Into the Kibo Caldera: Hans Meyer’s 1898 Glaciological Odyssey

The Scientist Returns to His Mountain

Nine years after his triumphant 1889 first ascent, Dr. Hans Meyer found himself drawn back to the frozen heights of Mount Kilimanjaro. While his first ascent had proven that human beings could stand on Africa’s highest summit, Meyer knew that the vast, glaciated interior of the Kibo caldera held profound scientific secrets.

In the summer of 1898, Meyer organized a specialized scientific expedition focused entirely on glaciology, geology, and high-altitude photography.

“To stand on the crater rim is merely to begin; the true soul of Kilimanjaro lies down in the icy belly of its crater.” — Dr. Hans Meyer, Der Kilimandscharo, 1900

Camping on the Roof of Africa

Equipped with precise barometers, theodolites, and photographic apparatus, Meyer established a fortified camp directly upon the high Saddle at 4,400 metres with seasoned Chagga porters from Marangu.

Over several weeks of arduous field research, Meyer climbed Kibo multiple times. Unlike modern trekking groups that spend minutes on the crater rim, Meyer donned crampons and descended directly into the volcanic caldera, exploring the labyrinth of the Northern and Southern Icefields. He documented the sheer vertical ice walls—some towering over thirty metres high—that ringed the crater floor, noting how the equatorial sun sculpted them into bizarre fluted pillars and crystalline organ pipes.

Founding Tropical Glaciology

Meyer’s meticulous 1898 survey produced the first accurate 1:50,000 topographical maps of Kilimanjaro’s summit cone. Crucially, Meyer recorded the exact positions of the glacier snouts and measured the thickness of the ice cap.

A century later, Meyer’s 1898 photographs and field notebooks became invaluable historical benchmarks for climatologists. By comparing Meyer’s 1898 baseline against modern satellite imagery, scientists around the globe have tracked the dramatic retreat of Kilimanjaro’s equatorial ice cap, making Meyer’s 1898 expedition a cornerstone of modern planetary climate science.