Doing Kilimanjaro the right way – by Henry Stedman
Put off climbing Africa’s Highest Mountain by stories of overcrowding and concerns and the exploitation of locals? Henry Stedman, author of the bestselling guide to Kilimanjaro for the last 18 years, can help. The director of top trekking company Kilimanjaro Experts, explains how to climb ethically while still having fun – as well as maximising your chances of getting to the top!
It’s very easy to not climb Kilimanjaro. Many are the ‘excuses’ that people employ to delay setting foot on Africa’s highest mountain.
These are the ones that I hear most often:
- I’d rather have a more relaxing holiday. Because if I am going to feel lousy and have a thumping headache when I’m abroad, then I’d rather it was because I’d drunk too much, rather than a potentially fatal lack of oxygen.
- It’s cold up there.
- It’s potentially dangerous.
- The paths are overcrowded.
- I’ve heard that the trails are strewn with litter discarded by previous trekkers.
- It costs thousands of pounds/dollars just in park fees.
- There are rumours that the porters and mountain teams who work on Kilimanjaro are exploited and poorly paid….
- Aren’t there dangerous animals up there?
Now some of these fears can be allayed immediately. True, occasionally there is a little bit of rubbish on the mountain. However there are also cleaning crews whose very job is to trek on all the trails picking up litter as they go.
Dangerous Wildlife
And as for dangerous wildlife – well, I wish there was! I have an old guide book on Kilimanjaro, dating back to the 1960s, that states the following:
‘Millard considers that the elephant population of Kilimanjaro is of the order of 1,500 and from personal observation this appears to be a very reasonable estimate.’
‘Giraffe have been seen by Millard in heavy forest within the montane forest belt.’
‘Up to about 1950, Rhinoceros were often encountered in the forest above Marangu…They are still to be found from West Kilimanjaro where their position is fairly good around to Kitenden where their numbers have been considerably reduced.’
‘Wild Dogs have been seen in the Mandera [sic] (Bismark) hut area and in the country to the south of Mawenzi (Forest Division).’
Beware of elephants!
Just for the record, elephants do still wander up the slopes of Kilimanjaro. In particular from Amboseli and from the West Kilimanjaro corridor. Disappointingly, though, in nothing like the numbers recorded above. Giraffe are seldom, if ever, recorded on the mountain now. It’s feasible, though, that they too may wander up the northern and western slopes. The total population of rhino in the whole of Tanzania is now less than fifty. Furthermore, the nearest to Kilimanjaro is now well over 100km away in Ngorongoro Crater to the west or Mkomazi National Park to the south-east. Wild dogs are so rare now in Tanzania that a website has even been set up so that those fortunate enough to spot one can tell the world about it!
So in all probability you will see virtually nothing during your time on the mountain beyond the occasional monkey or mouse. Nevertheless, keep your mouth shut and your eyes open and you never know…
Let’s be fair
But let’s be fair to the people who cite the reasons for not wanting to climb Kilimanjaro. There is at least a grain of truth in many of the reasons they cite for delaying, at least, their ascent of Africa’s highest mountain. Indeed, if you’re not careful it’s quite easy to end up trekking on an overcrowded route, freezing your bits off inside an inadequate tent with a company that exploits its workers – and paying thousands for the privilege too.
But nevertheless, having climbed the mountain more than thirty times, I still think that getting to the highest point on the African continent is one of the best things you’ll ever do. And to judge from the messages I get, so do most people who’ve attempted to get to the summit).
The secret to having a wonderful trek, is that you have to climb Kilimanjaro the right way. That means going with the right company, on the right route, at the right time. This means you can avoid, or at least mitigate against, the problems outlined above.
So here are five golden rules to follow in order to make sure your trek is ethical, affordable, successful – and fun!
1) Choose your company carefully
This is perhaps the most important decision you’ll make. More important than when to trek, or which route to take. It’s true that there’s only so much that a company can do to maximise your chances of getting to the top. But a good company will go a long way to making sure your trek is an enjoyable one. They’ll have better food, better, more knowledgeable guides, and better equipment too. A decent company will also have well-practised procedures in place to evacuate you should there be an emergency. This is something that, I’m afraid, the poorer companies just won’t have, preferring instead to rely on luck.
