UP A VOLCANO IN AFRICA

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is a unique experience of navigating different climate zones, terrain and vegetation

- Sujoy Das

Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,895m, is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, rising from the grasslands of Tanzania. It is also the highest peak in the continent and one of the fabled "seven summits". Though it is often touted as a nontechnical climb, Kilimanjaro poses its own challenges, making it harder than the Everest Base Camp trek at 5,365m. The summit camps on Kilimanjaro are usually around 4,650-4,700m, making the final push to the top a relentless ascent of around 1,200m that does not end until you reach Stella Point. To make the climb more difficult, teams usually begin at midnight with headlamps to illuminate the trail, and the cold, and sometimes snow, pose further challenges to reaching the summit.

It is often said that to climb Kilimanjaro you pass through four seasons in four days, such is the scale of the mountain. In fact, unlike other mountains, which are mainly rock and snow climbs, Kilimanjaro offers an amazing range of climate zones and vegetation including animal and bird life which makes it a unique summit.