Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like a leprous above this Africa heat

The story:

My mother and I were discussing song lyrics we had gotten wrong. I told her I had misheard the "leprous" line and a
radio dj had said the "correct" line -
"rises like an empress". We laughed heartily at his stupidity and sang the rest of the song.Then she pointed out I also had the "Serengeti" line wrong. I refused to believe her and told her I'd look it up here.Still can't believe it!