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Zone 5: Alpine Desert
Altitude: roughly 13,200 to
16,500 feet
Blinding glare, high evaporation, and wide daily changes in
temperature characterize the alpine desert, which can drop to
freezing at night and soar to over 100°F during the day.
Water is scarce, and the zone's thin soils retain little of
what does materialize. The kinds of plants that can withstand
such harsh conditions run to certain tough everlastings and
tussock grasses, along with the curious moss ball, which
envelops nodules of soil and rolls about with the breeze. Some
of the same animals that visit the moorland appear here, but
they're only passing through. The views are stunning, both out
over the undulating savannah far below and up toward
Kilimanjaro's twin summits, Kibo and Mawenzi (16,896 feet).
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