About the Book
A SPECTACULAR COLLECTION OF IMAGES AND WORDS THAT OFFER A DETAILED GLIMPSE INTO THE UNIQUE BEAUTY AND RHYTHM OF AFRICA'S NATURAL WONDER. Mount Kilimanjaro is the African continent's highest mountain and the world's tallest freestanding mountain. It is a geological wonder formed, sculpted, and molded by the natural forces of volcanic fire and glacial ice. At 19,340 feet (5895 meters) high, Kilimanjaro towers above the Great Rift Valley and lies 3 degrees south of the equator, on the northern border of Tanzania, close to southeast Kenya. Kilimanjaro is an accessible mountain that one can climb without the help of any technical equipment. The ascent starts from the cultivated lower slopes with dry blistering heat, through a lush, wet rainforest jungle, into heath and moorland zones, all the way up to the desolate alpine desert landscape and the steep, exposed arctic summit area, where one will experience breathtaking views of the legendary snows of Kilimanjaro. Moushabeck and Schulz invite you along as they explore and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. In this book they capture the essence of this majestic mountain with over 200 full-color photographs and an engaging and entertaining narrative that smoothly ties together personal observations with the mountain's history, its people, and its ecology.
About the Author :
Hiltrud Schulz is a Massachusetts-based food and travel photographer. Recent books she photographed include Kilimanjaro: A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africa and Puerto Rico: On the Road History. Michel Moushabeck, a writer, editor, publisher and musician, and Hiltrud Schulz, a freelance travel photographer, have been hiking together for nearly a decade. They live in Leverett, Massachusetts.
Review :
If, like me, you are mesmerized by this particular mountain and have no immediate plans to scale it, you should get the book. Moushabeck's pleasant, diaristic narrative and Schultz's well-edited images make you feel as if you are along for the climb...The book makes Kili" accessible. Enjoy the climb."--Linda Watanabe McFerrin, Left Coast Writers
Compelling... Part coffee table book, part story told with beautiful images taken by Schulz, the two elements complement each other nicely. If you've ever fantasized about climbing Kilimanjaro, perhaps this book will inspire you to do just that.
Kilimanjaro would find an appreciative audience among armchair travelers and collectors of travelogs and photo books.
Moushabeck writes a well rounded account of everything from the pioneers of mountaineering to the hypnotic song playing in rhythm with his heartbeat during the final summit push. Coinciding with Moushabeck's vivid vocabulary, Schulz's photography captures stunning landscapes beginning with the flora and fauna down below up to the view at 19, 334 feet. She also provides environmental portraits of the places and people that make their experience a captivating one... The couples' adventure up Kilimanjaro is inspiring, proving that a spur of the moment decision can result in a life changing perspective from one of the Seven Summits.
One of the tallest peaks in the world Kilimanjaro is not something to be underestimated. Kilimanjaro: A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africa is a story peppered with photos of a typical journey to the peak of the mountain, exceptional in that scaling it is not a particularly difficult thing but still an enthralling experience nonetheless. With much for mind and eye to savor, Kilimanjaro: A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africa serves well as a coffee table book or an informative text on the mountain-highly recommended.
Taking a charming journey to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, publisher Moushabeck and photographer Schulz document a week spent climbing a well-traveled route with two companions and numerous helpers. Though it's hardly perilous, the trek provides enough challenges for an engaging account: 'The six-day climb starts from the cultivated lower slopes with dry blistering heat, through a lush, wet rainforest jungle, into heath and moorland zones, all the way up the desolate alpine landscape and the steep, exposed arctic mountain summit area, where virtually no plant or animal life can survive.' Schulz's stunning photos are complemented by Moushabeck's colorful description: '[T]he bird that never seems to want to leave you alone- in any zone, and at any altitude- is the large, noisy, scavenging, tent-visiting, expert backpack-opening, white-necked or white-naped raven.' The company is also entertainingly detailed: 'From flip flops to sandals to sneakers with missing laces and boots with fist-size holes, the 'shoes of Kilimanjaro' rank among the [mountain's] most amazing sights.' This celebration of nature and human connection makes a fun escape for armchair adventurers and experienced climbers.
Travel narrative and beautiful photography come together nicely in this account of a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.
Blazing with photographs as radiant as the African sun, this superbly illustrated personal account of an odyssey to the ice-bound summit of the world's tallest free-standing mountain is as vastly rewarding and enriching as the journey itself. You sense yourself hiking alongside the author, wheezing and gasping every step of the way!--Christopher P. Baker, author of Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro's Cuba
Both personal and objective, the book is full of entertaining details...the climb itself, the wonders of it, as well as the considerable challenges.--Syndicated column on the best travel books of 2009 appeared in The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The Denver Post, USA Today, Akron Beacon Journal
If you've dreamed of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro but have never had the chance, Michel Moushabeck and Hiltrud Schulz will take you there. If you've already climbed the mountain, they will take you back. But either way, they will inspire you to start packing your gear to set off for East Africa, a place they bring to life through vivid descriptions of the land and people and dozens of dramatic photographs. The climb is exhilarating, excruciating, and exhausting, but they come out singing, and you will too.--Larry Habegger, executive editor, Travelers' Tales
You don't have to climb mountains to enjoy this fascinating account of Moushabeck's trek to the top of Africa's tallest peak and the world's highest freestanding mountain, Kilimanjaro. Moushabeck's text and Schulz's photographs will leave you breathless as you climb right alongside them. And even though the mountain is so accessible with no technical equipment required, the climb is nonetheless exhilarating and still dangerous. You'll be forgiven for feeling 'you are there.'--Acadiana LifeStyle
