Before the first ascent
German geographer Hans Meyer tried twice before he succeeded:
- 1887 — Meyer got as far as the edge of the summit ice cap but had to turn back. He didn’t have the right equipment to cross snow and ice.
- 1888 — Meyer planned a second attempt, but was taken hostage during the Abushiri Revolt, a local uprising against German colonial occupation in the region. He was eventually ransomed, but lost his chance to climb that year.
The first ascent — 6 October 1889
On his third attempt, Meyer returned with Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller and a much larger expedition team: two local headmen, nine porters, a cook, and a Chagga guide named Yohani Kinyala Lauwo, who was only about 18 years old at the time.
Lauwo knew the mountain’s terrain, climate, and hidden paths better than anyone on the team. Sixteen Chagga men accompanied the expedition partway up, but as the altitude increased, most turned back — suffering from altitude sickness and cold, conditions nobody on the team had the equipment or knowledge to handle well at the time.
Meyer and Purtscheller reached the summit on the crater’s southern rim on 6 October 1889 — the first confirmed successful ascent. Meyer named the summit “Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze,” after the German Kaiser.
A real, unresolved question: most sources credit Lauwo as the first local African to reach the summit alongside Meyer and Purtscheller — he’s widely remembered as such, and is honored as the “Old Man of Kilimanjaro.” But some sources note genuine historical debate over exactly how far Lauwo continued with the two Europeans, versus turning back earlier like most of the rest of the team. This page doesn’t try to resolve that debate — it’s worth being upfront about it rather than stating either version as settled fact.
After independence
Following Tanzania’s formation in 1964, the summit was renamed Uhuru Peak — “Freedom Peak” in Swahili — replacing its colonial-era name.
Lauwo continued guiding on the mountain for decades afterward and became a well-known figure, eventually recognized by the Tanzanian government and the international climbing community before his death in the 1990s, reportedly at over 120 years old.