Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa (Hardcover) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), David Breashears (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This is a companion book to writer and mountaineer David Breashears' film, which follows the weeklong journey of five trekkers and a guide to the top of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Salkeld presents a comprehensive portrait of this impressive mountain, which draws thousands of climbers every year. The author describes Kilimanjaro as, in effect, a solitary island with unique flora and an ice-crowned, flattop appearance that has inspired folk legends and writings by Europeans ever since German missionaries initially saw it in the mid-1800s. Capably reworked by Salkeld, local oral tradition and historical accounts combine here with her personal observations of ascending through the ecological zones en route to the summit. In addition, stills of the ethereal heights and articles by experts on Kilimanjaro's geology and environmental fragility make the album irresistible on many levels. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

A British prime minister in Queen Victoria’s England once dismissed Kilimanjaro as “that mountain behind Zanzibar with the unrememberable name.” Today, there can be few who don’t recognize its most beautiful and evocative name. From the literature of Ernest Hemingway, from movies, and from a multitude of images, the world is familiar with the Elysian view of elephants and giraffes grazing against the shimmering backdrop of Kilimanjaro. Floating over the plains of East Africa, more mirage than mountain, Kilimanjaro exudes mystery and romance. At the same time, it is an accessible mountain, drawing more than 20,000 visitors each year to its slopes and snowy dome. The climb up Kilimanjaro has been likened to a journey from the equator to the poles, passing as it does through zone after zone of climatic change, from tropical forest to frozen desert. And Kilimanjaro’s human history is no less rich than its natural history. Close to the cradle of mankind, the mountain has watched history unfold at its foot, from the earliest hunter-gatherers and the scramble of colonization to World War I battles and the wave of independence that swept Africa in the mid-20th century.

In Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa, accomplished mountaineer and writer Audrey Salkeld presents a comprehensive and awe-inspiring portrait of this noble mountain and its myriad facets. To be published in conjunction with the release of David Breashears’s stunning new IMAX® film about Kilimanjaro, this book is an extraordinary journey to the roof of Africa.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 271 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792264665
• ISBN-13: 978-0792264668
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #439,655 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kilimanjaro, the summit of Africa & a treasure of the earth, May 10, 2002

By	K. H. Kikstra "7summits.com" (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kilimanjaro is the highest point of Africa and therefore one of the "7 summits". But even without this statistical feature it is a place you should have visited to know what others mean when they call it a great place...

Kilimanjaro rises almost 5000m above the plains and offer climatic zones from the savannah to alpine glaciers, although the latter are melting quickly due to the global warming. Unique flora and fauna on the border of Tanzania and Kenya.

Well, David Breashears (known from the Everest IMAX and his book) has shot a new IMAX film on Kilimanjaro and this is the accompanying book.

Much information about the historic exploration of Eastern Africa and it's majestic summit; geological and biological contributions mixed with full page pictures and the trip report of the climb along the scenic Machame/Mweka route (with a variation through the Western breach).

'Kili' is one of the treasures of our earth and this book shows why. Too heavy for your backpack, but not to be missed on your coffeetable.

Ps: the book is 271 pages, not 31 as Amazon states!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Memory Book!, February 8, 2005

By	Lesa Touger - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just returned from "climbing" Mt Kilimajaro. I use quotes because one reviewer seems to think it's not. This was one of the hardest things I've done. I saw this book on my guide's desk and began reading it. I was totally empressed by the history and photos. The memories of what I had just done came flooding back. There was an aerial photo of the crater that took my breath away. I have the movie and now I have the book. The book is kept right next to my certificate from the park and the picture album of my climb. I recommend this wonderful book (and the IMAX movie) to anyone who had climbed the mountain, plans on climbing, or just enjoys the beauty that is Mt Kilimanjaro.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You're the tops, Kilimanjaro, Here's a book to buy or borrow, October 15, 2002

By	Ed Gibbon www.congocookbook.com (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

Kilimanjaro, an African icon, is the only one of the seven summits that can be climbed by anyone, including children and senior citizens. This coffee-table book is a great choice for armchair travelers and anyone who wants to climb (or has climbed) Africa's highest mountain. The book documents the journey of a party of climbers who accompanied David Breashears and his team as they made an IMAX film about the mountain. Author Audrey Salkeld, who specializes in books about mountaineering, has assembled a great mix of Kilimanjaro ecology, geography, history, lore, and travelogue related to her climb. The story starts with East Africa's Chagga people and their legends, then moves to missionary Johannes Rebmann whose story of equatorial snow was met with disbelief, then on to the other explorers, and eventually the first (known) mountaineers who climbed the mountain. Several other authors contributed articles on the Kilimanjaro's relation to the Rift Valley, Missionaries in Africa, Elephants, Mountain Sickness, Film and Literature, Plants, Volcanic History, etc. Very well illustrated with color photographs and historical images, as one would expect from a book published by National Geographic.