In most cases a handful of routes are used that cram the budget climbers along heavily trammeled trails and into littered and congested campsites. Kilimanjaro increasingly these days is becoming a venture travel machine.

I was very fortunate in Sept of 2009 to be invited on a little experimental climb to explore the seldom used Northern Circuit of Kilimanjaro. This turned out to be one of the rarest experiences on the mountain – five days of almost completed undisturbed hiking in a remote and unexpectedly beautiful quarter of the Kilimanjaro National Park.

Rongai and the Northern Circuit

Rongai is certainly back-end of Kilimanjaro, and with a complex entry arrangement and a long journey to the gate, it is not particularly popular with budget outfitters. This is the main drawback, but another is the fact that the scenic tableau is not quite as dramatic as on the more popular Southern Circuit. Another factor that weighs heavily against Rongai is that after a couple of days it links up with the Marangu Route at which point it becomes a zoo.

The Northern Circuit, however, peels off at about 2 o’clock and veers westward to circumnavigate Kibo Crater along it northern extremity. From that point we saw not another soul. Our group, three old climbing buddies and a last minute addition, enjoyed three nights at superbly located campsites entirely by ourselves. The clean campsites and narrow trails all attested to the fact that very few people make this particular journey.

The landscape of the Northern Circuit differs distinctly from the south It is drier, more moon-like and on occasions bleakly forbidding. To the north the countrysides diminishes through a slow progression of undulations towards the vast expanse of the Masai Steppe and Ambroseli and Tsavo National Parks in Kenya. Kibo Crater is ever present with almost no sign of the glaciers that overflow the southern slopes. Fields of paper dry everlasting daises are almost all can adapt to grow on these hostile boulder fields and lifeless plains of slate and dry stone. Water is hard to find and campsites are widely spaced. There is a deep and eerie silence everywhere that is broken abruptly as the trail swings suddenly southwards and we stumble into Moir Camp.

Here the trail from Shira to Lava Tower passes, and suddenly there are hundreds of porters like a huge flock of starlings moving forwards and back along a meter wide channel that is the trail. Lava Tower Camp has that all to familiar stink of human excrement and is crowded with tents, seething with porters and festooned with litter. Strangely it hardly matters. At this point our minds are focused less on the aesthetics than the hard business of altitude and fatigue, and the pending challenge of the Western Breach.

The Western Breach

The summit experience begins at Lava Tower, and continues at Arrow Glacier just a few hundred meters and a kilometer or so distant. The Western Breach seems less than it is. Through the most all that is visible is a nearly perpendicular skree that is obscured by perspective. When we begin the climb it is a case of one step in front of the other. Pole-pole…the defining mantra of any meaningful Kilimanjaro climb. A few selected porter pass up and continue upwards towards Crater Camp. Seven hours of solid but unremarkable climbing see us over the lip of the crater and at the end of the Furtwangler Glacier.

At this altitude the sun shines, it is surprisingly warm and the porters, although a little less gregarious, are still joyfully exuberant. A few of them are collecting water from the glacier runoff and they congratulate us as we pass by on our way towards Crater Camp.

For me this was the only real disappointment of the expedition. Crater Camp was a shit-hole…see my article on The Beginning of the End of Crater Camp. It was a case of grin and bear the horror for the last few hundred meters to the summit, a little tomfoolery for the sake of photographs, and a scramble down to collapse in the sunshine and try and level the metabolism gasping at 19000ft…

Homeward…

We had big plans to explore the Ash Pit but as dawn broke on our penultimate day the temperature was horrifying and the lack of basic motivation at such altitudes had us directing our noses south and plunging down towards the more accommodating altitude of Mweka Camp….

In conclusion I would recommend Rongai Route to anyone. If you can afford a few dollars more, and do your homework to make sure you sign up with a good outfitter, it is the way to climb this beautiful mountain. Get in touch with me if you need any more info on this climb, or any other pointers in getting up and down Kilimanjaro…

The occupation of sub-Saharan Africa by the old-world European powers had been underway for some time by the time the general rush for territory began in the late 19th century. The first arrivals were the Portuguese who rounded the Cape in 1488 and gradually brought the coast regions of the continent into European record. It was not however until the large-scale occupation of the hinterland of the Congo River by the Belgian Crown in 1876 that other major European powers were prompted to devise a system of rules for the occupation of Africa. This was achieved at a summit of European leaders later known as the Berlin Conference of 1884/5

In the wake of the consequent seizure of vast tracts of African territory a surge of detailed exploration followed. This sought to map the continent and to lay to rest many of the geographic conundrums that had absorbed cartographers and theorists for centuries. Among these, of course, where Africa’s great mountains, and something of rush to achieve the summit of Kilimanjaro followed. This pitted some of the great contemporary names in exploration and colonial administration with academics and intellectuals of such august halls of learning as the Royal Geographic Society. It was fitting, however, that in the end, since it was Germany that held imperial title to the territory surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro, that a German should be the first to mount the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, and to confirm for the world exactly what lay at the top.

