Hans Meyer

There has been much dispute as to the actual height of Kibo's summit, which was measured by various travellers who all obtained different estimates. According to British topographers engaged on the boundary Commission the height was determined at 19,318, but as Meyer points out, they were never able to see the topmost peak which is invisible from below; German members of the Commission, however, arrived at an altitude of a little less than that. Meyer's own aneroid readings gave an altitude of 60 ms. more than the height observed of the British topographers. So far as I am aware the altitude was never ascertained by boiling point observations until 1921 when Mr. C. Gillman scaled the crater rim, and though I have not his figures, I believe that he found the correct measurement to be some 60 ms. or 105 feet less than Meyer's computation gave. Whatever the exact altitude may be, the highest point is over 19,000 feet above sea-level, and is thus the highest in Africa.

Meyer, Hans . . . . . the first man to climb Kibo

In 1887, Professor Hans Meyer, a German geographer, made his first attempt upon the summit of Kibo. Accompanied by Baron Von Eberstein, Meyer was eventually defeated by a combination of thick snow, 30m ice walls and his partner's altitude sickness.

The following day, from the safety of The Saddle, Meyer estimated that the ice walls descended to just below the crater rim at an altitude of about 5,500m. The ice was continuous over the entire peak and it was evident that the summit could not be reached without some considerable ice climbing.

After an aborted expedition in 1888, Meyer returned the following year accompanied by the renowned Alpinist, Ludwig Purtscheller and a well organised support group determined to scale the peak. The climbers came prepared with state of the art equipment and established a base camp on the moorland from where porters ferried fresh supplies of food from Marangu. Daunted by the precipitous ice cliffs of the northern crater rim and the extensive ice flows to the south, the two climbers agreed that the best chance of success lay by tackling the less severe incline of the south eastern slope of the mountain. From their advance camp at 4300m the two climbers set off at 01.00hrs and reached the lower slopes of the glacier at about 10.00hrs. Although the glacier was not as steep or high as the walls encountered on Meyer's previous attempt, its incline never went below 35 degrees and ice steps had to be cut. Progress was slow but after 2 hours the men reached the upper limits of the glacier where the incline decreased. A further 2 hours of painful trekking through waist high snow and over deep weathered ice grooves found the climbers at the rim of the crater with the summit in sight. However time and strength were running out and the summit was still another 150m above them, so they returned to advance camp to try again after three days. This time the route was clearly marked and the previously cut ice steps had held their shape. The rim was reached in 6 hours and at exactly 10.30hrs Meyer became the first recorded person to set foot on the highest point in Africa.

In the same year, 1887, Hans Meyer made his first attempt on the mountain, accompanied by Herr von Eberstein, but was defeated at 18,400 feet (Meyer 1891, p. viii). In 1888 he did a trip through the Usambaras but did not penetrate further inland than Gonja at the eastern foot of the South Pare Mountains.

In the following years several Missionaries and sportsmen visited various parts of the mountain, while Sir H. H. Johnston studied its flora and fauna. But not until 1887 was any serious attempt made to reach the top. In this year Count Teleki climbed to a height of 15,800 feet, and in August of the same year Dr. Hans Meyer, following the route taken by Count Teleki, attained the altitude of 18,000 feet. Here he came on an unscalable glacier wall, and was compelled to turn back. Renewing his attempt Meyer finally reached the summit in 1889 in company with Ludwig Purtscheller.

This first conquest of Kibo was the severest under-taking that has been, or is likely to be, required of anyone ascending the mountain. Meyer had then not discovered the notch in the ice wall of the crater rim, which by reason of the diminishing ice makes the ascent easier year by year. His ascent was therefore made over the Ratzel glacier which could only be scaled with ice axes. Every step required some twenty strokes of the axe, and the labour entailed for this purpose at such an altitude and whilst climbing at an angle of 35, must have been immense; added to this Meyer and his companion were in imminent danger, especially as Meyer himself had no climbing irons, and any step must inevitably have buried them down into the 3,000 feet abyss which yawns below the Western side of the glacier. A former traveller, Ehlers, who had alleged that he reached the North-western summit, reported that there was no trace of a crater. Meyer may have doubted this statement, but there could be no certainty on the point until he topped the rim and suddenly saw before him the huge crater with its frozen floor 600 feet below. It must have been a thrilling moment, and the consciousness that he and his companion stood there, the first men to behold this wonder and to reveal the secret Kilimanjaro had kept concealed through ages, must have been an inspiring thought.

