As wide, high, great and unbelievable the world is; it shimmers white in the sun at the top of the Ernest Hemingway, standing out with its ambiguous beauty. There’s nothing like Mount Kilimanjaro anywhere in the world. Not because it’s a free standing mountain but because this is the only perfect curvature of the earth undoubtedly. It is visually challenging to see how curvaceous it is and also if you’re interested in climbing it; countless porters and guides can encourage you endlessly because of the immense adventure that underlies in it. With the sun rising over your head and the warmth of the Africa, the sense of final achievement is unbeatable that you might as well end up in tears.
With the three volcanic cones, Mount Kilimanjaro has “Shira,” “Mawenzi” and “Kibo” which are as of now dormant in Tanzania. The Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in the Southern Africa with a height of 16,000 ft from the base and 19,340 ft from the sea level. The first person to ascend the mountain was Hans Meyer accompanied by Ludwig Purtscheller way back in 1889 and since then the mountain has become a major climbing spot. Kilimanjaro itself is a stratovolcano when combined and is a subject to many scientific studies because of its shrinking glaciers. In the rim of Kilimanjaro, the highest point is Uhuru Peak. The interior of the edifice is poorly known because of the erosion which could have exposed the volcano’s interior. It is said that the eruptive activity of Kilimanjaro happened around 2.5 million years ago.
The origin of name is not precisely known even with countless theories about it. It is said that the Europeans who explored the mountain and reported the name to be “Kilima-Njaro” in 1860. The word translates into “Mountain of Caravans” or “Mountain of Greatness” in which “Kilima” means “Mountain” and “Jaro” means “Greatness”. Jim Thompson, a geologist claimed that the term means the “White” mountain. “Njaro” is an ancient Kiswahili word which translates into “Shining” and hence the “White” mountain. The mountain is prominent since antiquity because of the sailors who reported the mountain to be “Moon Mountain” along the Nile in Ptolemy’s book. Before Ptolemy, Herodotus and Aeschylus referred that Egypt is nurtured between snows of two mountains and one of those mountains is with a valley of fires. Therefore, the Mount Kilminjaro dates long back in history.
The National Park, which is a bigger part of the destination generates around $50 million every year according to statistics in 2013. Yearly, around 58,000 tourists visit the mountain and out of which around 16,500 hikes the mountain where the capacity of the infrastructure provided to details climb is 28,500. The mountain climbers generated seasonal jobs including porters, cooks, guides which count to 11,000 altogether.
To descend the mountain, one can take any one route out of seven official routes including Lemosho, Marangu, Mweka, Machame, Shira, Umbwe or Rongai. All these routes are visually appealing, but Machame stands out and takes around seven days to climb. Rongai is the easiest for the camping while Marangu is busy and crowded with many hut accommodations in between. Therefore, if you’re eager to trek a mountain, this is the best place you can go for. What are you waiting for?
