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Zone 6: Summit
Altitude: roughly 16,500 to 19,340
feet
A piece of the arctic in the heart of Africa's equatorial
belt—that's the uppermost reaches of Kilimanjaro. At the
top, the oxygen level is roughly half that found at sea level,
and the thin atmosphere offers little protection against the
fierce rays of the sun. Animals of any sort are few in this
zone, though in 1926 the frozen carcass of a leopard was
discovered near the summit crater, and in 1962 five African
hunting dogs followed a group of climbers right to the top. A
few hardy lichen species make a go of it here, and the
everlasting Helichrysum newii has been found at an
altitude of 18,700 feet. Otherwise this is a place to visit,
enjoy the view, and then bid adieu.
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