Kilimanjaro and "Endangered Mountains"

Like I said in my last report, today I will be talking about my long hike at Kilimanjaro up to the point I sprang my ankle.

The route that our team went was the Marangu route that starts at an altitude of 1843m. Some things that are peculiar to this route are that all four seasons could be seen if you go high enough. In addition, it changes from a tropical rain forest, a shrub zone, moorland, and then finally a polar zone.

At first, it is a dirt road with the typical African rain forest climate: hot and humid. On the way, we found various people from exhausted and anxious people to energetic people who still had enough energy to give a high five to all 25 members of our team. Next, we went through the shrub zone which is empty of trees, but is almost identical with a prairie. I?m not entirely sure of the moorland, but I think it is an area where there is nothing but dirt (a place that I couldn?t reach because I broke my ankle). Finally, there?s the famous polar zone on the peak of the mountain with the 10,000 year old icebergs.

During the hike, I experienced many things that made me think about the current status of our environment. At our first camping place in the mountain, mandara hut, there weren?t a lot of water for us to wash ourselves. We only received two things: a bucket of water and the right to decide what to do with it. I personally used it to brush my teeth and wash my hair. The rest had to suffice with wet tissues that we all prepared before the trip. Some things that were better than predicted were that they had dim light and a faucet with slowly running water. Although it would seem very poor compared to the current state I?m living, it was more than enough at that time. The second hut, Horombo hut was similar with the previous one apart from the fact that because of the altitude, some friends got the ?altitude sickness? where because of the altitude, people get dizzy, throw up, and in some extreme cases faint.

I would love to explain the rest of the trip but at the Horombo hut, I sprang my ankle, making it impossible for me to hike any further? So instead of my personal experience, I will replenish you with interesting and various facts about mountains such as Kilimanjaro!!!

Like I said before, the ice caps on Mount Kilimanjaro are very old. They are approximately 11,700years old. Up to 1880, the summit of Kibo was completely covered up with snow. It covered about 400 kilometers squared until then. Starting from 1912, we lost 80%of the ice. Between 1912~1953, there has been a -1% annual loss and a -2.5% loss between the years 1989~2007. If this rate continues, the ice is expected to completely melt by 2022 to 2033.

You might ask now ?Why do the ice caps on the mountains melt so quickly compared to the icebergs floating in the sea?? First of all, the icebergs are melting very quickly, with some being as high as 9m/year. Second of all, ice caps on top of the mountains are closer to the atmosphere where it receives all the sunlight directly. It does not get the benefit of various !==!--object--==s that reflect the hot light from burning them. It hasn?t been a big problem until recently with the green-house gas saving heat in Earth and also the holes in the atmosphere, making the role of reflecting various lights back to space unusable.

I?m sorry I couldn?t go on with the projects that I wrote on my plan sheet when I applied for this project, but it was impossible due to financial problemsL. I will do my best to find a different project that can be fulfilled without a lot of money.