit lies atop this cone. Kibo Cone was formed approximately 460,000 years ago.
Mawenzi is an uneven peak and ranks as the third highest peak in Africa with Kibo being first and Mount Kenya (12,549 feet /3825 meters) second. If you want to have a good view of the Mawenzi cone, you should take the Rongai or Northern Circuit route.
Even though Shira is no longer a peak, it is estimated to have about 16,000 feet higher before it collapsed. The collapse of the Shira Volcanic cone created the Shira Plateau which can be found in the western side of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is through this feature that the Machame, Lemosho and Shira routes trek across.
THE REAL MEANING OF KILIMANJARO IS UNKNOWN
For certain, the origin of the name Kilimanjaro is not known. After their expedition, the European explorers adopted the name Kilimanjaro by the 1860s, the explorers reported in their records that Kilimanjaro was the mountain’s Swahili name.
Later in The Nuttal Encyclopedia’s 1907 edition, it was reported that the name of the mountain was “Kilima – Njaro” comprising the Swahili world “Kilima” meaning “mountain’ and the Chagga word “Njaro’ meaning “whiteness”.
In the 1860 book Travels, Researchers and Missionary Labours, during an Eighteen Years’ Residence in Eastern Africa, written by German missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf. It is recorded that the Swahili people of the coast call the snow-mountain Kilimanjaro. In the book, the author states that Kilimanjaro means “mountain of greatness”.
Kilimanjaro can also translate to “mountain of caravans” wherein “kilima” means mountain and “jaro” means caravans. This could be referencing when caravans could be seen everywhere from a far.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Jagga call it Kibo meaning “snow”m it is also said that Kilimanjaro is the European pronunciation of a kiChagga phrase that means “we failed to climb”.
Because there are so many versions as to how the name came about, no one for certain knows what Kilimanjaro means.
THE ICE CAP ATOP OF KILIMANJARO IS DESTINED TO DISAPPEAR
At present, the climate change has significantly increased with activists around the world educating everyone on the importance of climate change and how the shift in the temperature is increasing rapidly.
The glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro are the poster child of global climate change, the mountain is a perfect example of climate change because its ice cap has shrunk 82% since 1912. Scientists have estimated that the glaciers might be completely gone in 50 years, the melting away of the ice caps is said to be caused by deforestation.
MOUNT KILIMANJARO IS ONE OF THE SEVEN SUMMITS
Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, this it is only natural that this magnificent mountain is one of the “Seven Summits”. The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, it is very mountaineer’s dream to conquer all seven summits in the world.
These Seven Summits include (order from the tallest)
Asia: Mount Everest (8,848 meters)
South America: Mount Aconcagua (6,961 meters)
North America: Mount McKinley – also known as Denali (6,194 meters)
Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters)
Europe: Mount Elbrus (5,642 meters)
Antarctica: Mount Vinson (4,892 meters)
Australia: Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 meters)
From the order above, Mount Kilimanjaro is the fourth largest of the Seven summits at 5,895 meters.
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
Mountain Kilimanjaro is often referred to “The Roof of Africa’, climbing this majestic Mount is an experience you wouldn’t want to miss. While climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, hikers get to see truly unique flowers, plants and trees that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
The climb to the summit does not require technical skills, thus making the climb possible for all passionate adventures in decent shape.