It was on October 5 1889 that German Geology professor Hans Meyer, Marangu Army Scout Yoanas Kinyala Lauwo and Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller trudged to the top of the ‘…weather-beaten lava summit with three ringing cheers, and in virtue of my right as its first discoverer christened this hitherto unknown – the loftiest spot in Africa and the German Empire – Kaiser Wilhelm’s Peak.’

The achievement was less one of epic mountaineering than a triumph of logistics. With the forest clad flanks of Kilimanjaro unbroken by coffee shops and taverns, and the vast plains in either direction interrupted only by lakes or ocean, it was a matter of laying the foundation of a successful summit by use of supplementary camps and the careful portage of supplies. Kilimanjaro was then as it remains now a modest challenge in pure mountaineering terms, but in 19th century Africa it was an heroic journey into the interior, chronicled in Meyer’s book Across East African Glaciers, a must read for any genuine mountain enthusiast.

The Basic Geology of Kilimanjaro

What Hans Meyer discovered at the top of Kilimanjaro was what is nowadays known as the Reusch Crater; the last surviving relic of an ancient volcano that itself emerged as part of the formation of the Great Rift Valley. Also Meyer was able to plot the positions of the famous glaciers that even then had begun to recede. Kilimanjaro is an extraordinary structure, a free standing mountain that is part of no range, but linked in origin to nearby Mount Meru, the craters within the Ngorongoro complex, and of course Mount Kenya, Mount Rwenzori and the vast network of lakes that filled the cracks in between.

Three volcanoes, the summits of which are Kibo and Mawenzi and Shira, make up Mount Kilimanjaro. Shira is the oldest and the most decayed of the three. Its gradual collapse created the huge caldera that is the principal feature of the mountain summit. Mawenzi was the second peak to rise out of the massif, while the last sustained eruption was that of Kibo which, after regular and sustained activity over hundreds of thousands of years, pressed the summit skyward more or less to the level that exists today.

The mountain is peppered by a number of smaller parasitic cones that add somewhat to the geologic nature of the mountain. Overall however it is the distinctive black obsidian rock from the cataclysmic birth of Kibo that blankets much of the mountains in the modern age and lends it so much of its current character. The most recent volcanic activity occurred a little over 200 years ago and resulted in the formation of The Ash Pit within the Reusch Crater itself.

The Holy Grail of all Kilimanjaro climbers is Uhuru Peak that is the highest point of Kibo, and the highest point of the mountain. Uhuru is one of those all encompassing terms that in direct translation means simply ‘Freedom’, but more generally can be compared perhaps to the revolutionary cry of ‘Liberty, Equality & Brotherhood’ that was the harbinger of the French Revolution. It is a call to action, and Uhuru Peak celebrates Tanzanian independence from Britain in 1961. It stands at 19 340ft tall and is the highest point in Africa.

Flora & Fauna of Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro is an area of unique ecological interest. This is due mainly to its significant altitude variants and its situation more or less adjacent to the equator. This gives the mountain an ecological character that, although perhaps not immediately apparent to a lay habitué of East African Mountains, is unique. On the surface the distinct altitudinal vegetation zones are easy to identify, and these include from base upwards: plateau, semi arid scrub, cultivated and well watered slopes, thick cloud forest, open moorland, alpine desert and moss and lichen rock fields.

There are those who have devoted a lifetime study to the flora of Kilimanjaro, and even then have only scratched the surface. Diversity is the key word, and in certain species, such as the cloud forest orchids, these can experience relatively rapid evolution causing some merging of species and some confusion as to what is a species, a sub-species or merely a localised variation on an established theme.

