Kilimanjaro Uncovered

An Alternative Path to Bliss

Category: Resources

10 Incredible Photos of Mount Kilimanjaro That Will Inspire You To Climb

These 10 photos of Mount Kilimanjaro will surely inspire you to make the adventure of climbing the world’s tallest freestanding mountain.

1. Climbing Kilimanjaro with your best friend

This photo by inspired us because of the joy of summiting with a friend. These three friends trained in special altitude settings to be able to complete the climb and reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro together.

2. No shower, no problem!

Just because you have been hiking for over a week, haven’t had a shower, slept in tents, and peed in a bottle, doesn’t mean that you can’t look good when you summit!

3. Keep your eyes on the prize

Climbing a mountain can be daunting when you see it right in front of you but with the help of a good team and support, anything is possible.

4. The view from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro

If that view doesn’t inspire you to strike a pose, then we don’t know what will.

5. Your Kilimanjaro guide can become an unexpected friend

The right Kilimanjaro guides are not only incredibly knowledgeable about climbing, your safety, and the mountain itself, but they can also help you to complete the climb more quickly if you so choose. For experienced climbers like Ed here, his guide helped him to get to the top of Kilimanjaro in just four days!

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Congrats to David for making it up and down Kilimanjaro in only 4 days! We always recommend that Kilimanjaro climbers should take a longer route with a better acclimatization profile. You should ideally do this during dry season, so please don't try to copy David's heroic speed climb. But when climbers explicitly request otherwise, we and our local partners will do everything we can to facilitate their request. David's reward for the steep climb & rainy weather: breathtaking views, sunshine & unspoilt wilderness on top of Kilimanjaro. Simply magical! 🗻 🗻 🗻 🗻 🗻 #Kilimanjaro #mountains #adventure #travel #wanderlust #tourism #letsgoeverywhere #destination #vacation #tanzania #sustainability #inspiration #lifeofadventure #safaris #responsibletravel #travelpics #tasteintravel #liveauthentic #alifealive

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6. A Kilimanjaro couple’s climb

Relationships can sometimes feel like climbing a huge mountain, so why not beat it to the punch and climb a huge mountain as a couple? You will learn a lot about each other and accomplishing this together may bring you together in ways you hadn’t imagined before.

7. The views on the way to climb Kilimanjaro

On the way to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, don’t forget to enjoy the view. You don’t have to wait until you reach the top to see some incredible views. The entire journey can be breathtaking if you just take a moment to look.

8. The unpolluted night sky on Kilimanjaro

Fans of stargazing will get a treat while camping on the way up Mount Kilimanjaro. This lucky climber got to enjoy the night sky during a Full Moon.

9. The Kilimanjaro porters

The Kilimanjaro porters and humble workers who make your climb comfortable. Watching the hardworking locals supporting you all the way to the top is one of the most inspiring things that previous climbers say helped them up to the top.

10. The sense of accomplishment from getting to the top

The nighttime climb up to the summit of Kilimanjaro that nearly breaks many climbers’ spirits because of the harsh conditions, lack of sleep, and altitude. But when you get to the top, you will know exactly why it was worth it. Many call it a spiritual experience, and many call it the biggest accomplishment of their lifetimes. What will you call your experience of summiting Mount Kilimanjaro?

Basic Kilimanjaro Swahili (Downloadable)

Basic Kilimanjaro Swahili

View online & print: Basic Kilimanjaro Swahili—PDF

Basic Kilimanjaro Swahili

Here are a few Swahili words and phrases that you may find useful while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and traveling in East Africa more broadly. While a handful of words are simple to learn, they may go a long way in making your adventure even more enjoyable. Locals will appreciate your effort to communicate in their language, and your simple exchange of Swahili words may help you will feel more connected with them and proud of your mutual understanding. It is especially helpful when speaking to your porters who carry most of your luggage up the mountain including your sleeping tents, cooking items, water, and essentials. Being more aware of the staff who are helping you to climb Kilimanjaro safely and also your social responsibility towards local workers is important for any conscious traveller. Now, let’s get talking in basic Kilimanjaro Swahili!

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10 Mount Kilimanjaro Facts

Most tourists can tell you that an African Safari is never complete without some time at Mount Kilimanjaro. Although the magnificent mountain is this famous, many people don’t know much about Mt. Kilimanjaro apart from the fact that it is located in Northern Tanzania, has a glacier at the top and that climbing it is a thrilling experience.

If you have climbed this mountain or if you are planning to do so, here are some interesting facts about it.

#1. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and is also the tallest free-standing mountain in the entire world. The mountain rises in isolation from the immediate coastal scrubland at an elevated height of about 900 meters up to 5,895 meters.

