THE VOLCANIC CRATER AT THE SUMMIT OF KILIMANJARO, AFRICA’S HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, AS IT HAS NOT BEEN SEEN BEFORE IN 11,000 YEARS. THE SNOW AND GLACIERS WHICH HAVE CROWNED IT IN ALL THAT TIME ARE MELTING AND BY 2020 ARE LIKELY TO HAVE DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY. THE FORESTS WHICH COVER KILIMANJARO’S LOWER SLOPES ABSORB MOISTURE FROM SURROUNDING CLOUDS AND PROVIDE LIFE-GIVING WATER TO PLANTS AND ANIMALS IN THE PLAINS BELOW. RISING TEMPERATURES THREATEN NOT ONLY THE ICE-CAP, BUT ALSO THIS ESSENTIAL NATURAL PROCESS.
you are fanatics, biggest glaciers like hubbard, logan o nisqually o perito Moreno are growing…you a re a mafia. Cold speaks.
I feel so sorry about the damage that everyone, but specially the BIG COMPANIES and the “Developed Countries” are doing to Our Mother Earth…
Could you send this picture to the American president?
Thanks!
Kilimanjaro is not in Kenya. It is in the country of Tanania.
What do you think is the reason for the climate change?. Tne green house effect?, what about the incremental activity of the Sun.
The dramatic beauty of the picture leaves no question about changing climates unanswered.
Impressive!
Certainly the global warming is a concern, but, how do you know how it looked 11,000 years ago, or 4,000, or 6,723, or any other date?
Respectfully,
DarÃo
Is this really Kili or is it Meru? I am confused by the correction in the Guardian.
This looks something like what the crater on Kili looked like when I was there a couple of years ago. The crater is a a good 600 feet below and perhaps a mile away from the summit point. The ice fields (glaciers) seemed to be located on the flanks of the mountain, not around the crater.
Generally I find this picture hard to place in relation to where I was on the mountain. Perhaps the difference between an ant’s eye view and a giant’s.
In response to Jan Adams re. the location of the shot, the crater in the photograph is on top of Mount Kilimanjaro although the actual highest point of the mountain is indeed on the rim around the crater.
If you follow this link to an image from the United Nations Environment Programme it will help you to see exactly how much the glaciers around the crater have retreated since 1962.
What we see on the photo is the inner crater of Kilimanjaro, or rather the Kibo, the main peak of the range. Glaciers have always been rather far from the inner crater. But yes, the glaciers are disapearing, and it will have an impact on the population living at the bottom, in what we call the banana-coffee belt.
how can i order the natural environment book? thank you.
Kilimanjaro without its white cap is like another flagship species gone extinct. For money and luxury, we are slowly poisoning ourselves with global warming. I climbed Kibo in 1995 and the glaziers were already melting at an unsustainable rate. World wake up!
Hi Alex!
I spoke with you today at the UCLA exhibit… you are so inspiring to me! Thanks for all of the nice words you said; I think your work is amazingly awesome and will follow it through the magnum website. Good luck dodging bullets, staying warm on tall icecaps, and staying cool in the hot desert heat!
If you have time, please email me back; I’d love to talk with you more about your work. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Happy trails
Joyce
As an American I am disappointed with the way my country has ignored this ever growing problem. I am also disappointed with the rest of the developed countries for not acting as well. There has to be some kind of balance between progress and the environment. Using alternative fuels instead of relying on oil is a start. Wake up Bush!
Thank you for all that you do and document, in your continued efforts in bringing such photos to educate and bring reality to public view. I fear that our actions of “total” change and “effect” sill continue to move slow. Even though efforts by most countries are cutting back on emmissions and other environmental hazards, other countries in Asia aren’t and continue to be the most polutant populations in the world. We need drastic change! Not something that will take 10 - 20 years to complete, We have the technology to over come the current polutants that are part of our every day life. I find it discouraging that our efforts in change from human made hazards to more efficient and environmental fuels won’t come soon enough in our lifetime. But to continue to push environmental concerns to our Governments and Corperate leaders for change.
The Earth, as life, goes through cycles, we may be accelarating the process but in the grand sceme of things the process is too grand for us to control or influence greatly. However, we should not give up on sustaining the best possible quality of life for all plants and animals. The true problem is over population, the earth just can’t recover from its potential wrath.
