Fire Ravages Mount Kilimanjaro

Multiple fire on Mount Kilimanjaro have ravaged vegetation and wildlife, Tanzania’s Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Thursday as hundreds of soldiers and volunteers try to defuse the blaze that broke out two weeks ago.

The fire started on October 21 near the Karanga site used by climbers ascending Africa’s highest peak, at about 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) altitude on its south side.

It has since lit up in other pockets, burning through some 33 square kilometres (13 square miles) of the Kilimanjaro National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is home to many endangered species.

He did not provide further details on the damage and calls by AFP to local officials were not answered.

Nearly 900 soldiers have been mobilised to reinforce civilian firefighters and volunteers battling the blaze in the Karanga area.

The fire comes exactly two years after another blaze, which raged for a week in October 2020 across 95 square kilometres (37 square miles).