Please go check out this super cool presentation by Arcteryx of Mt. Kilimanjaro!
Some cool excerpts:
• After the Germans ceded their East African holdings to the British in World War I, Tanzania gained its independence in 1961 and the highest summit was renamed Uhuru, meaning "freedom" in Swahili.
• repeat photography shows that some glaciers have shrunk by 40 percent between 2000 and 2007.
• The Chagga were driven into hiding around Kilimanjaro several centuries ago by the warlike Masai, in turn forcing a race of pygmies over the mountain and into Kenya. {both of our guides are from the Chagga tribe}
• In Chagga territory, the reverent sleep with their head toward the mountain and bury their dead so aligned
•lead more than 28,000 climbers up the mountain each year.
•Slowest ascent, Dr. Hans Meyer: 6 weeks; October 5, 1889
• Fastest male ascent, Bruno Brunod: 5 hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds; 2001
Reading this whole thing made me tear up, remembering all the memories gained this summer on the mountain and Africa in general.
