Kilimanjaro

Related Category: African Physical Geography

(kĭl´´ĭmənjä´rō), highest mountain of Africa, NE Tanzania. An extinct volcano, it rises in two peaks, Uhuru (Kibo; 19,340 ft/5,895 m, Africa's highest point) and Mawenzi (17,564 ft/5,354 m), which are joined by a broad saddle (alt. c.15,000 ft/4,600 m). The mountaintop is noted for its snowcap, but the area covered by snow has decreased sharply since the early 1990s. Coffee and plantains are the chief crops raised on Kilimanjaro's intensively cultivated lower southern slopes. Tourism from mountain climbing has become an important source of revenue.