Case file · Folklore / legend
The frozen leopard of Kilimanjaro
In 1926 the missionary and climber Richard Reusch found the frozen carcass of a leopard on the crater rim of Kibo, Kilimanjaro, at about 5,600 m, far above where any leopard should be.
1926 CE · -3.06, 37.35 · status: official
The account
Reusch is said to have cut off an ear as a souvenir. Ernest Hemingway opened 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' (1936) with it: 'No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.' The spot is still called Leopard Point; the carcass later vanished.
The sceptical view
Leopards and other animals do occasionally stray onto high slopes; who first saw it is disputed.