THE HIGHEST POINT IN EAST AFRICA

Mount Kilimanjaro is located in Tanzania just south of the border between Tanzania and Kenya. Specifically, it is located at the coordinates of latitude: 3°4′33″S and longitude: 37°21′12″E. Mount Kilimanjaro is found just outside the city of Arusha, Tanzania. Although many people fly into Arusha when visiting Tanzania, there is an international airport near the mountain appropriately named, Kilimanjaro International Airport.

SIX THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FROM MT KILIMANJARO.

1. The oldest person ever to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro was 87-year-old Frenchman Valtee Daniel.

2. Almost every kind of ecological system is found on the mountain: cultivated land, rain forest, heath, moorland, alpine desert and an arctic summit.

3. The fasted verified ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro occurred in 2001 when Italian Bruno Brunod summitted Uhuru Peak in 5 hours 38 minutes 40 seconds. The fastest roundtrip was accomplished in 2004, when local guide Simon Mtuy went up and down the mountain in 8:27.

4. The mountain’s snow caps are diminishing, having lost more than 80 percent of their mass since 1912. In fact, they may be completely ice free within the next 20 years, according to scientists.

5. Shamsa Mwangunga, National Resources and Tourism minister of Tanzania, announced in 2008 that 4.8 million indigenous trees will be planted around the base of the mountain, helping prevent soil erosion and protect water sources.

6. South African Bernard Goosen twice scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair. His first summit, in 2003, took nine days; his second, four years later, took only six. Born with cerebral palsy, Goosen used a modified wheelchair, mostly without assistance, to climb the mountain.

7. Approximately 25,000 people attempt to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro annually. Approximately two-thirds are successful. Altitude-related problems is the most common reason climbers turn back.