The words 'Mt. Kilimanjaro' conjure up romantic images of personal growth, challenge, defeat, and success. We have seen pictures and heard stories. The climbers of the first Mt. Kilimanjaro climb in 1889 had only their courage, passion and naivet" pushing them on. When asked, 'Who was the first to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro?', the most common reply is Hans Meyer of Germany. Hans Meyer is credited with the vision behind the expedition, but who was his guide?

Yohani Kinyala Lauwo was only eighteen years old when he led Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller to the highest point of Africa on October 5th, 1889. His selection by the Mangi (Chagga chief) to be Hans Meyer's guide was accidental, but it forever changed his life. Kinyala (as he was called) was born and lived his entire life in the village of Marangu, nestled on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Before Europeans came to East Africa, many of the Lauwo clan of the Chagga tribe hunted the forest elephants for ivory and sold it to the Swahili traders from the coast. The forest also supplied them with honey, timber, medicine and Colobus monkey hides. By the time Hans Meyer arrived in Chaggaland, Kinyala Lauwo was a tall teenager who knew the forest like the back of his hand. By then, colonialism had started in Kinyala's homeland and young men were being forced to construct roads. Kinyala tried to dodge the 'draft', but was caught. As a result, he was summoned for trial at Mangi Marealli's palace. Coincidentally, Hans Meyer had just arrived at the palace asking for permission to climb the mountain and guides and porters. The Mangi's wachili (advisors) spotted Kinyala, knew that he was of the Lauwo clan, and asked him to guide the expedition.

The event led Kinyala (later called Mzee Lauwo) to guide Mt. Kilimanjaro climbs for more than seventy years! For his first climb, he was only wrapped in blankets. Over the years, he obtained appropriate clothing and hiking gear. When Mzee Lauwo turned one-hundred years old, the Tanzania National Parks gave him a beautiful, modern style house painted in light purple and pink pastels. Here he lived with his two wives until his death on May 10th, 1996, after a grand life of a one-hundred twenty-five years!

Oscar Baumann, the Austrian geographer, found Lakes Eyasi and Manyara during his 1890-1892 expedition and Hans Meyer from Leipzig, professor in what was by then called colonial geography reached the top of Kilimanjaro (Kibo) with his colleague Purtscheller in 1889.

My father, William 'Tim' Leeman was an Ulster soldier who served from 1916 -1919 in the 4th KAR from Lake Victoria Nyzanza down through Tabora and Dodoma to Northern Mozambique. He then worked at Temi estates Arusha before going to live in Songea until his death. In the Second World War he was in Military Intelligence at Mikindani. He had a 1032 acre farm which is now Ugano Coffee Research station. I have many photos taken in the early 1920's of the Moshi-Arsuha area.

I moved to Kilimanjaro in 1968 and have a home at Ashira, Marangu. I was Chairman of the Kilimanjaro Regional branch of the Historical Association of Tanzania. One of my in-laws was Kinyala Johannes Lauwo (1871-1996 -sic), the first man known to have climbed Kilimanjaro. He was the guide for Hans Meyer in 1889 and Meyer named Johannes' Notch after him. In 1989 the West German government built Kinyala a house to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the climb.

In the following years several Missionaries and sportsmen visited various parts of the mountain, while Sir H. H. Johnston studied its flora and fauna. But not until 1887 was any serious attempt made to reach the top. In this year Count Teleki climbed to a height of 15,800 feet, and in August of the same year Dr. Hans Meyer, following the route taken by Count Teleki, attained the altitude of 18,000 feet. Here he came on an unscalable glacier wall, and was compelled to turn back. Renewing his attempt Meyer finally reached the summit in 1889 in company with Ludwig Purtscheller.

This first conquest of Kibo was the severest under-taking that has been, or is likely to be, required of anyone ascending the mountain. Meyer had then not discovered the notch in the ice wall of the crater rim, which by reason of the diminishing ice makes the ascent easier year by year. His ascent was therefore made over the Ratzel glacier which could only be scaled with ice axes. Every step required some twenty strokes of the axe, and the labour entailed for this purpose at such an altitude and whilst climbing at an angle of 35, must have been immense; added to this Meyer and his companion were in imminent danger, especially as Meyer himself had no climbing irons, and any step must inevitably have buried them down into the 3,000 feet abyss which yawns below the Western side of the glacier. A former traveller, Ehlers, who had alleged that he reached the North-western summit, reported that there was no trace of a crater. Meyer may have doubted this statement, but there could be no certainty on the point until he topped the rim and suddenly saw before him the huge crater with its frozen floor 600 feet below. It must have been a thrilling moment, and the consciousness that he and his companion stood there, the first men to behold this wonder and to reveal the secret Kilimanjaro had kept concealed through ages, must have been an inspiring thought.

