There, ahead, all he could see, as wide as all the world
great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun
was the square top of Kilimanjaro.
Ernest Hemingway (The Snows Of Kilimanjaro)

Hemingway loved this panorama. So do I. And why not? The flat roof of Africa explodes out of the savanna to a height of 19,341 feet. This massive dome is 50 miles long, 25 miles wide, and crowned by the famous Kibo massif. It the largest freestanding mountain in the world. The sad transformation in our lifetime, of course, is to watch helplessly as the once huge glaciers melt away like hot butter from atop this equatorial wonder. Soon Hemingway's "White roof of Africa" will be totally slate gray.

In the early 1970s I entered medical school and became friends with one of my anatomy instructors. Tom was training to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro while I struggled with a mountain of medical texts. I envied his passion, the single-minded determination with which he pursued his quest. I vowed that one day I would follow in his footsteps to Uhuru, atop Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. Twenty-five years later, in September of 1997, that dream came true.

 

The savannas of East Africa stretch for hundreds of miles across Tanzania from the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro (see photo). They include the Serengeti Plains farther west. Both the Serengeti and Kilimanjaro are among the most iconic travel destinations on earth. The savanna is born anew with each dawn. The excitement is palpable. The sights, the sounds, the wildlife, the people, the climbs-everything about Africa gets into your soul. I will always return.