#2. The Mountain contains about five unique ecosystems. Not many mountains provide you with the ability to experience different ecological systems in one package, but Mt. Kilimanjaro has this unique feature. At the lower levels are the farms, dry fields and villages, which leads you to the mountain jungle. At higher levels, one experiences the alpine desert and the heath and moorland zones where temperatures fluctuate to high temperatures during the night and low temperatures during the day. As you climb further, vegetation and animal life disappears and the glaciated summit appears with its beautiful and captivating radiance.

#3. Mt. Kilimanjaro is a volcano with three cones: Kibo, Mawezi, and Shira. The last two are extinct, but experts say that Kibo can erupt again. However, the mountain has not experienced any eruptions except an activity that is about 200 years old and a major eruption that dates back 360, 000 years ago.

#4. The mountain is slowly losing its ice cap because of changes in climate. Recent studies have shown that the snow at the ice cap might not be in existence in the next 20 years. As we speak, 85% of this snow has disappeared since 1912 and from 2006, 26% of this snow is gone.

#5. About 60, 000 people attempt to climb this mountain ever year. Yes, numbers have sky-rocketed in recent years! Estimates of 25,000 tourists per year are long out-dated. The mountain has several trails to the summit, and its accessibility to hikers makes it a popular destination among hikers.

#6. Kilimanjaro’s weather stems from the interaction of the trade winds with the mountain’s structure. The exact winds that affect the mountain’s weather are the Southeast trade winds, which travel over the Indian Ocean with lots of moisture causing precipitation around March. The anti-trade winds, which comes from the North-east are responsible for the dry months of April to October as they carry no Moisture. The other winds that affect the Mountain and cause some light rains on the northern slopes of the mountain are the North-east monsoons, which arrive in November. As a result, the driest months to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro are January to March and June to October.

#7. The first recorded persons to successfully climb the mountain were Ludwig Purtscheller (an Austrian mountaineer) and Hans Meyer (a German geology professor), together with Mwini Amania (a local guide, cook and porter). They all climbed the mountain on 6th October 1889.

#8. The mountain attracts lots of seniors and the first oldest person to reach the summit is Richard Byerley who climbed the Mt. in 2010 at the age of 84 years and 71 days. Since then, several more seniors have successfully reached the summit, including a Canadian couple aged 85 and 84 in 2012. At the moment, the oldest person to climb the mountain is Angela Vorobyova, a Russian citizen, who climbed the mountain at the age of 86 years and 267 days.

#9. The fastest ascent to the mountain was done in 2014 by Karl Egloff, a Swiss runner and mountaineer who made it up the summit in only 6hrs 42 minutes. However, other fast ascents on the same mountain have been recorded in the past years.

#10. Kilimanjaro is among the most beautiful places on earth. Many people concentrate on the hiking experience and forget to tell you that the place is beautiful in its own way. The white glacier at the top of the summits sharply contrasts with the green vegetation and the rocky mountain giving it a breathtaking view.

Why not explore for yourself? Get inspiration for your Kilimanjaro adventure and book an authentic climb with a responsible tour operator via Fair Voyage—your #1 booking platform for ethical climbs and sustainable tourism in the Kilimanjaro area.

Deaths on Kilimanjaro

I find there is a great lack of transparency regarding Kilimanjaro’s death rate and a lot of wrong, biased or outdated media reporting. On the one hand, few incidents are over-hyped and – in my humble opinion – presenting Kilimanjaro to be more dangerous than it really is (for us tourists; when prepared for properly). On the other hand, incidents of local mountain crew (mostly porters) seem to be under-reported.

I am creating this post hoping to provide fact-based information and analysis. For possible causes of death and danger, as well as how to avoid them, please read here.

I will also update this post with my assessment of known lethal incidents soon. Meanwhile, should you wish to share any information regarding incidents you are aware of, I would greatly appreciate if you could share it here. Thank you.

Resources

Kilimanjaro Uncovered is the result of my own hiking story. It focuses especially on information that I found lacking in other literature (e.g. how to select the best operator) or where I have adopted a contrarian view based on my own research and conclusions (e.g. the diamox debate). However, I have never planned to compile a comprehensive travel guide, and I am neither a mountaineer nor a medical expert nor a psychologist.

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Videos

Here are my favorite Kilimanjaro videos – informative and helpful. There still seems to be a big blank in the world of commercial movie production. I see great potential for a blockbuster that enlightens everyone about Kilimanjaro in a both entertaining and educational way – action, romance, drama, comedy, documentary… all in one. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no such movie yet. My wake-up call to all the movie producers – please go for it!

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About the book

Kilimanjaro Uncovered started with a simple idea – to review a little known hiking route. It ended with a truly life-changing experience – written in real time while I was unconscious of being the subject of transformation.

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Books

For more detailed information and your further reading pleasure, I would highly recommend the following books. Not all of them are directly related to Kilimanjaro, but they all had an impact on my own Kilimanjaro Uncovered journey – by providing useful information, by inspiring me, by putting things into perspective, or simply by providing good entertainment.

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Websites

For more detailed information regarding Kilimanjaro and related topics, check out the following websites and blogs.

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