10 interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro Mountain is one of the prominent mountains in the world, located in northern Tanzania standing majestically. Mount Kilimanjaro is another of the popular northern circuit Tanzania safari activities that travelers after an adventurous experience look to enjoy. Every other year, thousands of travelers who visit Tanzania look to summit the beautiful and easy to climb Kilimanjaro Mountain.
Below are the 10 interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro that are worth noting as you visit or look to visit on a Kilimanjaro hiking safari;
- Highest mountain in Africa, and highest free standing mountain in the world
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, standing at 5,895m above seas level. Mount Kilimanjaro is also the highest free standing mountain in the world. Most of the high mountains in the world are not free standing, for they are part of mountain ranges.
- Mountain Kilimanjaro is one of the Seven Summits of the World
The Seven Summits is a term that is given to the highest mountains in reach continent on earth. These Seven Summits vary in height, climbing difficulty and topography. Mount Everest is the most famous of the Seven Summits, followed by the Kilimanjaro Mountain because of its ease of summiting among adventurous travelers after summiting all the Seven Summits.
- Mount Kilimanjaro Has 3 Volcanic Cones
Another of the 10 interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro is that Mount Kilimanjaro is a volcanic mountain with 3 cones. Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano. The 3 volcanic cones of the Kilimanjaro Mountain are;
- Kibo standing at 5,895 m. This cone is dormant. Kibo is the summit of the Kilimanjaro Mountain.
- Mawenzi standing at 5,149m. This cone is extinct.
- Shira standing at 3,962m. This cone is extinct. The Shira peak is no longer considered a peak but is a plateau in the western part of the Mount Kilimanjaro; this can best be seen while climbing Kilimanjaro Mountain in Machame, Lemosho and Shira routes.
- Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant Volcano.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a stratovolcano. While both Shira and Mawenzi are extinct and no volcanic activity underneath the cones, Kibo peak which is the highest peak of the Mount Kilimanjaro is considered dormant but can erupt again.
- Mount Kilimanjaro is on the Equator
The Kilimanjaro Mountain lies across the Equator, an imaginary line that divides the earth into the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. Mount Kilimanjaro lies just about 205 miles from The Equator. The summit of the Mount Kilimanjaro is however snow-capped with sub-zero temperatures. Climbing Kilimanjaro Mountain is like climbing from the equator which is hot, to the North Pole! The Kilimanjaro Mountain levels move from cultivated at 800m to 1,800m, rainforest at 1,800m to 2,800m, afro-alpine moorland at 2,800m to 4,000m, alpine desert at 4,000m to 5,000m and the arctic which is the summit and is at above 5,000m above sea level.
- Less than 50% Climbers Summit Kilimanjaro
Much as the Kilimanjaro Mountain is an easy trek amongst the Seven Summits of the world, less than 50% trekkers who embark on climbing Kilimanjaro Mountain make it to the top. Underestimating the mountain, as well as choosing the right trekking route that allows for good acclimatization is very important. The Kilimanjaro National Park records success rates as;
- Only 27% of climbers taking 5-day routes summited the mountain
- Only 44% of the climbers taking the 6-day route summited the mountain
- Up to 64% of climbers taking the 7-day route summited the mountain
- And as much as 85% of climbers hiking 8-day routes summited the Kilimanjaro successfully.
- Impatients Kilimanjaro, A flower, grows nowhere else.
The beautiful Kilimanjaro impatiens is a robust perennial that grows only in the one place in the work, in the rainforest that surrounds the lower Kilimanjaro Mountain. This flower is small in size, pinkish and red blooms that mellow into yellow at the base.
- First Woman Summited in 1927
Another interesting fact about Mount Kilimanjaro is that the 1st woman to summit the Kilimanjaro Mountain was a lady, Ms Sheila Macdonald on 30th September 1927.
- Pro Athletes Have Climbed Kilimanjaro Mountain Fast
There have been recorded fast climbers of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. Iconic climbers that have climbed Kilimanjaro Mountain in a short time include;
- Spanish mountain runner Killian Jornet’s ascent to Uhuru Peak in just 5 hours and 23 minutes, 50 seconds in the year 2010 was the 1st fastest ascent.
- The 3rd fastest ascent and descent of Kilimanjaro Mountain was completed by Swiss Karl Egloff in only 6 hours, 42 minutes, in 2014.
- The German Anne-Marie Flammersfeld hols the recorded for the fastest ascent and descent by a woman, climbing it in a total of 8 hours 32 minutes, and reaching the bottom in a total time of 12 hours 58 minutes in 2015.
- The fastest roundtrip however was accomplished in 2004 by a local guide Simon Mtuy, who went up and down the Kilimanjaro Mountain in 8 minutes 27 seconds.
- Disability is no limitation to summit Kilimanjaro
One of the 10 interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro is the fact that disability is no limitation to climbing Kilimanjaro Mountain. In 2003, Benard Goosen from South Africa reached the summit of Kilimanjaro Mountain using a wheelchair, on a 9 day trek. He had however tried to summit the mountain for only 6 days.
