Located in northeastern Tanzania in east Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is about equal distant from Cairo to the north and Cape Town to the south, around 220 miles south of the equator. The majestic snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro have long captured the world's imagination. Thousands have traveled to Tanzania to climb the mountain, or to view its famous glacier-covered peak. One such visitor, the American author Earnest Hemingway, even wrote a story about it. In The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Hemingway described the mountain's ice fields as widest all over the world, great, high and unbelievably white in the sun.

 

As spectacular as it is to see, the ice on top of Mount Kilimanjaro serves a much more important purpose. Formed more than 11, 000 years ago, the glaciers are a vital source of drinking and farming water for those who live in the surrounding areas. But for the last century the snows have been disappearing. Kilimanjaro’s glaciers have shrunk by more than 80% since 1912. This can be seen in pictures that the NASA satellite Landsat has been taking of the mountain's ice cap for more than a decade. This is how it looked in 1993. And this is how it looked just 7 years later in 2000.

 

There are several theories as to why Mount Kilimanjaro’s snow is disappearing so quickly. For one thing, the mountain is located in a tropical region. For this reason, its glaciers are especially vulnerable to climate changes. One type of climate change is called global warming, which is causing a constant rise in the Earth’s temperature. Another possible reason that glaciers are melting is deforestation, which happens when trees are cut down in mass quantities. Trees keep the air cooler and add moisture to the atmosphere which helps create clouds and precipitation.

 

Regardless of the causes, the snows of Kilimanjaro continue to melt. Experts predict that the mountain's glaciers could disappear completely by the year 2020. The loss of Kilimanjaro’s glaciers removes a source of water from the mountain’s surrounding area. In addition, it would probably decrease the amount of tourism and the revenue it generates to Tanzania. Finally, the disappearing snow in Africa serves as proof that the Earth, with its changing climate and warming trends, cannot always sustain its natural treasures.