Kilimanjaro

Its easy to see why the mighty mountain Kilimanjaro has for centuries been worshipped as a deity by the inhabitants of the regions around it. Shimmering like a vision, the peak of Africa’s most impressive mountain is most often glimpsed like a disembodied mirage through a hole in the clouds. Down on the hot, dusty plains, such whiteness and coolness seems entirely supernatural. Even the name is mystical, possibly meaning ‘Mountain of Light’. The local WaArusha people regarded the peak as the abode of devils and spirits, who were set on guarding unimaginable riches in their mountain kingdom. Those few brave enough to attempt the summit to bring back the gleaming riches they saw there returned only with water. Even the first European explorers who saw the mountain were unable to believe their eyes, and their stories of a snow-capped peak in Darkest Africa were met with derision and disbelief at home. Finally, however, one Dr Hans Meyer, spurred on by the reports of the missionary Johann Rebmann, succeeded in scaling the mountain and stood on the summit in October 1889.

Even today, the power of Kilimanjaro is not to be underestimated. Fatalities on the mountain still occur, and scientists have calculated that molten lava lies only 400 metres below the snow’s surface, with sulphur fumes being emitted from time to time to remind us that the mountain god is only sleeping, not dead.