Mount Kilimanjaro with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcanic mountain in Tanzania. It’s also ‘the highest mountain in Africa and the highest solitary mountain in the world at 5,895 meters (19.341 feet) above sea level.
Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the most accessible mountains in the world, visited by thousands and thousands of trekkers every years who can reach the summit by a long trek without any special technical skill.
Mount Kilimanjaro has of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest; Mawenzi to 5,149 meters (16.893 ft); and Shira, the shortest at 4,005 meters (13,140 feet). Uhuru Peak is the highest peak on the edge of the Kibo crater. Tanzania National Parks, a government agency, and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization list the height of Uhuru Peak as 5,895 meters (19,341 feet). That height is based on a British Ordnance Survey in 1952. Since then, the height was measured as 5,892 meters (19.331 ft) in 1999, 5,891 meters (19,327 feet) in 2008, and 5,888 meters (19,318 feet) in the 2014.
Mawenzi and Shira are extinct while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again. The last major eruption has been dated to between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago. Kibo has “fumaroles” that emit gas in its crater.