The main floral features of Kilimanjaro are the Giant Lobelia, or Lobelia deckenii, a curious plant with an otherworldly structure and occasional gigantism thanks to high rainfall and intense tropical solar radiation. Another is the Tree Grounsel, or Senico Kilimanjari, a local variation of a common mountain plant seen on both Mount Kenya and Rwenzori. Another feature of the ecology is a selection of Protea varieties that again are a standard African highland floral species. These most commonly form part of the Cape Fynbos family. It is in fact a commercial species in many parts of Africa. The crisp, dry textured daisies that proliferate in many forms beyond the forest belt are the ubiquitous everlasting daisies, a perennial favourite in and pot pourri, and again a species common to most tropical highland regions of Africa.

A type of diminutive wild cedar of the Widdringtonia variety grows in what is known as heather fields of Kilimanjaro, and although not a heather in strict terms it certainly does give the slopes a temperate highland feel.

Animal and birdlife in the lower forests compete in every respect with the flora for sheer diversity. What can mostly be seen and heard are the larger primates consisting of the piebald Colobus Monkeys, Blue Monkeys and of course the ubiquitous baboons. Forest elephants, giraffe and buffalo are all rare and secretive forest dwellers, but a chance encounter now and again is distinctly possible along certain routes.

Known disparagingly as a sky rat the white-collared raven is a very common sight. Sometimes a single pair will track a climbing party for an entire trip in the hope of bounty, and they have on occasions been known to advance their fortunes by raiding unattended camps. They are the safe-crackers of the local animal kingdom, and can unzip a backpack and locate a bag of noodles or candy with uncanny skill. They also mate for life and a single specimen will either be a juvenile or an adult that has lost its mate.

Look out for hornbills, a variety of raptors and a staggering diversity of smaller forest species. On higher ground the presence of life grows increasingly sparse, until eventually even the ravens peel of and leave you to your own devices as you ascend the kill-zone.

Climate

Kilimanjaro has a micro climate thanks its sheer bulk. Rainfall, as can be seen by the gigantism and the dense cloud forest vegetation, is frequent and voluminous. In common with the surrounding countryside the mountain experiences a period of short and long rains. At certain times of the year the joke goes that the short rains are in the morning and the long rains in the afternoon.

The March to May season, or the long rains, occur as moisture laden winds saturate the leading slopes as they ply inland from the coast. A northeast monsoon also occurs between November and February and brings what is known as the short rains. Again it is the leading slopes that receive the lion’s share, meaning that during both of these seasons the southeast facing and northeast facing slopes are the wettest.

In between dry minds blow and the best chance exists of a rainless ascent.

Rain, however, can be a fact of life at any time, and in keeping with mountain weather the world over, can never be predicted and certainly never taken for granted.

Altitude and Other Health Issues

Altitude sickness can range from mild symptoms to an evacuation condition that if ignored can lead to death. It is rare to embark on a climb to an altitude such as that of Kilimanjaro’s summit without experience at least some effects of altitude. Unwilling as can be expected to publicise the number of fatalities that annually occur on the mountain, the Kilimanjaro national Park Authority (KINAPA) are reticent to reveal statistics. However fatalities do occur, and a good number of these can be traced to Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS.

The basic principal of AMS is the body’s inability to cope with a decrease in outside pressure. Some are more prone to this than others, but rarely is anyone immune. In essence the lack of outside pressure results in increased effort to fill the lungs, resulting in oxygen starvation. AMS does not strictly occur as a consequence of diminished oxygen in the atmosphere. Oxygen levels remain largely standard up to an altitude of about 10 miles.

At high altitude AMS can transmute into high altitude pulmonary or cerebral edema that is the accumulation of fluid either in the lungs or on the brain. Headache, nausea, dizziness and fatigue are all the symptoms of this, and an immediate drop in altitude is necessary if these symptoms are severe.

Many operators carry with them a pressure bag that is an inflatable body bag that mimics an increase in atmospheric pressure. However prevention is the best cure, and the adaptability of the body will almost always allow for a successful ascent if a slow and methodical process of adjustment is adopted.

The brand name drug Diamox is the current panacea and prophylactic for those anxious to avoid symptoms of altitude. Diamox stimulate breathing allowing for a greater flow of oxygen to the body.

Coughs and colds are common in the rare atmospheres as the body’s reserves diminish with high physical output, so vitamins and dietary supplements are always a good idea.

Blisters occur with depressing frequency no matter how tough your feet are. Never leave home without a moleskin, or the tough-guy variant of duct tape.

