The roof of Africa

Nov 21, 2007 15:36 GMT  ·  By

It is considered the roof of Africa. When German missionaries reported in 1848 a snow-covered mountain in equatorial Africa, everybody in Europe laughed. But later expedition confirmed this. Kilimanjaro is located in northeastern Tanzania, close to the border with Kenya, standing at only 3 degrees south of Equator (330 km). Kilima Njaro means Shining Mountains in Swahili language. Masai people call it Oldoinyo Oibor (White Mountain).

Kilimanjaro is the highest African mountain, being located in an East-West belt of about 20 volcanoes on the southern area of the African Rift Valley. It is also the largest freestanding mountain in the world and one of the highest dormant volcanoes, being a rare case of equatorial glacier (others are found only in the Andes of South America and New Guinea mountains). Four billion of cubic meters thrown by the ancient volcano formed the impressing peaks.

Starting from the 900 m (3,000 ft) tall plateau, the mountain goes to 5,895 m (19,650 ft) in its highest peak, The Uhuru on the volcano Kibo (the youngest of Kilimanjaro). This mountain is a giant dormant conic volcano, with fumaroles emitting Steam and sulfuric acid in the 2.5 km (1.5 mi) wide crater. Inside the crater there is a huge ash-hole 300 m (1,000 ft) wide, which goes down to a depth of 120 m (400 ft).

There are fears that the volcano may collapse, causing a major eruption similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Other important peaks are Shira (3962 m) and Mawenzi (5149 m) (the third highest peak in Africa; the second is Mount Kenya), older cons jagged from erosion. Shira is covered by peats and heather. Kibo and Mawenzi are connected through a tilted dry, barren plateau spotted by boulders and with an average altitude of 4,600 (15,333 ft). Here the temperature can be of 38o C during the day and a lot under zero during the night.

The mountain can be seen from hundreds of km away and have been used as a marker point by Arab caravans in the last centuries, going for ivory, gold and slaves into the wild Africa.

100,000 years ago, the area of Kilimanjaro was inhabited by Khoi-San (Bushmen-like people) groups of hunter-gatherers. Later technologically advanced populations pushed them away from this area. Around 2,000 BC, the Cushites started their migration towards south from the North East Africa and reached the area. Later, Masai people from the Nile area came with their cattle herds. Later, in the 16th century, Chaga farmers (Bantu) arrived from Central Africa and brought highly successful agricultural methods with them, colonizing the slopes of the mountain and mixing Cushites within their cultures.

Because of the huge size, Kilimanjaro influences local clime, collecting humidity coming from the Indian Ocean and presents every type of climate on Earth, from tropical to polar. The hot arid plains surrounding the mountains are covered by semiarid scrub land with typical African savanna fauna. The lower slopes are heavily farmed, particularly the wetter south ones.

The mountain has a forest belt from about 1800m to 2900m. There is a sparser heath vegetation with semi-desert conditions dominating above 4000m.

Chaga people cultivate small holdings (shambas) where bananas, coffee trees and various vegetables are grown. The southern, wetter cloud forests comprise camphor, podocarpus (a tropical coniferous), fig and other trees; undergrowth is made of giant ferns and trees are covered by Usnea (old man's beard) drapes. Vines, mimulopsis and a multitude of flowers can be found in valleys and in lit areas. The northern, drier forests are made of podocarpus, junipers and olives.

Unlike on Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro has few large animals (elephants, buffaloes and kudu antelopes), but in the forest there are colobus, blue monkeys and smaller antelopes (duykers, bushbucks). Rare leopards have been spotted. The most impressive forest birds are Hornbills and the Turacos (Banana eaters).

Above the heath area, there are the upper moorlands. Eagles and buzzards soar above searching for rodents and hyraxes and smaller birds, like the alpine chat and the streaky seed eater, can also be seen. In moorland only few flowering plants, mosses and lichen are found, like the everlasting Helichrysum, giant Lobelia (cabbage-like) and giant groundsels (Senecio), 4 m (13 ft) tall. Above the 5000 m, the peaks are barren and frigid.

Kilimanjaro National Park takes in the area above 2800 m and has six corridors crossing the Kilimanjaro Forest Reserve. Unlike in Mount Kenya, there are no bamboo forests in Kilimanjaro, because there are no elephants. Elephants have to create disturbance, which encourages bamboo regeneration. On Kilimanjaro, the lower slopes of the mountain are all cultivated, preventing elephants from ascending into the forest. There are elephants on the dry side of the mountain, but the steep valleys impede elephants from crossing the wet side where the bamboo could grow.

Rare plant species encountered in forest relicts, in the deepest valleys of the cultivated lower areas, point to the fact that a rich forest flora once covered Mt. Kilimanjaro.

But the forests of Kilimanjaro are rapidly disappearing. Fire is threatening the extent of the highest cloud forests, often caused by honey collectors trying to smoke bees out of their hives. Because the moss in the cloud forests catch moisture from the mist which shrouds them, when these forests are burnt the hydrology of the whole mountain is affected.

The glaciers covering the top of the mountain are rapidly disappearing. In the last 80 years, their volume has plummeted with over 82 %. In 2002, the edge of the ice fields was 17 m higher than 40 years earlier and in March 2005 the peak was almost bare. . It is predicted that Kilimanjaro's ice would be gone between 2015 and 2020.

The main cause is believed to be forest loss, due to clearing for agriculture and forest fires. This causes less moisture to be pumped into the atmosphere, leading to reduced cloud cover and precipitation and increased solar radiation and glacial evaporation. Global warming could be also a factor.

Once the ice cap is gone, Kilimanjaro will lose its main tourist attraction, but the climatological and hydrological effect will also be severe, as the local populations rely on water from the ice fields during the dry season and monsoon failures. In areas that are no longer permanently frozen, the rockslides cause accidents. 4 tourists died because of this in January 2006.

Photo Gallery (4 Images)

Kilimanjaro glacierKilimanjaro cloud forest with giant ferns
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