But your decision on which company to use should be based on more than just how much you’ll enjoy the experience with them, and how much they improve your chances of getting to the summit. It should also matter to you how well they treat their porters and other mountain crew. Many are the stories of porters being paid a pittance, or not being paid at all. Of them being overburdened with too much to carry. Being sent up the mountain even though they have no cold-weather clothes. Or stories of them climbing in flip-flops; and of dying, alone and lost, on Kilimanjaro.
Look after your porters
The best way to make sure your porters are well cared for is to trek only with a company that is a KPAP partner. KPAP is the NGO that looks after the welfare of porters, guides and other staff on the mountain. They monitor every trek that a partner company makes to ensure that it complies with a set of standards that guarantees that the porters are well treated – and well paid. Simply put: no matter what assurances your trekking company gives you, if they are not a KPAP partner, then you shouldn’t go with them. It’s as simple as that.
Of course, even if you do climb with a KPAP partner company, you still can’t be sure that they are a good company. Just because they treat their porters right doesn’t mean to say they’ll treat you right too! This is why, in the Kilimanjaro guide, many pages are spent reviewing the companies who work on Kilimanjaro. Consequently we can sort out the good, from the not so good – and the downright dreadful.
Value for money
Many pages also look at which companies offer decent value for money. Because most of the time when one company is charging US$3000 for a climb, while another charges more than double that, I struggle to see why there’s such a discrepancy in price, or how the expensive company can justify charging so much!
It’s true that climbing Kilimanjaro is not cheap. The park fees alone are around US$1000 per person. And then you have to factor in the wages of your porters and guides. Then there’s the food you take with you. Plus of course there are the flights to and from Tanzania. There’s travel insurance, the equipment you need to be buy for the trip, and so on and so on. But there’s no need to turn an expensive trip into an extortionate one. It is still possible to get companies that offer better value for money than other ones.
2) Choose the right route
There are six official routes ascending the slopes of Kilimanjaro, as well as a couple of unofficial ones too. Each have their own character. Choosing the right one for you is important if you want to make your trek as enjoyable – and successful – as possible.
If you don’t fancy the idea of climbing with hordes of people, for example, then I would avoid the Machame and Marangu Routes. These are both pretty but both hopelessly overcrowded at times. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Umbwe is wonderfully quiet and beautiful too. But it’s also regarded as the most difficult route on Kili. The steep gradients that you have to tackle might lessen your chances of acclimatising successfully.
A quiet trail
Finding a quiet trail that allows you to acclimatise is, obviously, the goal of most people. The longer trail such as the eight-day Lemosho Route would seem to perfect. However, this joins up with the Machame Route after four days. Thus you still have the problems of overcrowding from there to the summit. For this reason, we recommend one of the unofficial routes, such as Kilimanjaro Experts’ own Alternative Lemosho Route. This not only allows you to avoid the crowds, but has the best success rate of any route on Kilimanjaro. And perhaps you can’t afford the time or money for an eight-day trek. The best seven-day option, in my opinion, is the Rongai Route. This again enjoys a high success rate and is relatively quiet.
3) Plan carefully when you’re going to climb.
Read most websites about Kilimanjaro, and they’ll tell you that Kilimanjaro is open all year. However there are two rainy seasons on the mountain, November- December and April-May, when you shouldn’t climb.
But actually, the subject of when to climb is a lot more nuanced than that. For one thing, it doesn’t rain all day every day during the rainy season. Just as it’s rare to have a trek at any time on Kilimanjaro when it doesn’t chuck it down for at least one afternoon, even during the dry seasons. What’s more, it’s certainly quieter on Kilimanjaro during the monsoons. And that tranquillity, and the feeling that you’ve got the entire mountain to yourself, is just delightful.
The best two months
But it is true that, if you do choose to trek during the monsoon season, even if it doesn’t rain as much as you’d feared the chances are your views will be obscured by clouds. What’s more, if you do get rained on, it can be hard to get your clothes dry. Thus your chances of getting very cold, indeed of freezing, are greatly increased. Climbing Kilimanjaro is something you’re likely to do only once. It’s therefore probably best to choose a time when it’s not likely to bucket it down every afternoon.
