The Shining Mountain’
Close to the northern city of Arusha is the majestic snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro which, at 5,896m above sea level, is not only the highest mountain in Africa, but also the highest free-standing peak in the world.
Crowned by one fifth of the ice in Africa, the ‘Shining Mountain’ is the Mecca of every amateur climber in the world and is easily conquered by nearly 70,000 people every year. Set in its own 755 square-kilometre park, Kilimanjaro offers lowland forest, heather moorlands, montane desert and an arctic summit.
Fact File
Area: 755 sq kms
Location: Upper levels of Mount Kilimanjaro including corridors in the forest belt.
Altitude: 1,830-5,896 m.
Vegetation: Kilimanjaro exhibits textbook vegetational zonation: lowland forest, heather moorland, montane desert and arctic summit.
Fauna: Blue monkey, black and white colobus, leopard, elephant, bushbuck, eland, buffalo and the rare Abbot’s duiker.
Birds: Unusual birds include the infrequent lammergeier, Hunter’s cisticola and the scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird,
Activities: about 70,000 people climb the mountain every year.
Wildlife highlights : monkeys, leopard, elephant, bushbuck, eland, buffalo and the rare Abbot’s duiker. Birds : include the rare lammergeyer, the Hunter’s cisticola and the scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird.