Mount Kilimanjaro is the Africa highest mountain at 5895m, It is a giant free standing mountain that began forming about a million years ago and is composed of many layers of hardened volcanic ash, lava, which made fragmental material that is the fallout from a volcanic eruption. Fourth of those Seven Summits, the highest peaks on the seven continents, Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania in east Africa. Kilimanjaro lies within the 756 square kilometers Kilimanjaro National Park. Kilimanjaro rises from its base plains Tanzanian municipality of Moshi, making it the tallest free-standing mountain in the world.
There are three volcanic cones that make up Kilimanjaro: Kibo is the king summit at the elevation of 5859m; Mawenzi at 5,149m; and Shira at 3,962 meters. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim. Uhuru, Swahili for "Freedom," was named in 1961 when Tanganyika gained its independence. Tanganyika later joined with the islands of Zanzibar to form Tanzania, While the other two volcanic formations are extinct — meaning that they are highly unlikely to erupt again — Kibo (the highest peak) is merely dormant, so there is the possibility that it could erupt. Estimates have the last major eruption dated to 360,000 years ago, but volcanic activity was recorded just 200 years ago.Kibo is dormant, gas is emitted into the crater, causing several collapses and landslides, with the most extensive ones creating the area known as the Western Breach.
The name Kilimanjaro has its origins in the Kichagga word for "white," it is becoming increasingly less so. A number of theories exist about the meaning and origin of the name. One theory is that the name is a mix of the Swahili word Kilima, meaning "mountain," and the Kichagga word Njaro, loosely translated as "whiteness." Another is that Kilimanjaro is the European pronunciation of a Kichagga phrase meaning "we failed to climb it."Kilimanjaro
is still covered with ice caps and glaciers at higher levels, global warming is quickly changing the climate and scientists expect the famed snows of Kilimanjaro to disappear.
Kilimanjaro encompasses a wide variety of ecosystems, including tropical jungle, savannah, and desert to montane forests, subalpine plants, and the alpine zone above treeline.
Kilimanjaro has a large variety of forest types that harbor 1200 vascular plant species. Montane Ocotea forests occur on the wet southern slope. Cassipourea and Juniperus forests grow on the dry northern slope. Subalpine Erica forests at 4100m represent the highest elevation cloud forests in Africa.
Another feature of the forests of Kilimanjaro is the lack of a bamboo zone, which occurs on all other tall mountains in East Africa with a similarly high rainfall.
Because there is no bamboo zone there is a limited supply of food for animals.
However, there are a number of species that thrive in the area. Blue-black monkeys, which are not actually blue but grey or black with a white throat, gather in the forest zone on the Rongai Route. Olive baboons, civets, leopards, mongooses and bush pigs, which have a distinctive white stripe running along its back from head to tail, are abundant.
There are honey badgers and aardvarks, but visitors rarely get to see these nocturnal creatures. Noisy bushbabies, which are also nocturnal creatures, can be more easily heard more than seen. There are also small-spotted genets with distinctive black-and-white tails, and the loud tree hydraxes that are similar to chipmunks.
Remember that ; Kilimanjaro mountain it is bordered with two Kenyan national park , that made wild animal to climb up and down the mountain for the food and mineral salt plus shelters in the forest , keep in mind that it will be possible to see the big animal in eastern side and western side of the mountain such as caped buffalo , elephant , eland, lepard and many other big animals
Dear tourists it is estimated that about 30,000 people start to climb mount Kilimanjaro each year and about three-quarters of those reach the the actual summit Uhuru peak 5859m. It is a relatively safe climb, and most climbers who fail to summit experience altitude-related issues or harsh weather near the peak. Temperatures at the peak can be 0 degrees F (minus 18 C), and if the winds are blowing, the wind chills sometime reach dangerous levels. The climb can be done any time of year but the rainy winter season make the summer and early fall a popular time to climb. Kilimanjaro has six climbing routes and more than twelve options to reach the summit Kilibush-adventures offer you the exactly twelve best options that will help you to reach the actual summit: The route offered by the kilimanjaro national park are, Marangu Route; Machame Route; Rongai Route; Lemosho Route; Umbwe Route; and Shira Route. The popular Machame and Lemosho routes are scenic, while the busy Marangu is the easiest until the difficult final ascent to the rim of the crater.
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is often taken as an easy walking to the high elevation because you do not need special equipment, but this does not mean that everyone will be guarantee 100% to reach at the actual top of the mountain 5859m. Every year before pandemic approximately more than 20000 people was start the climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro only 80% gets the actual summit Uhuru Peak 5895m.
Approximation 20% of tourist do not make at actual point 5859m because of different reasons, it may be because their health condition is not good enough, or they are attacked with altitude sickness such as headach, vomiting, nausea,these symptoms continuous as you keep hiking if does not leave you, finally attacked by serious acute moutain sickness that are pulmonary edema that affect lungs or cerebral edema that affect brain/ loss of consciousness and feeling tiredness to exhausting, in most cases, will be noticed by any professional guide,keep drinking and slowdown the speed, Please you are free to asked our guide for his/her professionalism in order to be sure you book with a professional and competent teamwork.
PLEASE NOTE THAT; We are also arranging Safaris tours and many reasonable trips around Moshi and the Kilimanjaro region. Such as materuni waterfalls, marangu waterfalls, marangu cultural center, coffee tour, town trips, safaris day trips and mountain biking tour to the deferent places as you may plan or as you recommended us to set you a plan Karibu Sana/warm welcome.