Spoils of Kilimanjaro

From Johann Rebmann’s outlandish descriptions of snow on the equator in 1849 to the PowerPoint presentations of Al Gore, Africa’s highest peak has long captured the world’s imagination. But, as its melting snows focus attention on global warming, the real climate change story is playing itself out downstream, along the reaches of Kilimanjaro’s main river, the Pangani. Here, conflict over diminishing water supplies has pitted communities and economic sectors against each other, sometimes with violent consequences.