The ecosystem of the Kilimanjaro National Park on the Kilimanjaro Ranges covers an area of about 652 square miles. This national park was first gazette as a forest reserve in 1921. Wildlife on Kilimanjaro is one of the biggest attractions here.
It was later upgraded to national park status in 1973 and a few years later in 1987 it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Since then, there has been a good protection to the animals and other habitats against human encroachment.
When people are hiking to the summit of the Kilimanjaro mountains, they come across a number of vegetation zones: The rainforest, Bushland, Heath, Desert Alpine and Arctic. The higher you hike, the lower the support system to support both Vegetation and Animal life. Therefore, there are fewer animals and plants as you hike to the summit.
The biggest part of the hike is covered in Montane vegetation and it’s this area that is covered with most vegetation. There are about 154 species of mammals, hundreds of bird species and 7 species of primates recorded here.
There are cases of large mammals like the Buffalos, elephants and Giraffes. Some other animals include Porcupines and aardvarks. Because the mountain is covered in thick tropical rain forests, then most animals may not be seen as they hide in the lush forest.
These are some of the animals that you expect to see while on the Kilimanjaro Mountain Ranges:
- Bush Baby: They are some of the Wildlife on Kilimanjaro. These animals are known by very any names such as Little night monkeys, galagos and nagapies. These monkeys cry like human babies at night thus the name little night monkey. The bush babies are nocturnal animals with round eyes that give a good night vision. They eat grasshoppers and most insects as well as moths. These are able to catch some of these since they can hop from tree to tree. They also eat fruits and gums of trees.
- The White Necked Raven: This raven is named appropriately as it has a dominant white band around its neck. It’s an intelligent bird just like most of the raven. It is assumed that a raven is smarter than a 7-year old child. They have good reasoning, have good problem solving abilities and have the ability to hold group discussions. These ravens eat grains, fruits, insects and small reptiles. Human food is also something they can eat.
- Blue Monkey: They are also part of the Wildlife on Kilimanjaro. This is also referred to as the Diademed Monkey. The most common sighting have been around the Big forest Camp on the Lemosho trail. These monkeys are actually nothing like their name, they are not blue like the name suggests. They have an olive patches and grey fur. The faces have some yellowish color and are darker with reddish brown foreheads.
- Jackson’s Chameleon: These are types of Lizards that are mainly found in Africa and other tropical countries. They among the only creatures that can camouflage or change color according to environment, light, temperature and emotions. Each eye of the chameleon can move on its own without depending on the other and can look in different directions. They are slow in movement but they have the ability to move their tongue at a very high speed and at long distance almost twice their body length to catch their prey.
- Colobus Monkey: These are also Wildlife on Kilimanjaro. This monkey gets its name from a Greek word “kolobos” which means Mutilated. This is because that these monkeys don’t thumbs like other primates. These colubus monkeys don’t have thumbs because this helps them swing on the canopies better than the rest of the other primates. When the colobus monkey is born, it’s white in color but as they grow older, they transform into the usual black and white. They have a long tail that is really fluffy.
- Four Striped Mouse: There are a lot of human activities around this area and this explains the presence of rodents. This type, the Four Striped Mouse is specifically larger than the normal house mice. It has stripes that run down the back and are black and these are one of the special features. These are very active in the early hours unlike the other mice. They rest most of the time of the day but may come out a little more in the afternoon. These mice are known to live in groups.
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