Kilimanjaro skydiving tragedy

28th February 2008

News has just reached our office of a fatal crash of one of the planes owned by Skydive Kilimanjaro, a company that operates skydiving trips to tourists from Moshi Airstrip. ..

Carbon offsetting and Kilimanjaro

February 19th 2008

According to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), over 85,000 flights take off from airports around the world every single day. Those flights burn 130 million tonnes of fuel annually, a figure that is projected to rise to 300 million tonnes by 2015, and 450 million tonnes by 2050...

The ethical issues of climbing Kilimanjaro

February 16th 2008

I get quite a few emails from readers asking about how they can climb Kilimanjaro 'ethically'; that is to say, what social and environmental issues are raised by opting to climb Kilimanjaro....

The reopened Western Breach Route - an account of a climb
February 4th 2008.

A report has just been sent to me by a reader of their trek up the Western Breach Route.

This account, by Lisa Cichocki, is of particular interest because Lisa is one of the first people to ascend by that route since it reopened late last year...

The new elephant shrew discovery
February 2nd 2008.

Not a specifically Kilimanjaro news item, but this story is so good it's worth reporting here. A new variety of giant shrew has been discovered in the Ndundulu Forest in Tanzania's Udzungwa Mountains.

Discoveries of new mammals are very rare occurences - and discoveries of mammals this size are even rarer. For this new species of elephant shrew weighs in at 700g (25oz) and measures about 30cm (12in) in length...