Just over a year ago, my husband and I summited Mt. Kilimanjaro while on our honeymoon, a three week backpacking trip through Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. While there’s nothing overtly romantic about sub-zero camping, it’s one of our favorite shared experiences. We had never faced anything like it together, a purely physical challenge. I had never even really climbed a mountain before. Despite these completely reasonable misgivings about what lay in store for us, we embarked excited, hopeful, and ready for adventure.
We certainly learned a lot about ourselves and each other over the next week. It turns out that I, for example, am not coordinated enough to use walking poles without stumbling over them. We learned about surviving on the mountain too, the things that worked and the things that didn’t. Camelbacks, for example, were perfect for the trek until the summit night. The extreme temperatures cause the water to freeze in the hose, rendering it useless. (Tip: Blow the water back into the bladder every time you drink from it; your body heat keeps the bladder from freezing, and the air keeps the hose functioning.)
If you’re planning your own adventure and considering Kilimanjaro, I’ve compiled a list of lessons learned below, from choosing the right tour operator to what equipment to rent.
The Company
There are hundreds of tour companies that provide guides and porters for travelers interested in climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, each one shouting high success rates and client testimonials, clamoring to be heard over the rest. We hiked with Team Maasai and could not recommend them more highly. We chose them initially for their very competitive pricing. They go in to greater detail on their website, but Team Maasai is affiliated with a larger, more well-known, and much more expensive outfit. Team Maasai keeps their prices low by working with more junior guides, using equipment donated by their parent company, and adopting a more minimalist approach to camping. To put that in perspective, our guide, despite his “lesser experience,” had summited the mountain well over one hundred times. “Minimalist” meant that we did not have a separate dining tent, we slept on mattress pads instead of a raised platform, and we only had three courses per meal. Camping with Team Maasai continues to be the most luxurious camping trip I’ve ever experienced.
But the tour operators do more than the logistics of camping. We saw time and again passing other groups on the mountain that the relationship between the guides and the hikers dictated the tone of entire trip. One couple, hiking with a different operator, noted they were surprised to see us talking and joking with our guides. Their guide rarely spoke to them, they explained, and they usually saw him as only a dot in the distance. Our guides hiked with us, encouraging us and cajoling us in to moving just a bit quicker. They taught us conversational Swahili, or at least tried to. Though they were our age, if not younger, they worried that we were too cold, or not sleeping well, or not eating enough. They were individually invested not just in our success, but in our happiness along the way.
The Route
There are several routes to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, and choosing one isn’t easy, especially if you’re working with either a budget or a schedule. The two shortest routes, Machame and Marangu, are also the two most popular, which means you can look forward to crowded trails, full campsites, and litter. Though Machame is the most popular, it only has a 60% success rate, since many climbers think short means easy. Both these routes give you the shortest time for acclimitization, which increases your risk of altitude sickness, and correspondingly the odds that you’ll turn back before reaching the summit.
We spent seven days hiking the Lemosho trail, which is the shortest recommended time for the journey and which we found doable, if occasionally a little brutal. Lemosho is a newer route. Instead of taking the most direct path to the summit, it incorporates the scientific principles behind acclimitization, which include a gradual ascent. We chose Lemosho because due to its windy length, you see more of the mountain during the trek. Each day we passed through a new climate zone, moving steadily from the rainforest, complete with monkeys, orchids, and mosquitos, to moorlands, and eventually the arctic desert, devoid of animal or plant life. By the fourth day of our hike, we felt like we’d reached another, vaguely uninhabitable planet. The towering rock formations and oceans of red shale looked more like Mars than Earth.
Training
I absolutely believe that anyone in a reasonable degree of good health can successfully summit Kilimanjaro, barring circumstances outside our control – namely weather and our bodies’ natural response to altitude sickness. If you are in great shape, the trek will certainly be more enjoyable for you. But if, like the rest of us, you’d put yourself in the fair to moderate category (be honest, it’s just us) you’ll just have to tolerate a greater degree of discomfort. Reaching the summit is as much a feat of mental stamina as physical strength, because turning back will always be easier than continuing.
I remember the night that we summited, though some parts are hazier than others. I remember that we all wore black coats in the darkness, all that was visible the bright circles of white light on the snow lit up by our headlamps. I remember a few hours or days into climbing, I stopped being able to catch my breath, no matter how slowly we walked. I gasped for hours, imagining that I could feel every muscle in my chest, my lungs, my ribs, contracting and expanding with my search for oxygen. I think I kept looking up, since not even in the Sahara had I seen the Milky Way so clearly, but the effort made me dizzy. We summited at sunrise, after 5 hours and 45 minutes of climbing, scrambling over snowdrifts and icy rocks. I think I started crying, but the tears froze instantly to my face.
The Packing List
I know that anyone planning a trip to Kilimanjaro has packed a suitcase before, so I’m not including the easy, obvious things on this list. If you don’t know that you need to bring gloves and sunscreen, please don’t attempt this hike. I’m only including things I either did forget, or would have forgotten if left to my own devices, things that are specific to this trip. Rest assured that no matter what you bring, it’s probably a lot more than you need. In addition to the below, we rented cold weather sleeping bags, sleeping pads, snow pants and jackets, gators, and walking poles, all of which were more than suitable for our needs.
Headlamp. I know I’ve already broken my this-should-be-obvious rule, but I cannot tell you how profoundly terrifying the latrines would have been without this. See the side effects of taking Diamox for additional information.
Medicine. Bring your anti-inflammatory of choice, because no person is accustomed to lengthy, strenuous hiking followed by sleeping on the ground. I also suggest Diamox, which improves the body’s ability to absorb oxygen and eases the transition to higher altitude. And finally, an ace bandage, malaria medicine, and cypro, because Africa.
Hand warmers. There are two kinds of hand warmers out there – the kind activated by oxygen, and the kind activated by some other kind of dark magic. We discovered that the hand warmers we had purchased and jealously guarded for summit day were oxygen-activated, which meant they failed at altitude. I would recommend bringing the other kind.
Vicks VapoRub. I know this is weirdly specific, but this is a tried and true Kilimanjaro trick. I wish I could take credit for inventing it. The menthol in Vicks helps your airway open when you put it under your nose, making it a little easier to breathe at altitude. Disclaimer: Please note that a) it makes you look ridiculous, b) I am not a medical professional and c) the company website says to be careful not to inhale it accidentally. Consider yourselves warned.
A book. Depending on your route and fitness level, you’ll reach most of the campsites between 12:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon, particularly if you’ve opted for a longer trek. There were still be quite a few hours until darkness and trust me, you won’t feel like exploring.
Powdered drink mix. You know how food always tastes better when you cook it over a campfire? I can now say the same about gatorade. Powdered sports drink packages were a surprising game changer in our Kilimanjaro trek; bring enough to share with your guides and porters.
A helmet cam. Pictures alone do not do the Roof of Africa justice. We used the GoPro Hero 3 and, even though we’re amateurs, have some amazing footage. Capturing the experience on camera provides an entirely different depth than just photographs.
The Descent
I thought that summiting Kilimanjaro was the greatest feeling in the world, until I reached the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain. Getting off the mountain felt like more of a victory than reaching the top. The conditions certainly played a part in my perception – the summit of Kilimanjaro is characterized by glaciers, freezing winds, and a lack of oxygen. The bottom, however, is warm and humid. There are actual, real bathrooms and a convenience store selling, among other things, cold beer. I have never been so happy to wash my face and drink a beer at 9 in the morning in my life. It’s the little things.
Let’s be fearless,
Jen