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Zone 5: Alpine Desert
Altitude: roughly 13,200 to 16,500 feet
Blinding glare, high evaporation, and wide daily changes in temperature
characterize the alpine desert, which can drop to freezing at night and soar to
over 100°F during the day. Water is scarce, and the zone's thin soils
retain little of what does materialize. The kinds of plants that can withstand
such harsh conditions run to certain tough everlastings and tussock grasses,
along with the curious moss ball, which envelops nodules of soil and rolls
about with the breeze. Some of the same animals that visit the moorland appear
here, but they're only passing through. The views are stunning, both out over
the undulating savannah far below and up toward Kilimanjaro's twin summits,
Kibo and Mawenzi (16,896 feet).
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