KILIPAPER

Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, lies 300 kilometers south of the equator near Tanzania's border with Kenya.  The mountain is a national heritage site and in 1997 was pronounced a world heritage site, along with Tanzania's other world heritage sites, Ngorongoro, the Serengeti and the Selous reserve.

Mt. Kilimanjaro has over 1800 species of plants, including the Impatiens Kilimanjari, which exists only on the mountain. The mountain encompasses five distinct climate areas: savannah, montane forest, heather, alpine desert and glacial plateau, the first three containing stunning vegetation and the last the mountain's iconic snow capped peaks.

Each of these climate zones is under pressure from global warming and from deforestation in the region.  The snow atop Kilimanjaro may no longer exist within 20 years if changes are not made quickly.