Benham's ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro should alone have written her into the record books, but few of the histories of the mountain even mention her name.

Attempts to climb the mountain by all-male parties had started back in the 1860s, but it was not until 6 October 1889 that a team under the direction of Hans Meyer reached the summit of what was called "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze", now known as Kibo.

Climate change has rendered the mountain far more accessible to modern climbers than it was in the early 1900s, when snow lay thickly on its peaks and climbers could quite easily sacrifice their lives to the sudden blizzards that could sweep without warning across the notorious higher slopes.

It is generally assumed that a certain Frau (Clara?) von Ruckteschell was the first woman on the mountain when, in February 1914, she accompanied the St Petersburg-born army officer and artist, Lieutenant Walter von Ruckteschell (1882-1941). It appears that the Von Rukteschells failed to reach the Kibo summit.

The first British woman generally recognised as having achieved this distinction was the twenty-two-year-old Londoner, Sheila Macdonald (later Mrs Sheila Combe), who on 31 July 1927 reached the summit of Kibo in the company of William C. West, a member of the Alpine Club.

The first British male to complete the ascent, despite numerous earlier failed attempts, appears to have been the celebrated geographer Clement Gillman (1882-1946). Gillman possibly made his first assault on the mountain as early as 1909, about the same time as Benham, but apparently did not reach the summit until 1921.

Unfortunately, when Benham first saw the report of Macdonald's ascent in The Times, she was in the West Indies and the newspaper was already several weeks old. By that time she could hardly be troubled to contradict the report, leaving it to a friend to inform the newspaper of her ascent eighteen years earlier.

This friend, whom Benham had met in Nigeria in 1913 and was possibly the colonial officer Selwyn Grier, wrote to The Times under the pseudonym "West African", reporting Benham's ascent and commenting briefly on her 1913 crossing of Africa. A somewhat belated account of Benham's ascent of Kilimanjaro was carried by a brief article in the Daily Mail in February 1928.

However, in 1931 a certain Colonel E.L. Strutt wrote to The Times supporting Sheila Macdonald's claim to have been the first woman to conquer the peak, stating: "Miss Gertrude Benham, about 1911 [sic], reached the rim of the crater" some two-three hours below the summit" and never claimed to have gone any higher". In fact Strutt was perfectly justified in passing the accolade to Macdonald.

Benham had reached the edge of the crater now known as Mawenzi (5149 metres or 16,890 feet), which is the second highest of Kilimanjaro's three peaks. Rather than being, as Benham put it, "not much difference in height", the higher peak, Kibo, stands at 5895 metres or 19,340 feet, and nowadays involves a challenging ascent over lose open scree. Benham might have accomplished this, given another day, but modern climbers prefer to make the final assault at night or in the early morning when the scree is frozen together.

"In sitting down to recount my experiences with the conquest of the "Ethiopian Mount Olympus" still fresh in my memory, I feel how inadequate are my powers of description to do justice to the grand and imposing aspects of Nature with which I shall have to deal. "

Hans Meyer, the first man to climb Kilimanjaro, in his book Across East African Glaciers" an Account of the First Ascent of Kilimanjaro.

Nor is it just tourists that are entranced by Kilimanjaro; the mountain looms large in the Tanzanian psyche too. Look at their supermarket shelves. The nation's second favourite lager is called Kilimanjaro. The third favourite, Kibo Gold, is named after the higher of Kilimanjaro's two summits. Even the nation's best selling lager, Safari, has something distinctly white and pointy looming in the background of its label. Nor can teetotallers entirely escape Kili's presence. There's Kilimanjaro coffee (grown on the mountain's fertile southern slopes) and Kilimanjaro mineral water (bottled on its western side). On billboards lining the country's highways Tanzanian models smoke their cigarettes in its shadow, while cheerful roly-poly housewives compare the whiteness of their laundry with the mountain's glistening snows. And to pay for all of these things you can use a Tanzanian Ts5000 note" which just happens to have, on the back of it, a herd of giraffe lolloping along in front of the distinctive silhouette of Africa's highest mountain.

