History
Mount Kilimanjaro volcano has not been studied well like other volcanoes in the world because there has not been any significant erosion to expose its igneous strata. The mountain was formed as a result of volcanic activity millions of years ago, shira first began to erupt 2.5 million years ago now made up of the shira plateau at 3,800 meters with its caldera eroded by erosion over the years. Mawenzi and Kibo later began to erupt about 1 million years ago separated by a saddle plateau. The youngest rocks are about 448000 years at Mawenzi. The last major eruption at mount Kilimanjaro occurred between 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. While Shira and Mawenzi are extinct, Kibo is considered dormant and could erupt again in future. Part of Kibos crater erupted about 100,000 years ago leading to the formation of the great Barranco and western breach.
During the 1880s, the summit of mount Kilimanjaro was fully covered by an ice cap but are drastically disappearing due to climate change.
The first attempt to climb mount Kilimanjaro summit was done by Johann Krapf and Johannes Rebmann. In 1861, Kan Klaus Von Der Decken accompanied by geologist Richard Thornton tried to climb Kibo but didn’t get beyond 2,500 meters and Von Der Decken made his second attempt with otto Kerten in 1862 but only reached 4,300 meters.
Charles New became the first European to reach mount Kilimanjaro equatorial snows above 4,300 meters. Samuel Teleki the Hungurian count and Ludwifg Von Hohnel an Austrian leutant made an attempt to climb the summit but Holnel stopped at 4,950 meters while Teleki continued and reached at 5,300 meters above sea level. Professor Hans Meyer tried to climb later in 1887 but turned back at the lower edge of the ice cap due to luck of proper equipment.
Hans Meyer, Ludwig Purtcheller and a local known as mwini Amani attempted in 1889, they managed to reach the crater rim but had to turn back due to exhaustion from hacking footsteps at the icy slope although they reached the highest point at the sourthen rim of the crater and became the first to confirm that Kibo had a crater. In 1912, Eduard Hans Oeler and Fritz Klute became the first to ascend to the highest point of Mawenzi.
The slopes of mount Kilimanjaro are mainly inhabited by the Chagga people who practice agriculture.
Geography
The mountain is made up of three volcanic cones and the highest point is Uhuru peak found at Kibo at 5895 meters above sea level and 4900 meters above its plateau base. It started forming because of continental rifting about 3 million years ago when the great rift valley was formed leading to intense volcanic activity.
The mountain is drained by several rivers and streams, there are two main seasons in Mount Kilimanjaro that is the dry and rainy season throughout the year. The southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro receive higher amounts of rainfall than the northern slopes. Temperatures on the mountain also vary from 21 degrees Celsius to 27 degrees Celsius at the base of the mountain to -7 degrees Celsius at the summit. There are 5 distinct ecological zones on Mount Kilimanjaro varying from the base to the summit that is; bush land and plantation zone, montane forested zone, moorland zone, alpine desert zone and arctic at the summit.
