DUSHANBE, January 6, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik mountaineer Farhod Muminov is making preparations for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, where he intends to put the Tajik flag atop the highest mountain in Africa.

“The expedition will start on January 8,” Farhod Muminov told Asia-Plus in an interview.  According to him, celebrated mountaineers will participate in that expedition.

The Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan has reportedly provided funds to support Muminov’s participation in the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Farhod Muminov plans to establish a mountaineering school in Tajikistan in the future and make his contribution to development of tourism in the country.

He says he plans to conduct expedition to South America, where he wants to climb a new peak and to christen it “Tajikistan”

Tajik mountaineer also intends to conduct expeditions to Nepal, Iran and France, and he hopes for further support of the government.

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcanic mountain in Kilimanjaro National Park, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 meters above sea level (the Uhuru Peak/Kibo Peak).

Kilimanjaro is composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo 5,895 m; Mawenzi 5,149 m; and Shira 3,962 m. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo''s crater rim.

Kilimanjaro is a large stratovolcano.  Two of its three peaks, Mawenzi and Shira, are extinct while Kibo, its highest peak, is dormant and could erupt again.  The last major eruption has been dated to between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago.

The German geology professor Hans Meyer and the Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller were the first to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 1889.  The summit of Kibo wouldn''t be climbed again until 20 years later (by the surveyor M. Lange in 1909), and the first ascent of the highest (5149 m) summit of Mawenzi was only on July 29, 1912, by the German climbers Edward Oehler and Fritz Klute, who christened it Hans Meyer Peak in Meyer''s honor.  Oehler and Klute went on to make the third ascent of Kibo, via the Western route over the Drygalski Glacier.  In 1989, the organizing committee of the 100-year celebration of the first ascent decided to award posthumous certificates to the African porter-guides who had accompanied Meyer and Purtscheller.