It is perhaps no surprise to find, therefore, that when Tanganyika won its independence from Britain in 1961, one of the first things they did was plant a torch on its summit; a torch that the first president, Julius Nyerere, hoped would "'shine beyond our borders, giving hope where there was despair, love where there was hate, and dignity where before there was only humiliation."

To the Tanzanians, Kilimanjaro is clearly much more than just a very large mountain separating them from Kenya. It's a symbol of their freedom, and a potent emblem of their country.

And given the tribulations and hardships willingly suffered by thousands of trekkers on Kili each year" not to mention the money they spend for the privilege of doing so" the mountain obviously arouses some pretty strong emotions in non-Tanzanians as well. Whatever the emotions provoked in you by this wonderful mountain, and however you plan to climb it, we wish you well. Because even if you choose to leave the bicycle at home, forego the pleasures of wearing a latex rhino outfit and walk in the direction that nature intended you to, climbing up Kilimanjaro will still be one of the hardest things you ever do.

But it will also, without a doubt, be one of the most rewarding.

"We were in an amiable frame of mind ourselves and, notwithstanding all the toil and trouble my self-appointed task had cost me, I don�t think I would that night have changed places with anybody in the world. "

Hans Meyer on the evening after reaching the summit, as recorded in Across East African Glaciers

Finally in 1889, with a trained mountaineer called Purtscheller he [Meyer] ascended to the highest point of Kibo on 5th October 1889 (op. cit p. 147). He also spent some time on the saddle and in attempting to climb Mawenzi but in this he failed (op. cit. pp.162-194).

The German professor was the first European to scale Kilimanjaro

The descendant family of Professor Hans Meyer, from Leipzig Germany, the first European to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in 1889, is planning to make homage to the late explorer at the peak of the highest mountain in Africa.

The news is widely circulating around the Kilimanjaro area where tour guides, porters and Mountain climbers are looking forward to the German family expedition. No exact dates have been mentioned for the expedition.

The expedition news has also reached the management of the historical Kibo Hotel, in West Marangu, where Prof. Hans Meyer and his crew stayed during their Pre-historic Mountain climbing expedition, which took place on the 6th of October 1889. Kibo Hotel is one of the oldest Hotels in the Northern Zone.

Julita McNeese, the current Kibo Hotel Manager, admits to have heard of the Hans Meyer's planned family expedition, adding that it was likely to take place very soon. She however said the entourage hasn't made any reservations at the Hotel yet.

A large black and white portrait of Hans Meyer hangs at the Kibo Hotel lobby, together with that of Yohana Lauwo, his first guide. The Hotel with 35 rooms, is over 120 years old now. It was first built by a German family in Association with the powerful charismatic Chagga leader, Chief (Mangi) Marealle.

Although huge mountains had been known to exist in Northern Tanzania, no one had actually traveled inland to account for it until the 1800's. Mount Kilimanjaro had been thought to be the source of River Nile and a Mountain of mystery - the mystery being a snow capped Mountain in Africa.

Africa was by then thought to be a continent of savages, thus stories about the continent were often down played. With colonization, came European missionaries, who traveled inland to preach their religion.

In 1846, Dr. Ludwig Krapf and Johann Rebmann landed at the coast of Kenya and set up a mission at Rabai, close to the town of Mombasa. In 1849, both Krapf and Rebmann confirmed their sightings of the great Mountain on their trip inland. Reports about the Mountain were received by the Royal Geographical Society, which prompted a great debate about the accuracy, about the height and possibility of snow capped mountains in Africa.

In 1861, Richard Thornton attempted the first climb. The Mountain was new to him and thus had a difficult time penetrating through the second zone. Also the weather did not cooperate, which eventually forced him down.

In 1862, Otto Kersten and Baron Von der Decken attempted the climb. They climbed over 15,000 feet but were forced down because of what was described to be the effect of bad weather.

In 1887, a German Geologist Professor and explorer, Hans Meyer attempted the climb and was successful in reaching the Kibo peak.

In 1889, Hans Meyer again, this time with an Austrian alpinist, Ludwig Purtscheller arranged an expedition to reach the summit of Kibo. It is stated that there were over 60 people in total including porters.

Meyer and Purtscheller were successful in their climb. They named the summit Kaiser Wilhem Spitze, a record that is still displayed in many maps found in Tanzania. The country is a former German colony.

