MOUNT KILIMAJARO: Interesting Facts About The Tallest Mountain In Africa

Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain in the world.

Here are 5 interesting facts you should know about Mount Kilimanjaro.

It is one of the seven summits

Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, making it one of the seven summits in the world.

The others being, Asia: Everest, South America: Aconcagua, North America: Denali, Africa: Kilimanjaro, Europe: Elbrus, Oceania: Carstensz Pyramid.

Mount Everest is the tallest in the world and Carstensz Pyramid being the shortest in the category.

Kilimanjaro is very popular with both experienced hikers and first-time adventurers because it is considered to be the easiest of the seven summits. Scaling the mountain requires no technical skills or equipment, such as rope, harness, crampons, or ice axe.

Therefore, it is a hiking or “walk-up” peak, not a mountaineering or climbing peak.

Kilimanjaro stands on its own

Kilimanjaro is not only Africa’s tallest peak but also the world’s tallest free-standing mountain.

The summit, named Uhuru Point, is 5,895 meters (19,341 feet) above sea level.

Freestanding mountains like Kilimanjaro are usually a result of volcanic activity. Volcanic mountains are formed when molten rock erupts, and piles upon the surface

Three volcanic cones created it

The mountain once had three volcanic cones – Kibo, Shira, and Mawenzi. Kibo is the tallest cone and also the central cone. This is where Kilimanjaro’s summit lies. It was formed 460,000 years ago.

No one knows the real meaning of ‘Kilimanjaro.’

The origin of the name Kilimanjaro is not certain. European explorers had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that “Kilimanjaro” was the mountain’s Swahili name.

But according to the 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia, the name of the mountain was “Kilima-Njaro,” comprised of the Swahili word “Kilima” meaning “mountain” and the Chagga word “Njaro” meaning “whiteness.”

Another possibility is that Kilimanjaro is the European pronunciation of a KiChagga phrase meaning “we failed to climb it”.

Kilimanjaro’s ice cap is destined to disappear

Kilimanjaro’s glaciers are the poster child of global climate change. Its ice cap has shrunk 82% since 1912. Scientists estimate the glaciers may be completely gone in 50 years. The cause of this is thought to be due to deforestation, and not necessarily global warming.

Melting and sublimation (the transition from solid phase directly to vapor) both contribute to the ice loss, says study author Doug Hardy, a glaciologist from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The glaciers have been in retreat for more than a century, Hardy says, with a drying climate in East Africa one main culprit.

Nearly 5 million indigenous trees were planted around the base of the mountain in 2008 to combat the issue.