Traveling to Tanzania Mount Kilimanjaro Mountain of Light

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo 5,895 m (19,341 ft), Mawenzi 5,149 m (16,893 ft), and Shira 3,962 m (13,000 ft) is an inactive stratovolcano that began forming a million years ago. When lava spilled from the Rift Valley zone. Kibo, the central, youngest and highest peak has survived as an almost perfect cone. 205 miles south of the equator, on the border of Tanzania and Kenya.close to the Indian Ocean.The last major eruption has been dated to 360,000 years ago, while the most recent activity was recorded just 200 years ago.

Mount Kilimanjaro is considered the highest peak on the African continent, one of the largest free standing mountains in the world and the 4th most prominent mountain in the world at 5,895 metres or 19,341 ft above sea level , and its great size and height strongly influence the climate, vegetation, animal life and climbing conditions. Beneath its ice dome, snow extends down long gullies that have been eroded in the mountain sides.

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The ice cap, which formed 11,000 years ago, has retreated significantly in recent years, the period from 1912 to 2007, as much as 85% in the last century.(From 1912-1953 there was ~1% annual loss, while 1989-2007 saw ~2.5% per year. Of the ice cover still present in 2000, 26% had disappeared by 2007). Scientists expect it to be gone within the early half of the 21st Century. This current shrinking and thinning of Kilimanjaro’s ice fields appears to be unique within its almost twelve millennium history. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, now attracts many thousands of walkers each year.

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