Africa’s Wild Heritage: Field Notes on a Mountain, a Gorilla and a Million Hooves

How high is it? Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kibo, stands 5,895 metres above sea level. That makes Kilimanjaro the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain on Earth: it is not part of a range, but rises alone from the plains of northern Tanzania, close to the border with Kenya.

Is it a volcano? Yes, a dormant one, made of three volcanic cones: Kibo, the youngest and highest, flanked by jagged Mawenzi and the worn-down Shira. Kibo still has a crater at its top, with vents that release gas.

Why is there ice on the equator? Because temperature drops as you climb. A walk to the summit passes through farmland, rainforest, heath and moorland, alpine desert and finally an arctic summit zone, which is why climbers like to say it is a journey from the equator to the pole in a week. The glaciers are real, but they are shrinking fast: the mountain has lost most of its ice since the early twentieth century, and scientists expect much of what remains to disappear within decades.

Who climbed it first? The first recorded ascent was in 1889, by the German geographer Hans Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller. They were guided by a young Chagga man, Yohani Kinyala Lauwo, whose role was overlooked for decades. Today tens of thousands of people climb every year, almost all of them supported by local guides and porters who are the real experts on the mountain.

Where do mountain gorillas live? Only in two places on Earth: the Virunga volcanoes, a chain of mountains shared by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, and the Bwindi Impenetrable forest in Uganda, nearby. Virunga National Park, founded in 1925, is Africa’s oldest national park.

How many are left? Just over a thousand, according to recent surveys. That sounds small, and it is, but in the early 1980s the Virunga population had fallen to around 250. In 2018 the species was moved from “critically endangered” to “endangered”, one of the very few great-ape success stories anywhere.

What brought them back? Decades of patient work: the research of Dian Fossey and the Rwandan and Congolese teams who continued after her, strict protection against poaching, veterinary care for wild gorillas, and carefully managed tourism that makes a living gorilla worth more to local communities than a dead one. It has come at a terrible price. Virunga’s rangers work in one of the most dangerous conservation landscapes in the world, and more than two hundred of them have been killed in the line of duty.

What is a silverback? An adult male, usually over twelve years old, named for the saddle of grey hair that grows across his back. He leads and protects his family group. Despite their size and their reputation, gorillas are mostly calm, sociable plant-eaters. The portrait on our stamp is based on a photograph taken in Bwindi, home to the same mountain gorilla subspecies.

What is the Great Migration? A vast, year-round circuit of grazing animals through the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem, which straddles the border between Tanzania and Kenya. Somewhere between one and a half and two million animals, mostly wildebeest, along with zebras and gazelles, follow the rains and the fresh grass in a loop that never really ends.

When does it reach the Mara? The herds usually arrive in Kenya’s Maasai Mara around July and stay until about October, before heading south again to calve in the Serengeti early in the new year. The timing shifts with the rains, and nature does not publish a schedule.

What happens at a river crossing? The most dramatic moments come at the Mara River, where herds mass on the bank, hesitate, sometimes for hours, and then suddenly plunge in, leaping from steep banks into the current while crocodiles wait below. It is chaotic, noisy and dusty, and it is the scene on our stamp: a dust cloud, a wall of horned heads, and a zebra wading through.

Who looks after the land? The Mara is named for the Maasai, the pastoralist people who have lived alongside its wildlife for centuries. Much of the land around the national reserve is now organised into conservancies, where Maasai landowners lease their land for wildlife and low-impact tourism, earning an income while keeping the plains open for the herds.

Because all three are, in their way, under pressure. The ice on Kilimanjaro is melting, the gorillas’ future depends on the people who guard them, and the migration needs open land to keep moving. Stamps have long been used to celebrate what a nation is proud of. We would add: and what it intends to keep.