Kilimanjaro

A British Prime Minister in Queen Victoria's England once dismissed Kilimanjaro as that mountain country behind Zanzibar with the "unrememberable name." Today, there can be few who do not recognize what is indeed a most beautiful and evocative name, nor put an image to it. From the literature of Hemingway, from Hollywood movies, and from a multitude of images we are familiar with the Elysian view of elephants and giraffes grazing against the shimmering backdrop of Kilimanjaro. Floating over the plains, more mirage than mountain, Kilimanjaro exudes mystery and romance. Yet at the same time it is an accessible mountain, beckoning over 20,000 visitors a year to its slopes and snowy dome. It never disappoints. A climb up Kilimanjaro has been likened to a journey from the equator to the poles, passing as it does through zone after zone of climatic change from tropical forest to frigid desert.