For these reasons, my two favourite months to climb are March and October. Why? well, both of them should still enjoy decent weather, with few showers and clear skies. But both, too, are close to the rainy seasons. For this reason they’re often avoided by the majority of climbers, who prefer September (the busiest month) and February.
4) Get fit
It’s a question I get asked a lot: how fit does one need to be to climb Kilimanjaro? And my answer tends to surprise a lot of people too. Because in response I usually say that you don’t need to be fit – you just need to be ‘not unfit’. To give you an example, I am fifty years old now and I have had a knee operation. Apart from walking the dog for an hour every day, I don’t do that much exercise. But I don’t have trouble getting to the top of Kilimanjaro. Sure, I get a headache, usually on day 3 – but it’s gone by the next morning. And yes, I do have the advantage of having climbed it before – so I know not to be scared of the climb.
Avoiding failure isn’t difficult
But my age, injury and relative lack of fitness is not a hindrance. And nor should it be for you. Just remember the following:
- Kilimanjaro is not a climb, it’s a trek. So all you need to do to get to the top is put one foot in front of another. (And as we have now seen several wheelchair users get to the summit, even that requirement is no longer essential!) There is no technical climbing involved at all.
- The vast majority of people who fail to get to the summit do so because of altitude sickness and not being able to acclimatise properly to the lack of oxygen that you take in when breathing at high altitude. And it doesn’t matter how fit you are. Whether you acclimatise properly is largely down to luck and whether or not you follow a few simple rules on the mountain (about which, see below). Being fit has no impact on your ability to acclimatise safely.
Nevertheless, how fit you are does have an impact on how much you enjoy your trek. You are not going to enjoy your time on the mountain if you spend your whole time wheezing, sweating and swearing your way to the summit, because you found the walk such hard going.
5) Do whatever it takes to acclimatise on the mountain
For most people, a trek on Kilimanjaro can only be considered successful if they get to the summit. If that sounds like you, then the bottom line is, you need to avoid getting altitude sickness. In other words, you need to acclimatise properly. And the best way to do that, is to follow these five simple rules:
i) Walk slowly
Emulate the deliberate, careful tread of an elderly, cautious elephant. Or a jaunty tortoise. Taking time as you climb gives your body more time to acclimatise. This will help you avoid altitude sickness – the number one reason why people fail to reach the summit.
ii) Drink plenty
Aim for at least three litres per day. Water, not beer. Some experts say that drinking plenty of fluids has only a negligible effect on how well you acclimatise. Others say it’s vital. So better to play it safe and drink plenty and often.
iii) Eat well
Don’t worry, it’s very unlikely you’ll gain weight on your trek on the mountain. Indeed, your body is working so hard on Kili just keeping you functioning with less oxygen to work with. So in all probability you’ll lose weight on Kili, even if you do nothing. Even if the altitude is causing you to lose your appetite, make sure you tuck in!
iv) Climb up to high altitude before you arrive
If you’ve got a mountain in your back garden, now’s the time to climb it. With altitude sickness the number one reason why people fail to get to the summit, any preparations you can do that help with acclimatisation will reduce your chances of failure. And there is no better way of making sure you are acclimatised properly on Kili than by climbing to high altitude before you even reach the mountain. How high? Well, as high as possible, really. If you happen to live near a mountain that’s as high as Kili, and get to the top of it, then by the time you get to Kili you should already be fully acclimatised. (As long as the gap you leave between climbing the mountains is less than a week).
v) Take drugs
Some people may call it cheating. There are still some people who doubt their efficacy. They believe that rather than ward off altitude sickness, drugs just mask the symptoms. But in my opinion it’s clear that drugs such as Diamox are a pretty surefire way of avoiding altitude sickness if taken prophylactically, or curing it if you’ve got some early symptoms.
Henry Stedman
Contact Henry at henry@kilimanjaroexperts.com
You may also be interested in:
www.climbmountkilimanjaro.com where you can keep abreast of the latest developments on the mountain on this Kili based website.
Henry’s best selling Kilimanjaro: The Trekking Guide to Africa’s Highest Mountain.
