August-2019

26 / TRAVEL / Tanzania
TRAVEL / 27
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Left: Mt. Kilimanjaro seen
from Marangu Hotel.
Right: A sandbank viewed
from a dhow boat cruise
near Fumba Beach Lodge,
Zanzibar.
AT 5,895 m above sea level, Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the
highest free-standing mountains in the world. It rises suddenly
and spectacularly from the dusty Maasai Steppe. Tanzania
ripples with mountains: the Great Rift Valley, which runs for
6,000 km from Lebanon to Mozambique, cuts a scar through
northern Tanzania, and in the south, the Eastern Arc Mountains,
an ancient chain of peaks and summits, unravel.
A WALK IN THE CLOUDS
When early explorers espied Mt. Kilimanjaro, they rubbed
their eyes, thinking they were seeing things: a snow cap hovering
like a mirage over an equatorial savannah.
Growing up on one side of the mountain (in Kenya) and
living for years on the other side (in Tanzania), I’m ashamed
to admit that I’ve never climbed it. Fear of heights, and a
brush with altitude sickness – at much less impressive altitudes
– are my excuses. But it’s been my lifelong landmark: Mt.
Kilimanjaro has always been a beacon, an exclamation of
“you’re home!” I can pick it out from miles away. I point it out
to a visitor; it appears suspended above the plains, like a
ghost.
“See it?” I ask.
“No,” they say, frowning.
I lean in towards them and point, arm outstretched.
“There,” I say. “See, there?”
My visitor tilts forward, eyes squinting, palm to brow.
“Maybe?” they offer hesitantly.
“There,” I say, trying not to sound impatient. “Look. Between
those hills, to the right of the big tree.”
And then, Mt. Kilimanjaro finally reveals herself, rippling
forward, an icy head thrown back, blue shoulders shrugging;
she doesn’t care if my visitor sees her or not. The frill of cloud
about her middle is what gives her away.
“Oh wow! I see her.” And in the setting sun, Africa’s highest
mountain blushes with the attention. Even seeming to be invisible,
it’s glorious, especially from the security of thousands of
metres below.
According to Seamus Brice-Bennett of Marangu Hotel,
standing at the summit of the mountain is even more impressive.
“It gives one a great sense of privilege,” he says. “The
view outwards is not so different to the view from an aircraft
window, but the view of the crater is magnificent. A little over
2 km in diameter, one realises that only a very small percentage
of the Earth’s population has ever seen that view.”
Brice-Bennett’s family has run mountain trips since the 1950s;
he himself has climbed the mountain 25 times.
HIGH SOCIETY
To climb Mt. Kilimanjaro is to retrace thousands of
historical footsteps. The indigenous Maasai and Chagga
clans, among many others, once had their own strictly defined
territories on the southern and eastern slopes of the mountain.
Today, indigenous people from all over Tanzania live
and work peacefully together on the mountain. >
“It rises suddenly and spectacularly from the dusty
Maasai Steppe”
Where to stay
MT. KILIMANJARO
Marangu Hotel features rustic
cottages on its grounds, and the
hotel can arrange daytrips.
maranguhotel.com
Tranquil Aishi Machame Hotel offers
an inspiring view of the mountain.
aishi-machame.com
Rooms at Babylon Lodge are
surrounded by lush gardens.
babylonlodge.com
The atmospheric Ameg Lodge, close
to Moshi town centre, offers a wide
range of excursions.
ameglodge.com
Above: A resting porter
on Mt. Kilimanjaro’s
Machame Route (top
left); A tent on Mt.
Kilimanjaro (top right); A
group of Dendrosenecio
plants on the slopes of
Mt. Kilimanjaro (bottom).
Right page: Mt.
Kilimanjaro seen from
Moshi, Tanzania (top);
Vegetation in Arusha
National Park, Tanzania
(bottom left); Amboseli
National Park in southern
Kenya (bottom right).
Stocksy, Alamy, Unsplash, Getty Images, eStock Photo, Ian Cumming