Wilfred Thesiger

There are however two particular sightings that have made it into folklore ...

The Frozen Leopard

Originally discovered and recorded by the local missionary Dr Richard Reusch in 1926 and later immortalized by Ernest Hemmingway in his crap book The Snows of Kilimanjaro, no one knows quite what the leopard was doing up here. Reusch, brave man that he was, managed to cut off one of its ears before some other souvenir hunter made off with the whole thing, never to be seen again.

Wild Dog

In 1962, Wilfred Thesiger, George Webb and Effata Jonathon encountered a pack of 5 wild dogs at Hans Meyer Point (about 5,000m). As the men continued to the summit the dogs followed at a parallel distance of about 300m until Uhuru Peak when they watched the men dig out and sign the log book from the glacier crest. Fearing an attack, the men began to descend but the dogs disappeared over the crest and were not seen again.