Scientists don’t “know” exactlywhat anywhere looked like 11,000 years ago. However, from all the information that they have from ice cores, geological data, fossil records and human records from several thousand years ago indicate that it is highly unlikely or probable that the ice was not there 11,000 years ago. They didn’t just arbitrarily pick 11,000 years out of the blue and say, “people will believe us, we’re scientists”. The data that they publish is critically read by other scientists for accuracy. Being published in a scientific journal is a very important part of work for a scientist. Losing credibility by having incorrect information published can devistate their careers.
amazing is’nt it every body see’s chemtrails which are sprayed constantly over america, it appears that the ones sprayed in the desegnated flight corridors, are a new fuel jp8 that is not as flamable, but has chemicals that have been baned for at least a decade, known to be extremly toxic to man and of course animals, especiallythe ones that live in the out doors.The Las Vegas Tribune did a very professional job of investigating reporting. when they approached this subject. lasvegastribune.com/20050819/headline1.html it apears that Ethylene dibromide is one of the toxins sprayed directly into the atmasphere. this substance is an additive to gas and jet fuel, it is linked to kidney and liver damage and is also an immunosuppressive and lung irritant. there is also other spraying in undessignated flying zones,that is illeagle for ordernary passenger jets to fly in. These chemtrails are layed out on a grid and cant be explaned as jp8 fuel. what is going on ? arent the american people conserned about obvious signs that are right before their very eyes ? maybe the people as a whole, are conserned with money and a fast expensive life. and dont want to be bothered by such trivial things! the average persons long term goals are limited to whats happening today. think I’m wrong just tell a few people about the global warming situation. Watch their reaction. Most probably they will say “dont tell me about it” or they’l say “what can you do about it dont bother me”. these people will be just as guilty about the comming disaster. as the people who purpetuate these crimes. Perhaps we as humans dont desrve the utopia we desire
i hope humans don’t disappear entirely as i have a ton of grandchildren. i am always checking though and as far as i can tell the earth is going through yet another of it’s cycles as the “average high and the average low” temperatures for each day over the past hundred years have fluctuated quite wildly. many of the warmest temps were many years ago. i don’t know.????
Was there no snow on Kilimanjaro 11,000 years ago?
Living in Alaska, I have seen first hand how our mother earth is changing. The change is not a good one and it is hard not to feel that we have caused this change ourselves.
That’s not the only area where changes can be seen. In South America (Bolivia to be exact) mount Chacaltaya has experienced a decrease of snow and ice. This location was a skiing spot until a few years ago. The snow melt caused the sky operations to shut down.
i am a resident of east africa, where we are now experiencing famines with frightening monotony. part of the problem is attributed to reduced forest cover in our region, but it is also disheartening to learn that the developed world has exported their problem to our doorstep.
i am organizing an expedition comprising college students this august, to the kilimanjaro, in part to highlight the issue of the retreating glacier. i will report our experience in this forum.
We climbed Kili in Sept 2005 and being on top of Kibo which is actually the crater rim, Uhuru is the highest point on the rim, was like watching pictures of the astonauts romping around on the Moon. I know it is one of the best times to climb weather wise but at Stella Point on the edge of the crater, it was barren to say the least. Those who wish to see whats left of the glaciers should go now!!
Dave Hathrill
Durban SA
No alcanzo a comprender como tan solo en una generación, la nuestra, estemos exterminando lo que a la naturaleza le llevo siglos y milenios en desarrollar.
Me queda claro que los países Ultra-capitalistas, empecinados en mantener vigente la estupida guerra económica de los energéticos, son los principales profanadores de la ecología, sin que ninguna ley y ningún gobierno del mundo les puedan poner un alto.
Es tiempo de iniciar la insurgencia civil, en contra de estos Gobiernos y sus políticas anti-ecológicas, a efectos de frenar esta dramática e irreversible devastación, antes de que sea demasiado tarde para nuestra subsistencia, la de nuestros hijos y la de las generaciones futuras.
Hagamos lo que sea……!
Pero por favor hagamos algo.
Jorgedwardo.
you need better pictures
I find tha this website is very good and it can give us a brief view of climate change and may be some unexpected events in the future.
The peak is entirely covered in snow right now, and the rainy season has just begun. And summer is just concluding.
So, yeah. It runs in cycles. And most of the glacier recession is due to local factors, not global warming.