Wolfman- I read something about Killamanjaro recently that seemed to be saying that it would be snow free very soon and this is not to do with Climate Change but because the snow had in fact been slowly retreating since the Ice Age. The clincher was the statement that ther was no new snow since then because it NEVER snowed there.

Is this so? This seems very unlikely to me, especially as the point was that it is too near the Equator for snow, and I know it snows on the top of Kawaii in Hawaii. I've seen the ski-runs!! Maybe though it has something to do with the availability of water? Sounds like you had a very scary moment or two!!