Germany was among the European powers to Colonize East Africa. This probably explains why the first person to climb the Kilimanjaro was German.
Originating from Austria-Hungary, Samuel Teleki made the initial effort in 1887. But he was unable to reach the top.
Later, American Dr. Abbott, whose passion was flora and fauna, attempted again but was hampered by a medical condition.
He has a companion, Ehlers Otto of the German East African Company who pushed on and claimed to have reach an altitude of about 5904 meters above sea level.
Hans Meyer
Dr Abbot and Teleki played a pivotal role especially with providing important and necessary information about the conquest of the Kilmanjaro that later helped Han Meyer who was a German geologist and was a son to one of the wealthiest writers in German town of Leipzig.
He has worked for his father and later took over the business. He retired in 1888. In 1887 he had made an attempt to hike the Kilimanjaro but wasn’t successful.
He went on to make another try the next year after retiring. Before he could successfully reach the summit, he took multiple efforts.
His friend Dr. Oscar Baumann was the subject of his successful final attempt.
During this attempt, the timing was really not the best as both Meyer and his friend were captured by the Sheikh Abushiri who was leading that Abushiri revolution that was happening at the time.
They were held hostage until a a ransom of over ten thousand rupees was paid.
Kilimanjaro conquered!
Meyers made history in 1889 by becoming the first person to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on his third attempt.
Meyers is a bright guy who figures out that the scarcity of food at the top is one of the reasons previous attempts failed.
He therefore set up several camps along the way. These Included the Abbot Camp at 3894 meters above sea level, the the Kibo Camp at 4263 meters above sea level and lastly the Lava cave at 4578 meters above sea level.
With these camps, Meyers was able to conduct attempts that later let him to the summit of the Kilimanjaro.
Meyer’s team
Meyers had a team that helped him hike to the summit of the Kilimanjaro. Herr Ludwig was one of the people he hiked with. He was a gymnastics teacher in Salzburg-Austria.
They were joined by two local men who led the way, three local supervisors, nine porters, a cook and a guide recommended by the local chief.
Most of these people were already acquainted to him as he had been to the Kilimanjaro several times and they knew him.
Owing to the group’s size, Meyers ensured that discipline was essential. that their primary objective of reaching the summit would not be compromised. Those who lacked discipline faced consequences in real life.
Even though they had a strong group and would support one another, there were obstacles on the hike, just like on any other. Even before reaching the summit, a few members of the squad left.
As opposed to modern hikes, which start at the base of the mountain. Meyer’s Journey started in Mombasa and took 14 days to complete on foot to get to the mountain’s base.
The climb
Because the Kilimanjaro was virgin and un-tampered with. There was a lot of snow and ice in the 1880s that there is today. It would start from around 4500 meters above sea level and it would snow the entire day.
The Book does a good job of describing most of the challenges the group encountered on the trip. Meyers wrote about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The snow was, of course, the primary cause.
The crew succeeded in reaching Kilimanjaro’s highest summit on October 6, 1889. On this day in history, Kilimanjaro was successfully scaled.
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