Adventure with a purpose: The Cause: #trek4hunger2015 The Challenge: Mt Kilimanjaro Build up - The charity: Meals on Wheels South Africa

I am going back again and I cannot wait. So why do I keep going back to Mt Kilimanjaro. The first time I climbed the Queen of Africa it was with two other female fire fighters climbing against rape. The cause was 1 in 9. This time we were trekking for hunger. It is a known fact that 12 million South Africans go to bed hungry every night. nearly 3 million of them are children. This is unacceptable. Meals on Wheels deliver over 1 million meals in a months and their footprint is increasing around South Africa feeding the hungry. They are on a quest to eradicate hunger. Working as a paramedic for the Johannesburg Fire Dept within the inner city I see first hand the devastation of hunger so this is a cause I am very passionate about.

Some background on Mt Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira is an inactive stratovolcano in north-eastern Tanzania rising 4 600 mm from its base and some 5 100m from the plains near Moshi. Its the highest peak in Africa at 5 891.8 m providing a breathtaking view of the surrounding plains. I would be doing a different route the my first one which was the Umbwe route.

Mt Kilimanjaro is actually one of the largest stratovolcanoes in the world. Also known as a composite volcano it is made up of several layers of lava, tephra and volcanic ash. Thephra is rhyolitic (an igneous extrusive rock) in composition, and is formed by air-fall material of an eruption, which suggests the composite volcano was once active. Luckily for us it is currently dormant!! There have been no recorded eruptions in living memory and the experts report that the last eruptions were between 150 000 and 200 000 years ago. What a relief!

The shape of Kilimanjaro is that of a mountainous volcano which is formed by material being thrown up by the volcano vent which then would piles around the vent in the shape of a cone. Mt Kilimanjaro is made up of tephra therefore it has its recognizable and trademarked cinder cone. They are made up of blobs of congealed lava and various particles. When the mountain erupted millions of years ago the gas-charged lave would have been blow very violently into the air, causing it to break up into much smaller fragments which would have solidified and fell as cinders. This then left Mt Kilimanjaro with a bowl-shaped crater.

It is not uncommon for a stratovolcano just like Mt Kilimanjaro to have experienced explosive eruptions. the lava from the mountain is viscious so it cools down before it spreads very far. the lav's viscosity also helps explain why Mt Kilimanjaro has relatively small crater formations.

The rock on the mountain is felsic and will have high level of silica more specifically tephratic silicate. This silica is also in alternating sectors with lava flows and ejecta in different formations.

The volcano is the highest in Africa and indeed the highest free standing mountain in the world. It covers an area of 388 500 ha. Even though the volcano stands alone it is still part of an east-west belt of volcanoes stretching over Northern Tanzania. It has its trade mark three main concentric cones to the southeast on the mountain, but theirs are smaller parasitic cones. The main vent also referred to as the Satellite cone is blocked by cooled solidified lave and this lave was then forced out through the sides of a volcano under tremendous pressure. To the west side of the mountain is the peak Shira ( 3 962m) and today only the southern and westerns rims remain.

In the west we find a flat tableland and on the edges of this material we find later material which is made by previous eruptions of the mountain this has lead to the plateau being dissected. The plateau has been uplifted by past volcanic activity and now had been severely eroded leaving all the material around the edge of the plateau. Mawenzi peak (5149m) is a beautiful rugged erosion shattered mountain and is found in the east of the volcano. Its western face has many crags, pinnacles and dyke swarms.(a dike or plural-dyke swarm is a type of sheet intrusion that cuts discordantly across and they come in various forms: planar wall structures of massive rock formations - which is seen in abundance as you make your way up), the crags are steeped masses of rock projecting upwards and some outwards. the pinnacles are really high peaks or points of rock. Mt Kilimanjaro is a high point of rock.On Mawenzi these are formed in the igneous rock intrusions. The dykes intrude into a cross-cutting fissure which are linear volcanic vents where lave erupted previously.

Zebra Rock

on the Eastern side of Mawenzi huge cliffs are visible, with a complex system of gullies and incredible rock faces. There are two massive gorges known as the Great Barranco and Lesser Barranco.Even though there have not been any eruptions for millions or years there are still openings near Kobe in the Earths crust which emits steam and gases (Carbon Dioxide, hydrochloric Acid and some Sulfurous gases) these are found along the chaotic clusters and long fissures. The hot igneous rocks react with the groundwater resulting in gases being released.

The highest point on the mountain is its southern rim of the outer crater. The Saddle which sits between Kibo and Mawenzi vegetation known as high altitude tundra is found. This type of vegetation will form at high levels of altitude due to the growth of tress being hindered by the low temperatures experienced at this altitude and their short growing seasons. Along the way you will be surprised to find a wide variety of vegetation even though you are climbing in Altitude. Many hardy dwarf shrubs, grasses and different colours and types of mosses grow here as well as interesting lichens which grow on the rocks can be seen.

Alpine Desert rocks

Tanzanite is a rare gemstone found naturally at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.

the stunning glaciers near the summit

There are several routes to Kibo with varying degrees of difficultly.

My absolute favorite, the Impatiens kilimanjarii, the semi-official 'emblem' of Kilimanjaro; also known as the 'elephant's trunk. This is the only place in the world that this little gem is found. On the far right is the Red Hot Pocker.

Know one seems to know for sure where the name Kilimanjaro comes from and many legends and stories abound. By 1860 European explores had adopted the name. Some say its a Swahili name and that it comes from Kilima (Swalili for Hill, little mountain) and Njaro meaning white or shining. Then in 1880 the Germans called it Kilimanscharo and it became part of German East Africa after Karl Peters had persuaded the local chiefs to sign treaties. There is another common story that Queen Victoria gave the mountain to Kaiser Wilhelm IIis as a gift, this is actually not true. In 1889 Uhuru Peak on Kibo was named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spritz which was used in the German Empire until its defeat in 1918 and the name discontinued.

Whatever the name was or is or how it came about will never really be known, what matters now is that this majestic Queen of Africa stands tall and grand with the vast plains below a heritage for all to come and stand in awe as long as we do our best to preserve it and protect it for generations to come.

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Adventure With a Purpose™
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Member: FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa)
Member: Vincent de Paul Victory Park (St Charles Catholic Church)

Photo Credits: Please note all photos taken from Google Image

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