Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania

Kilimanjaro National Park is located 300 kilometers south of the equator and in Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania and it is famously recognized for residing Africa’s highest free-standing Mountain called Mountain Kilimanjaro.

The park is located near the city of Moshi and it includes the whole of Mountain Kilimanjaro above the tree line and the surrounding montane forest belt above 1,820 meters (5,970 ft).

It covers an area of 1,688 square kilometers (652 sq mi) and is under the governance of TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks Authority).

The park is among the mostly visited ones in Tanzania and it is highly beneficial to the government of Tanzania since it earns for it a lot of money annually from the large number of tourists who usually visit the Park to view or even hike Africa’s highest mountain (Kilimanjaro).

It is the second-most of any Tanzanian national park and was one of only two Tanzanian national parks to generate a surplus during the 2012-13budget year. TANAPA has reported that the park recorded 58,460 tourists during the 2012-13 budget year of whom 54,584 were foreigners.

Of the park’s 57,456 tourists during the 2011-12budget year, 16,425 hiked the mountain which was well below the capacity of 28,470 as specified in the park’s General Management Plan.

Mount Kilimanjaro routes and their variations take between five to nine days to complete. Although Mount Kilimanjaro is known as a “walk-up” mountain, you should not under-estimate it and its risks because the overall statistics show that less than half of all climbers reach the summit of the mountain due to its high heights but all in all hikers just need to be relaxed, calm and confident where they have to believe that they can make it to the summits and for the proper hike, hikers are advised to hire local porters who will help them in carrying their luggage as they hike.

A variety of animals can be found in the park such as; the Kilimanjaro tree hyrax, the grey duiker, and rodents are frequently encountered. Bushbucks and red duiker appear above the timberline in places. Cape buffaloes are found in the montane forest and occasionally in the moorland and grassland.

Elephants can be found between the Namwai and Tarakia rivers and sometimes occur at higher elevations. In the montane forests, blue monkeys, western black and white Colobus, bush babies, and leopards can be found.

The Park consists of various accommodations where visitors to the Park will stay and originate to the Park and do various amazing activities such as hiking, game viewing and many others.