At 5895 MASL, the Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain on the African continent, and the world's highest freestanding mountain. Its majestic appearance and the fact that it's one of the most accessible high summits draw every year thousands of visitors to the base to conquer its peak. The hike will take you through a variety of sceneries: from cultivated slopes to lush montane forest that give way moorland, then a surreal alpine desert and finally, as you approach the top, a winter wonderland of ice and snow.