First Impressions
While Mount Kilimanjaro has been known to East Africans for thousands of years, Europeans did not get a close look at it until 1848. First Europeans who are known to attempt to reach the peak and report its presence were German missionaries Johann Krapf and Johannes Rebmann. As Hans Meyer reported in his 1891 book Across East African Glaciers: An Account of the First Ascent of Kilimanjaro, Rebmann wrote in his diary, “This morning, at 10 o'clock, we obtained a clearer view of the mountains of Jagga – the summit of one of which was covered by what looked like a beautiful white cloud.”
Attempts that Failed
Many individuals attempted to climb Kibo's peak after the German missionaries arrived, but were unsuccessful. Nobody ascended Kibo's summit until 1889, more than 40 years later. Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller were the fortunate guys who were the first to reach the mountain's crater's south side. It was Meyer's third try, and it was meticulously planned—they set up campsites with food supplies so that repeated attempts at the summit could be undertaken.