When the three volcanoes that form Mt Kilimanjaro began erupting approximately two million years ago, their lava fields overlapped culminating in what we see today. Kibo (the snow-covered peak near the center of the photograph) is flanked by the lower summits of Mawenzi to the east and Shira to the west. The Kibo and Mawenzi peaks are joined by a broad saddle 11km long.

Kilimanjaro's great height creates its own weather patterns. Winds from the Indian Ocean are deflected upwards by the slopes and drop their moisture as rain and snow. As a result, there is a variety of vegetative zones that differ from the plains below.

The lower slopes are now cleared for cultivation but would once have been dense rainforest. At 3,000m this gives way to moorlands and at 4,400m the terrain becomes high altitude desert. At the highest elevations is a zone of permanent ice and snow responsible for the name Kilimanjaro, which in Swahili means 'the mountain that glitters'.