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Giant plants, cheeky monkeys and a very long walk to the top. Ten questions about the highest mountain in Africa.
Foothill hiker 0–4 · Above the clouds 5–8 · On the roof of Africa 9–10
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Kilimanjaro stands in the north of Tanzania, close to the border with Kenya. On a clear day you can see it from the Kenyan side too, which is why many people think it is in Kenya.
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Kilimanjaro is a huge volcano made of three cones. The highest one, Kibo, is only sleeping and could one day wake up again; the other two are extinct.
Photo: Caleb Riston, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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The top is so high and cold that it has glaciers, right in hot Africa. They are shrinking fast: more than 80% of the ice disappeared in the 20th century. There is rainforest too, but much lower down the slopes.
Photo: Yosemite ., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Black-and-white colobus monkeys leap through the treetops, their long white fur and tails flying behind them. Mandrills, with their colourful faces, live far away in the rainforests of west-central Africa.
Photo: Tuxyso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Its highest point is usually given as 5,895 metres, which makes it one of the Seven Summits: the highest mountains on each continent. The other number is about the height of Mont Blanc in the Alps.
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Uhuru means 'freedom' in Swahili: the peak got this name after the country became independent. Gilman's Point is a real spot on the crater rim, at about 5,680 metres, where many climbers first reach the top before walking on to Uhuru.
Photo: Sergey Pesterev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Mawenzi rises to about 5,150 metres and is so steep and crumbly that only experienced climbers with a special permit may try it. Mount Meru is a separate volcano about 70 kilometres to the west.
Photo: ProfessorX, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Giant groundsels can grow taller than a person and look like something from another planet. One kind grows nowhere else in the world but on Kilimanjaro. Baobabs grow in the hot lowlands far below.
Photo: Brendon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5.
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The German geographer Hans Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller reached the top on 6 October 1889, on Meyer's third attempt. Porters and guides from the area around the mountain made the expedition possible.
Photo: Höffert, W. (18..-19..? ; photographe), Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Mount Kenya, about 5,200 metres high, gave its name to the country of Kenya. Mount Stanley, in the Rwenzori Mountains is about 5,100 metres high and is the highest mountain in both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Photo: Don Elvis Muraya, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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