For oldies setting off to climb Kilimanjaro, or any mountain for that matter, an anti-inflammatory for joint pain is essential. Multi-vitamins to keep away minor infections are also advisable, and feet and ankle care should always be a priority.

Kilimanjaro Conservation Issues

With the sheer volume of people who attempt this climb on an annual basis litter is potentially a massive problem on Kilimanjaro. No one should insist on the portage of bottled water because with the best of intentions plastic bottles will end up drifting far and wide on the wind.

Litter in general is a severe problem, and the relative unsophistication of the porters and at times the guides too tends to cause them to pay little attention to this problem. It is everybody’s business to look out for litter, even if it is not of your own origin. A good mountain user will pick up and stash litter wherever he/she sees it.

If you specifically request it a portable lavatory can be portaged up by most outfitters for your convenience. The latrine arrangements at most camps are basic, and at times extremely basic, so for those of a modest or squeamish disposition this might be something worth requesting. If you go in the field make sure you dig a hole and bury your waste and the paper. The sight of soiled paper strung like prayer flags between strands of cedar is never conductive to the spiritual transportation of climbing a mountain.

Never remove plant or animal material, never pick flowers and never light fires.

The Name

The origins of the name Kilimanjaro are lost in time and what theories exist are largely the products of speculation. The most compelling version of many is that the name derived from two words, Kilima, which is a Swahili (a coastal lingua franca disseminated inland by Arabised coastal Africans engaged in trade) word meaning hill or mountain, and Njaro which very loosely in the local KiChagga tongue could mean whiteness, suggesting the rather lyrical and by no means inappropriate name Mountain of Whiteness.

It is a fact however that local natives during the period when these matters began to receive the attentions of linguists and anthropologists had no defining name for the mountain, and instead made reference only to its constituent parts. Kibo, or Kipoo in KiChagga means simply ‘spotted’ and refers to the rock that can be seen standing out against the snow on this peak. Mawenzi, or KiMawenzi means ‘having a broken top’, and certainly that describes Mawenzi today. Shira refers simply to a sub-group, or an area under that sub-group, itself under the general KiChagga linguistic group.

The People of Kilimanjaro

The people of the surrounding area of Kilimanjaro are of the Chagga language group, a Bantu derivative people who are believed to have made their home under the shadow of the mountain some 400 years ago. While in the days of Hans Meyer they were reasonably powerful and widespread in the region, in recent years with the rise of urbanization and urban migration it is inevitable that their influence is being rapidly diluted.

Mount Meru

Also a volcanic cone, Mount Meru is overshadowed by Kilimanjaro, but is by any standards a mammoth mountain in its own right. It obviously enjoys limited attention thanks to its even bigger cousin. At 14 980ft it is some 5000ft lower than Kilimanjaro, but still has a snowcap, and still achieves a respectable altitude. Many climbers attack Mount Meru first and then go on to tackle Kilimanjaro. It is an active volcano with relatively recent activity, and is the centerpiece of the Arusha National Park. Most outfitters who offer a Kilimanjaro package will make arrangements for a summit of Meru. The mountain is situated some 70km west of Kilimanjaro.

After Climb Safaris

Kilimanjaro is situated in a wider region of tremendous natural and geographic diversity. Within easy reach of the adjacent towns of Moshi and Arusha lie the two ‘A’ list wildlife conservancies of Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. Added to this are the smaller wildlife parks of Manyara National Park, associated with Lake Manyara, Tarangire National Park, Arusha National Park and Lake Eyasi. These are all rewarding safari areas which in combination make for an absolutely superb safari.

For the amateur and professional anthropologist Olduvai Gorge, the site of excavations that revealed mankind’s earliest ancestors, can be explored on foot or through a small but well-appointed museum. There are besides this a handful of private game reserves in the region, and a significant number of scenic luxury game lodges, tented camps and associated hotels.

Expect to feel a bit of a pain in your pocket book if you sign up for a Tanzania Safari – Tanzania is one of the priciest safari destinations in Africa – but with all this going for it, and with the consequent burden of conservation, it is hardly surprising that the wildlife management authorities in the country rack up a premium.

Kili is a big mountain

It soars at its highest point to 19340ft. It is among the seven continental giants, and sits high on the global mountaineering must do list for anyone claiming the status of a mountain enthusiast. It is, however, one of the easiest of the Big Seven. That is not to say it is a walkover, far from it, but it is less a mountaineering experience that an extended trek, and as a consequence it is one of the few big mountains of the world that almost anyone of moderate fitness has a fighting chance of summiting.

