Kilimanjaro National Park Kilimanjaro National Park is a national park
located near Moshi, Tanzania. It is centered on Mount Kilimanjaro and covers an area of 753 km²
(291 square miles) from 2°45'–3°25'S, 37°00'–37°43'E. In the 1910s, Mount Kilimanjaro and
its forests were declared a game reserve by the German colonial government. In 1921 it
was made a forest reserve. In 1973, the mountain above the tree line (about 2,700 m / 9,000 ft)
was reclassified as a National Park and was opened to public access in 1977. The park was
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. Kilimanjaro National Park is protected under national legislation as a National Park and a management plan is in place.. The area surrounding the mountain is quite
heavily populated, principally by the Chagga people, and the northern and western slopes
of the Forest Reserve surrounding the National Park have 18 medium to large forest villages.
The national park and forest reserve occupy the upper part of Mount Kilimanjaro adjacent to the
Kenyan border just north of Moshi. The national park comprises the whole of the mountain above the
timberline and six forest corridors stretching down through the montane forest belt. |