Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro rises alone out of the plains of northern Tanzania, 5,895 metres high and some 4,900 metres above its own base. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain on Earth, a dormant stratovolcano built by more than two million years of eruptions along the East African Rift. Three cones make up the massif: Shira in the west, the lowest at about 4,000 metres; Mawenzi in the east, a jagged ruin of pinnacles at 5,149 metres; and between them Kibo, the highest and largest cone. Kibo is only dormant. Its summit caldera still holds an inner cone, the Reusch Crater, and within it the Ash Pit, about 350 metres deep; fumaroles in the crater still release gas.

The Chagga people, whose kingdoms occupied the southern and eastern slopes until 1963, call the two main peaks Kibo, spotted, for its patches of snow, and Mawenzi, broken top. The origin of the name Kilimanjaro itself is uncertain. Johannes Rebmann, a German missionary, was the first European to report the mountain, in 1848. The German geographer Hans Meyer and the Austrian climber Ludwig Purtscheller reached the highest point in 1889; the summit was later renamed Uhuru, meaning freedom, after Tanzanian independence. The mountain became a national park in 1973.

Climbing Kilimanjaro means walking through a sequence of climates in a few days: bushland on the lower slopes, then rainforest from around 1,800 metres, heather and moorland from about 2,800, alpine desert from 4,000 and an arctic summit zone above 5,000 metres. Among the plants found only here is a giant groundsel, Dendrosenecio kilimanjari. At the top, the famous ice is disappearing. Kibo carries the largest glaciers in Africa, among them the Credner, Furtwängler and Rebmann glaciers, but about 85 per cent of the mountain's ice cover vanished between 1912 and 2011, and the remainder is expected to be gone by around the middle of this century.

Roughly 50,000 trekkers a year attempt the summit, and between 70 and 80 per cent succeed on average. There are several official routes: Machame takes six or seven days, Lemosho six to eight, the Northern Circuit seven or more; Marangu offers shared huts and gentler gradients but is often crowded, and Rongai is the easiest of the camping routes. On most routes the final push to Uhuru Peak starts around midnight. The climb is not technical, but the altitude is the real danger, and longer itineraries give the body more time to adjust.

Getting there

The practical gateway is Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), about 51 km from the summit, which serves the national park and the nearby towns of Moshi and Arusha. Moshi, the regional capital, sits on the mountain's lower slopes and is the main base for organising climbs. The nearest small town to the peak itself is Tarakea, about 24 km away. Check current park regulations and route conditions before booking a climb.