Kili is not a cheap mountain to climb

Tanzania is home to some of the world’s premier wildlife parks and nature conservancies, and as a poor country it relies more on tourism dollars than government grants to sustain this heritage. Added to this the use of local guides and porters is mandatory. This is part of a general effort by the Tanzanian authorities to insure that local people are not insulated from the benefits accrued by tourism. So as you part with your dollars to make this climb, take comfort from the knowledge that your are contributing directly to the maintenance of the local ecology, and the support of local communities.

First Aid

Guides are as a rule trained up to first aid level. This allows them to dress wounds, administer CPR and to dispense non-prescription painkillers while they await the arrival or paramedics. Any pain medication beyond over-the-counter strength analgesics that you feel you might require, and any specific medications you need, are your own responsibility.

It is advisable to carry a small personal medical kit for your own day to day use. In attending to random aches and pains, blisters, stings bites and rashes it always makes sense to be self sufficient, no matter what might be offered by your operator.

Search and rescue

Emergency rescue procedures on the mountain are the shared responsibility of the Tanzanian National Parks Authority and the individual operators conducting any particular trip. Each climber pays a US$20 rescue levy that covers the eventuality of evacuation. Trained rescue personnel are posted at all the camps above 3000m. Rescue is usually a bumpy ride down on a single wheeled gurney. This is an incentive to avoid injury.

Air search and rescue is dependent on the availability of private helicopters or fixed wing aircraft that on a volunteer basis will participate in any aerial support. Thanks to the fact that Kilimanjaro is situated along the Serengeti/Ngorongoro axis, many private aircraft are stationed in the area at any given time for tourist use, allowing for almost guaranteed availability in the instance of a serious situation.

Certain operators make use of Global Rescue services which is an international rescue facility offering medical evacuation and emergency response to members under more or less any circumstances, with the potential for hot extraction from the mountainside, usually in combination with a local aircraft supplier.

Water

The water in the steams and rivers along the way is clean and usually palatable, but as a precaution a portable water filter is an excellent item of personal baggage, along with water purification tablets. If you do drink the water directly from the streams, try and make a point of selecting small, peripheral watercourses that feed into the main rivers, the smaller the better. This is not only the best tasting water, but is likely to be the most recently filtered through the soil, and the cleanest. Make sure that the water provided for drinking by your support crew has been boiled.

Day Pack

Even if the bulk of your kit is portaged on your behalf by your support crew, always carry a day pack, and always pack in your day pack survival kit that will sustain you in the event that you are separated or injured and/or are forced to spend one or more nights out alone. This should include your personal first aid kit, including an emergency blanket, a flashlight, a source of flame, a jacket and warm fleece, water and a small selection of high energy trail snacks.

Food

Usually your operator is responsible for all food on the trail, and it will often be stated that you need bring no supplements. However almost always this does not include snacks, chocolate bars, trail mixes etc that you might require en-route, and certainly not electrolytes, dietary supplement or vitamins. It also rarely includes alcohol. Vegetarianism is an understood concept in rural Africa, and so a specific vegetarian menu preference is easy to accommodate. Veganism, on the other hand, is less well understood, and might require careful monitoring. Food on the whole is basic.

Altitude

The ascent up Kilimanjaro is gradual, which helps considerably in becoming accustomed to increases in altitude. Kilimanjaro rises above the 18000ft level which exposes climbers to the risk of cerebral (brain swelling) or pulmonary (fluid build up in the lungs) edema. Symptoms of the former are a persistent dry cough and shortness of breath while symptoms of the latter are severe headache, loss of equilibrium and eventual loss of consciousness. These are dangerous symptoms and can cause death.

The solution is to at all times listen to the advice of your guide, to not fixate on summiting against the advice of your body and your support crew, and to spend as much time as is necessary adjusting to the altitude.

Kit

Despite being one of the world’s major mountains, Kilimanjaro is a relatively easy climb, and for the most part a benign environment. You do not require alpine level kit, high altitude trekking gear will be sufficient. A good gore-tex system, an intermediate sleeping bag and a good sleeping mat will make all the difference.

