Kilimanjaro National Park – The Snow Capped Beauty

Kilimanjaro the name is synonym to extravagant beauty of Africa. The Kilimanjaro National Park was designated as a World Heritage Site in the year is situated in the United Republic of Tanzania. Kilimanjaro standing tall and up at 5963m is the highest point in Africa. The location is amazingly placed at a far above the neighboring plains, the snow filled peak intimidating the savanna. The mountain is enclosed between woodland. The Kilimanjaro National Park is home to many animals and there are also some species found here who are in the verge of extinction. This national is more visited because of the Kilimanjaro Mountain which is an active volcano and one of the premier walkable summits found in the whole earth rather than to watch the wildlife of the national park.

Where it is located:

The Kilimanjaro National Park is situated extremely close to the border amid Tanzania and Kenya. The National Park is spread all over the mountain.

From the pages of the past:

In the early 20th century Mount Kilimanjaro was announced as a Game reserve by German colonial government and then in the year 1921 the area was declared to be a forest reserve. In 1973 the government decided to make mountain above the surrounding plain as a National Park and finally in the year 1977 the gates were opened for common people.

Features of Kilimanjaro National Park:

• Kilimanjaro is a massive strato-volacno and is counted among the largest volcanoes in the earth.
• 5 main vegetation zones are there: the montane forest, sub-alpine moorland, alpine bogs, sub-montane agro-forest and savanna bushland.
• 2500 plant species, 130 tree species, 170 species of shrubs, 100 lianas, 140 epiphytes and 140 pteridophytes.
• There are 140 mammals (with 87 species of forest) 5 antelopes, 25 carnivores and bats of 24 species.
• There are 179 in total the number of bird species found in the highland.
• P.atavau subspecies of butterfly is found only in the Kilimanjaro.

Activities that you must do:

Apart from animal and bird watching and gazing at stars at night, you must get involved in hiking and trekking. You can’t climb the mountain on your own, there must be a guide to accompany you and since Tanzania is a developing nation it is advised that you carry hiking and camping materials with yourself.

When to visit the park:

The best time to visit is between September to December and the other ideal time when you can truly enjoy is between May to July.

How to reach the National Park:

It is about 128km away from Arusha, you can hire a car from here to reach the park and it is just 1 hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro airport. There are bus services available from moshi bus station.