Thus ends the story of the exploration of Kilimanjaro But should anyone wish to make a further study in depth of exploration In this part of the world they cannot do better than consult the exhaustive bibliography in Meyer (op. cit pp.304-397).

This contains details of 219 articles and books published between 1833 and 1890, the section being entitled "Literature of East Africa containing references to Kilimanjaro"

It is divided into a general section of early literature (17 entries, 8 in German),

then "Journeys of the Missionaries Krapf, Rebmann and Erhardt" (25 entries, 17 in German),

"Burton's Travels" (7 entries, 3 in German)

"C.C. von der Decken's expeditions, 1860-65" (14 entries, all English).

Another general section follows "Journeys, books and Papers from 1870-1880" (23 entries, 11 in German),

"H.H. Johnston's Expedition" (10 entries, 2 in German)

"Dr. G.A. Fischer's Expeditions 1880-85" (15 entries, 4 In German)

"Count Teleki's Expedition, 1887 and 1888" (8 entries, 6 in German)

"Journeys, Books and Papers from 1885-90" (56 entries, 43 in German)

and finally the author's own contributions to the literature "Dr. Hares Meyers Expeditions 1887, -1888 and 1889" (22 entries, 20 in German).

This lengthy catalogue shows the intense interest which European scientists and the reading public were displaying in African exploration in the 19th centruy and also the thoroughness with which Dr. Meyer prepared his expeditions. His most detailed work was in German Der Kilimanjaro (Meyer 1900) containing superb photos of. Kibo and Mawenzi and many interesting contemporary illustrations.

For the general reader without access to libraries, a number of abridgements of the early works referred to above are available, particularly the East African Literature Bureau's Early Travellers in East Africa series, with books on

Krapf by C.G. Richards,

Charles New by R. Forbes Watson,

Johnston by E.A. Loftus,

Count Teleki by C.G. Richards and

Thompson by E.A. Loftus.

More recent publications are Charles Richards (ed.) (1961) Some Historic Journeys in East Africa containing Rebmann's account of his first sighting of Kilimanjaro, and descriptions of New's two attempts to climb the mountain,

and Rowland Young (1962) Through Masailand with Joseph Thompson.

The summit of Kilimanjaro was previously completely covered by an ice cap more than 100m deep with Glaciers ranging well down the mountain to below 4000m. At present only a small fraction of the glacial cover remains which is most visible around the spectacular Northern and Eastern Icefields and the southern and southwestern flanks. However the ice is receding at such a rate that there is concern that the ice cover may disappear completely within the next 20 years.

Evidence of this retreat was first observed by Hans Meyer, the first Westerner to make the summit, who reported in 1898 that the ice limit had withdrawn by over 100m since his first ascent 8 years earlier. This rapid change is therefore not entirely due to recent global warming but rather a result of a longer term cycle of climatic events.

Studies by Sheffield University during the 1950's reported that Kilimanjaro has had a long history of glacial advance and retreat coinciding with a sequence of eight glaciations. The present ice cap is probably the result of the world wide drop in temperature experienced between 1400AD and 1700AD and suggests that there have been several long periods when Kilimanjaro was devoid of ice. The current retreat is the result of a general increase in the temperature of the earth over many hundreds of years.

Hans Meyer observed the sand-flea ravages among the Masai settlers at Laitokitok on the north-eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. He called the jiggers "the most fearful calamity that has ever afflicted the East African peoples" (Meyer 1900:119-20). He gave examples of people who were unable to walk and were seen crawling around on all fours groaning with unbearable pains.

Kinyala Lauwo (1871-1996) was my inlaw and I interviewed him on video in 1993.

He said he climbed Kilimanjaro many times before he guided Hans Meyer. He said he had ascended nine times before he realised there was an inner crater. He also found the dead leopard but when I told him of Hemingway's book about it, he said he'd never heard of it.

The West German government built the house in 1989 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Meyer's ascent.

[2008 08 16]

Here is Kinyala Lauwo's family tree:

Lauwo

Kimonge

Aisere (brother was Kimemia)

Mramba

Mwiwere

Rawia (brother was Mkawo)

Kinyala

Kimemia's descendants were

Kiwere

Ndauliso

Rawia's descendants were

Mkawo

Paolo

Many children including Yakobo, my wife's father.

I haven't yet found the name of any of Kinyala's siblings. Most Lauwos are descended from Paulo's children. I have a more detailed family tree somewhere but haven't managed to find it.