A fire had broken out on Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, officials confirmed on Saturday.
William Mwakilema, the commissioner for Conservation of the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), said it was true that fire has broken out on some parts of the mountain, also dubbed “Africa's rooftop”.
"Firefighters have already been deployed on the mountain to contain the fire," Mwakilema said.
Tanapa released a terse statement in the afternoon, saying the fire broke out on Friday night.
"Tanapa, in collaboration with the government, is working hard to put out the fire," said Mwakilema who was in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, attending the opening of the sixth edition of the Swahili International Tourism Expo.
Nurdin Babu, the Kilimanjaro regional commissioner, said he was flying with experts over the mountain for an aerial survey to establish the areas affected by the fire and the extent of damage.
"The cause of the fire is still not yet established," said Catherine Mbena, Tanapa's senior conservation officer for communications.
She said firefighters from the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Force had teamed up with Tanapa game rangers, police and the College of African Wildlife Management in the Kilimanjaro region to contain the fire.
In October 2020, a fire broke out on the mountain and destroyed 95.5 square kilometres of vegetation and 12 huts, two toilets and solar equipment used by tourists climbing the mountain.
Mount Kilimanjaro, one of Tanzania's leading tourist destinations, is about 5 895m above sea level. Roughly 50 000 trekkers from across the world attempt to reach the summit of the mountain annually.