At over 5,000 meters, Mount Kilimanjaro’s rounded, snow-capped peak is an iconic African symbol. The National Park’s forested slopes rise up to the peak, above the plains of northern Tanzania. Slightly lower down, at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,500 meters, farmers grow crops in the fertile soil: coffee, bananas, fodder trees, and grasses. Further down, at altitudes of 750-1,100 meters, where the slopes merge into the drier plains, farmers grow maize and beans and keep goats and dairy cattle. The soil is fertile, and the rainfall is relatively good for Tanzania—around 1,800 mm a year in the coffee-growing area and about 800 mm in the area planted with maize and beans. The area also has some of the highest population density in the country: 650 people/sq km in the coffee-growing area and 350 people/sq km in the maize and beans zone.