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This is a review of a
climb by Dave of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. This article focuses solely on
the climb with little other detail about travel in Tanzania or other
travel information. Stay tuned for the following upcoming articles about
eastern Africa on Dave’s Travel Corner: General information for
traveling in Kenya and Tanzania, traveling in The Serengeti,
Zanzibar, and
information about the peaceful town of
Lamu on the Kenyan coast, just
south of the Somalia border.
[Mt. Meru from 17,500 feet up
Kilimanjaro]
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Mt. Kilimanjaro sits
just north of the Equator in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa. It rests on the
Tanzania-Kenyan border and stands 19,340 feet tall (5895 meters). It is
the world’s largest freestanding volcano and one of the world’s seven
summits (the tallest mountain on each of the 7 continents).
When initially
researching climbing companies I found ten, of which I would eventually
choose one. For the price, the route, the guides, and service Dave chose
Mountain Madness. Many of you may remember this company. They were
featured in news stories during the spring of 1996. This was one of the
companies that was guiding during an ill-fated day when tragedy hit Mount
Everest. “Into Thin Air” a book by Jon Krakauer, was based on the
incidents that occurred on Everest during May 10, 1996.
Dave chose Mountain
Madness because of their slow climb schedule, which left more time for
acclimatization. They have a good client to guide ratio. They were
climbing the least traveled route. They have a good overall reputation.
There
are several routes on Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are the Machame, Umbwe, Mweka,
Marangu, and the Shira plateau route. By far the most popular, fastest to
the top, and cheapest route is the so-called “coca cola” route. I
highly do NOT recommend taking this route. While it is cheap, and
you can organize a climb on the fly, you will most likely have problems,
with the guides, the food, and the altitude. Time and time again people
have told me about their bad experiences on the “coca-cola” route.
They said they took this route because they didn’t want to spend a lot
of time on the mountain and they didn’t want to pay very much. I bring
up the old adage at this time “you get what you pay for.” Many had
tales of guides abandoning them, bad food and bad water. Most had stories
about climbing too fast and getting altitude sickness.
Of the people who attempt this mountain only approximately 20%
actually make it to the top. One of the reasons for this low percentage is
that most people take the “coca-cola” route.
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