Kilimanjaro - so many meanings to her name ..... I know this photo of Mt. Kilimanjaro looks similar to one I’ve posted on here before, but it’s actually taken from a completely different spot on the farm to that one. Kilimanjaro can be quite difficult to see, let alone photograph. She is usually only visible clearly in the very early morning, and most times is covered in cloud which moves quite fast, so you can miss her if you’re not quick (or up early) enough !
Many people have come here on safari and not seen her at all – I know it took me 2 years to catch a glimpse of her, but that was when we were living in another part of the country, so those 2 years included the times we traveled to this region (which is the only time we would be able to see her).
This photo was taken on the last stretch of our farm road before we hit the main dirt road leading to ‘civilisation’. In this photo, she is on our right as we are traveling down the road (on an early morning school run !)
I thought that I’d share some interesting facts about Kilimanjaro’s name with you, which I discovered when we first moved to the farm and read up about it.
There are different versions of what the name “Kilimanjaro” actually means. A local Kiswahili translation is “mountain of greatness” or “mountain of water” and it has also been called “mountain of caravans”. I found this fascinating. Caravans ? Whatever for ? (Especially since I have never even seen a caravan in Tanzania !) I went on to learn that some say it was called the “mountain of caravans” because it served as a landmark for caravans which used to travel around looking for slaves. Yes, this country has an awful slave trade history. Really, truly horrible. The reason for that name turned me cold, and made me feel quite sad.
Some say that the name means “demon of the cold”. Snow in Africa is very rare, so I could imagine how Kilimanjaro’s snow could be perceived by some superstitious people back in the day (before TV, radio and books opened our eyes up to the rest of the world) to be ‘evil’ . I have found that to this day, different people have different interpretations for it and likewise, the mountain means different things to different people.
Many people have come here on safari and not seen her at all – I know it took me 2 years to catch a glimpse of her, but that was when we were living in another part of the country, so those 2 years included the times we traveled to this region (which is the only time we would be able to see her).
This photo was taken on the last stretch of our farm road before we hit the main dirt road leading to ‘civilisation’. In this photo, she is on our right as we are traveling down the road (on an early morning school run !)
I thought that I’d share some interesting facts about Kilimanjaro’s name with you, which I discovered when we first moved to the farm and read up about it.
There are different versions of what the name “Kilimanjaro” actually means. A local Kiswahili translation is “mountain of greatness” or “mountain of water” and it has also been called “mountain of caravans”. I found this fascinating. Caravans ? Whatever for ? (Especially since I have never even seen a caravan in Tanzania !) I went on to learn that some say it was called the “mountain of caravans” because it served as a landmark for caravans which used to travel around looking for slaves. Yes, this country has an awful slave trade history. Really, truly horrible. The reason for that name turned me cold, and made me feel quite sad.
Some say that the name means “demon of the cold”. Snow in Africa is very rare, so I could imagine how Kilimanjaro’s snow could be perceived by some superstitious people back in the day (before TV, radio and books opened our eyes up to the rest of the world) to be ‘evil’ . I have found that to this day, different people have different interpretations for it and likewise, the mountain means different things to different people.
The one thing that makes her really stand out though, is that apart from the fact that she is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world (and, of course, the highest in Africa) she is only three degrees south of the Equator, yet is covered in snow – and that in itself, makes her pretty unique, I’d say !
