“As wide as all the World, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun . . .
—Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1936)
Mount Kilimanjaro Fast Facts
- Kilimanjaro lies in northern Tanzania just south of the border with Kenya.
- There are five distinct climatic zones on Kilimanjaro.
- Kilimanjaro is the closest of the Seven Summits to the equator.
- Scientists predict that all the glaciers on Kilimanjaro will be gone by 2030 to 2050.
- The second-tallest mountain in Africa is mount Kenya at 17,057 feet (5199m).
- Kilimanjaro is an inactive volcano.
Altitude: 19,341feet (5895m)
Summit GPS Waypoints: S0304.585, E3721.240
Elevation Gain: (base camp to summit) Machame route: 13,403feet (4085m) Marangu route: 13,109 feet (3995m)
Distance: (base camp to summit) Machame route: 28miles (45km), plus 15 miles (24km) descent (total 43miles, 69km) Marangu route: 25miles (41km) one way
Difficulty Ratings: Technical:1–2, Physical:2–3
Time: (door to door) 16 days (including safari)
Season: January–mid-march, June–mid-october
Introduction:
The tallest mountain on the continent of Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro sits 200 miles (322 km) south of the equator in Tanzania, a country located approximately half- way up the eastern seaboard of Africa. Kilimanjaro’s summit, an incongruous island of rock and snow, rises more than 17,000 feet (5100 m) out of the arid plains below, just a short distance south of the border with Kenya. Viewed through the hazy heat waves of the equatorial plains below, the anomalous glaciated terrain of the mountain seems almost surreal. The mountain lies in Kilimanjaro National Park, which encompasses 756 square miles (1957 sq km) of terrain above the 9000-foot (2700 m) contour line. The lands below this delineation are inhabited by local Chagga tribespeople. The park was established in 1973 and officially opened in 1977.
Other Activities:
Safari in Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti, Diving and relaxing in Zanzibar, Shopping for cultural heritage handy-crafts in Arusha