Kilimanjaro Mount
The roof of Africa
Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain and one of the world’s most iconic peaks. Rising abruptly from the open plains, covered with snow and frequently fringed by clouds, it is one of Africa’s classic images and one that stunned the geographers and explorers of the 19th century: lying so close to the equator, how could the mountain contain snow?”
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HAT REASONS INSPIRE PEOPLE TO SCALE KILIMANJARO 61&#;! 9#50o6 6*' MOUNTAIN CONQUERED MANY YEARS AGO? OUR WRITER GERVASE TATAH EXPLORES THE MOTIVES THAT DRAW PEOPLE TO KILIMANJARO, RIGHT FROM THE DAYS OF HANS MEYER. It is now one hundred and twentyƂXG [GCTU UKPEG VJG ƂTUV UWEEGUUHWN expedition to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. The mountain was conquered in October 1889 after almost 40 years of attempts by western climbers to explore the mountain in FKHƂEWNV GZRGFKVKQPU YJKEJ KPENWFGF men like: Johannes Rebmann (1848), Baron von der Decken (1861 and 1862), Charles New (1871), Harry Johnston (1883) and Hans Meyer (18871889).
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/QWPV -KNKOCPLCTQ KU #HTKECoU JKIJGUV OQWPVCKP CPF QPG QH VJG YQTNFoU OQUV KEQPKE RGCMU 4KUKPI CDTWRVN[ HTQO VJG QRGP RNCKPU EQXGTGF YKVJ UPQY CPF HTGSWGPVN[ HTKPIGF D[ ENQWFU KV KU QPG QH #HTKECoU ENCUUKE KOCIGU CPF QPG VJCV UVWPPGF VJG IGQITCRJGTU CPF GZRNQTGTU QH VJG VJ EGPVWT[ N[KPI UQ ENQUG VQ VJG GSWCVQT JQY EQWNF VJG OQWPVCKP EQPVCKP UPQY!q The presence of a snow-capped mountain in Africa, became known to Europeans in 1848 when the German missionary Johannes Rebmann explored this part of East Africa. However, reports from the explorer that there was a snow-capped mountain in Africa, so close to the Equator, was not believed until Hans Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller climbed the mountain to the summit, ending a four- decade struggle among European explorers to reach the summit ƂTUV CPF RTQXG KVU UPQYU Hans Meyer was a geology professor
from Leipzig in Germany. He made four attempts to Kilimanjaro beginning in 1887 when the routes to the peak were not known, when the alpine forests round it was much thicker, and when its snow was much, much more prevalent on the slopes than it is today. Hans /G[GToU EQPSWGUV KPFGGF YCU FKHƂEWNV and historical. Interestingly today, since Hans Meyer’s climb in 1889, the mountain still attracts climbers across the globe as if it is another beginning of discovery. Until today the attempt to climb Kilimanjaro is still the greatest challenge for adventurers wishing to reach the highest point on the African continent. But what really attracts people from every corner of the world, and from every age-set, to climb Kilimanjaro? $[ CPF NCTIG VJGTG CTG ƂXG IQQF reasons that inspire people to climb Kilimanjaro: Kilimanjaro is a natural wonder: it is the highest mountain in Africa and the
