Interesting Facts About the Wold's Tallest Free Standing Mountain- Mount Kilimanjaro

 It now takes the average person a minimum of between 6 to 9 days to reach Kilimanjaro’s summit, depending on which of the 6 available routes is taken. The success of ascending to the summit is also dependent on which route is taken – the overall average of successful ascent to the peak is 45%.

  The oldest person ever to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro was 87-year-old Frenchman Valtee Daniel.

Nearly every climber who has summitted Uhuru Peak, the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim, has recorded his or her thoughts about the accomplishment in a book stored in a wooden box at the top.

An approximate 35,000 tourists attempt full ascent of Kilimanjaro every year. Kilimanjaro reaps in $50 million a year for the Tanzanian economy, accounting for 45% of total income generated by the country’s 15 national parks altogether.

 The fasted verified ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro occurred in 2001 when Italian Bruno Brunod summitted Uhuru Peak in 5 hours 38 minutes 40 seconds. The fastest roundtrip was accomplished in 2004, when local guide Simon Mtuy went up and down the mountain in 8:27.

 Kilimanjaro has three volcanic cones, Mawenzi, Shira and Kibo. Mawenzi and Shira are extinct but Kibo, the highest peak, is dormant and could erupt again. The most recent activity was about 200 years ago; the last major eruption was 360,000 years ago.

In 1889, the first successful summit of Mount Kilimanjaro was completed by German geographer, Hans Meyer, after six weeks of climbing.

Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain on the African continent and the highest free-standing mountain in the world.