Foreign mountaineers evacuate Kilimanjaro as fire rages
October 16, 2020
A camp of international mountaineers had to be evacuated after strong winds reignited a massive blaze on Africa's highest mountain. Germans, Swiss and Austrians are among those who had to leave the slope.
"We are still battling the fire. The work is harder than we thought earlier. The challenge is strong winds and dry grass and vegetation," Tanzanian Minister of Tourism Hamisi Kigwangalla said on Twitter.
"Once arrangements are completed today we might start using helicopters and planes to tackle the fire," he added.
The blaze, which has been raging for five days, has burned 28 square kilometers (11 square miles) of vegetation and is strongest in the area of Kifunika Hill, officials said. Some 500 people are working to extinguish the flames.
At 19,443 feet (5,926 meters), Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain.
The fire has scorched at least 28 square kilometers of bush on the mountain, which is home to a number of unique plant and animal speciesImage: DW/Veronica Natalis
Europeans evacuated
A tour organizer said that a camp of international mountaineers also had to be evacuated on Thursday due to the raging fire.
"Besides my Swiss group, there were five to six other groups who had to break up their tents at midnight," Henning Schmidt, a Kilimanjaro guide from Germany, told the German Press Agency (DPA), adding "the fire is now expanding more and more."
Austrian mountaineers in the area also reported strong winds and said their tents had become covered with a thick layer of ash.
"There is too much smoke here: We are afraid of carbon monoxide poisoning," mountain guide Debbie Bachmann told DPA, saying she and her group of tourists would halt their expedition.
Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano and is the highest single free-standing mountain in the world Image: Planet Labs Inc.
Firefighters initially made progress in extinguishing parts of the blaze, but strong winds prompted massive flames on Wednesday. The fire could be seen as far as 18 miles away in the town of Moshi, northern Tanzania.
The blaze then went on to destroy the Horombo Tourist Camp, including 12 huts, two toilets, and solar equipment, officials said.
The fire started on Sunday afternoon in the Whona area, a tourist stopover for hikers climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and using the Mandara and Horombo routes.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism said.
Africa's top ten World Heritage sites
Across Africa there are unique historic monuments and places of great natural beauty that are listed on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites. Here is a small selection.
Image: kjekol - Fotolia.com
'Louvre of the Desert'
With 4,500 works of ancient rock art, Tsodilo has been called the 'Louvre of the Desert.' The Tsodilo Hills in the Kalahari Desert have provided shelter and resources for humankind for over 100,000 years. This is an impressive archeological record of human culture and interaction with nature down the millennia. It was added to the World Heritage list in 2001.
Image: picture alliance/Robert Harding World Imagery
Diversity of wildlife species
The Dja Reserve in southern Cameroon is one of the largest and best protected rain forests in Africa. It contains over 100 species of mammals and almost 350 bird species. The Dja River, which almost completely surrounds the reserve, forms its natural boundary. The population of Baka pygmies are allowed to hunt traditionally.
Image: -/AFP/Getty Images
Lamu - interaction with many different cultures
Lamu Old Town is the best preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa. Arabic, Portuguese, German and British cultural influences have their left mark on the small island of Lamu which has retained its traditional building style of coral stone and mangrove timber. It is an important center for the study of Islamic culture.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
Unique to Madagascar
A 'forest' of limestone needles, unspoiled wooden forests, lakes and mangrove swamps are a habitat for rare birds and 11 species of lemur. 80 percent of the plant species found in the Tsingy de Bemaraha Integral Nature Reserve on the island of Madagascar do not exist anywhere else.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
Ancient churches carved out of rock
The 11 cave churches in Lalibela were carved out of rock 800 years ago and the tallest is some ten meters high (33 feet). They are still places of pilgrimage and devotion. Biete Ghiorgis (House of St. George) is the best preserved.
Image: picture alliance/Robert Harding World Imagery
Climate change on Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro scales a height of 5,895 meters and is Africa's highest mountain. It is also Africa's largest volcano though it has been dormant for a long time. The snow-capped peak is a famous Tanzanian landmark but it may not last indefinitely. Climate change could force the glaciers to retreat and rob the mountain of its white top within 20 years.
Image: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images
Cultural heritage threatened
Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual center for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa during the 15th and 16th centuries. Three earthen mosques bear witness to this prestigious past. Parts of this cultural heritage were destroyed by Islamists in July 2012. They smashed shrines they considered idolatrous.
Image: Getty Images
'Smoke that thunders'
Mosi-oa-Tunya - 'the smoke that thunders' - is the indigenous name of the huge sheet of water that noisily tumbles down basalt gorges sending up an iridescent mist visible more than 20 kilometers away. This is the Zambezi River on teh border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It was named Victoria Falls by explorer David Livingstone in honor of the British sovereign in the mid-19th century.
Image: imago/Bernd Müller
Wonder of the ancient world
Temples, tombs and pyramids offer a perfect backdrop for Hollywood movies. Memphis, 20 kilometers (13 miles) from Cairo is also Egypt's chief tourist attraction. In antiquity the Great Pyramid of Giza was regarded one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The ruins of Memphis and the pyramids have been on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites since 1979.
Image: picture-alliance/Rainer Hackenberg
Cradle of humanity
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area deserves World Heritage status on two fronts: it contains the world's biggest crater and is a spectacular reserve for thousands of lions, zebras, flamingos and other wildlife. It is also one of the cradles of humanity, where hominids left their footprints in the ground 3.6 million years ago.