Tipping

This can be a very difficult part of your climb. The guides and porters you have with you will by the time they conduct your trip have had plenty of experience in squeezing the maximum gratuity out of weary, and sometimes over-emotional climbers. Tactics from long faces to tears will be employed to stimulate your generosity, and no amount offered will ever be enough. 10% is an oft quoted rule of thumb, but any more than US$100 divided amongst your individual crew might be excessive. Usually the whole group clubs together about US$100 each, or less, which makes for a reasonably tidy whip around. Never hand over the whole lot to your guide to dole out to the porters. The odds are very high that they will get pennies, if anything, and he will keep the lot.

Added to this your crew will often try and secure bits of your kit as an added bonus. This is your call, but bear in mind it is a lucrative side business and is not always related to desperate need.

Tipping must reflect the degree to which you are satisfied, and if you are not satisfied, it is perfectly fair to make that point by being selective about who you tip.

There tend to be few unsatisfied customers at the end of a Kili climb though.

Kilimanjaro’s glaciers have tended to be seen in scientific circles as the canary in the coal mine in the study of current climate change, with sides drawn and debates heated in the matter of whether the iconic mountain’s glaciers are diminishing as a result of global warming, because of reduced snowfall or simply as a matter of natural climatic fluctuations.

How Threatened Are The Glaciers

The view of the National Geographic Society is always good acid test on current thinking in matters such as this, and the National Geographic has been nothing if not active in recent years in drawing attention to climate change. But even this august institution cannot seem to make up its mind on this particular issue.

In a 2003 article on the subject National Geographic echoed the common view that Mount Kilimanjaro’s glacier cap would be gone by 2020, if not sooner. More recently, however, an article was published in the May 2007 online issue that predicted the glaciers might in fact be less threatened than previously thought, and that we could see Kilimanjaro’s defining white crown until at least 2050, if not longer.

What Is Causing The Decline?

What has been established, however, is that the disappearance of the glacier fields of Kilimanjaro seems to have less to do with the broader problems of climate change than rapidly evolving conditions on the ground. Tropical glaciers, including those of the neighboring Rwenzori Mountains and Mount Kenya, have been in retreat for all of this century, with observations tending to define noticeable changes from about 1800 onwards. This, it has also been noticed, corresponds with a drop in the levels of the local Rift Valley lakes, and a general decrease in precipitation.

With or without the added impetus of global warming the accelerated pace of land clearing in the region around the base of the mountain, and in East Africa generally, does indeed concur with a very rapid decrease in ice cover. Mostly this has been blamed on indiscriminate slash and burn agriculture, the loss of canopy cover, and the burning of forest for the sake of gathering honey.

What Can Be Done

It is curtailing this tendency, in fact, that many scientist says is more important than saving the glacier, if in fact that was possible. The assumption that the disappearance of the glacier would automatically dry up the mountain streams that support populations at lower altitudes is faulty, and it is in fact ordinary tropical rainfall on the intermediate slopes that water the lower elevations. It is therefore presumed that the rapid destruction of forest cover is far more potentially catastrophic than the mere loss of a handful of inconsequential glaciers.

Both factors, of course, are interlinked, and both point to hard times ahead if aggressive government and national park action to protect the heavily forested flanks of the mountain fail. Nothing can be done on a local level to affect global warming, and possibly nothing to halt population pressure either, but at least the causes are more local, and if nothing else the revenues from mass tourism, if honestly directed back into the community, would go some way to giving the ecology a value other than direct exploitation.

The Potential Threat To Tourism

Many agencies, however, also plead the fact that tourism too would suffer as a consequence of glacial loss. This might be true to a degree, but to a degree only. People would still be drawn to climb Kilimanjaro because it is what it is, and not because it has lost some part of its historic image. Kilimanjaro is the highest point on the African continent. It is a tropical feature which means that it enjoys a high degree of ecological diversity, which in turn adds much to its fascination. It is moreover one of the continental giants, a major mountain by any standard, and a significant feature on the world mountaineering circuit. As well as all these facts it is also one of a few of the world’s big mountains that is accessible to hikers and trekkers, and will therefore remain popular as a tourist destination with or without its glacier.

Check out an excellent National Geographic video on the Kilimanjaro glacier issue

“I’d been awake most of the night, struggling for breath in the meager air “
Jon Krakauer from “Into Thin Air”

No, this isn’t the newest diet fad or a way to stop someone from choking.

This is the name given to the process of running short of oxygen and being jolted awake by the horrible feeling of suffocation while attempting to sleep at significant altitude. Both my son and I experienced this potential altitude effect while cocooned in our minus-20 rated bags during our memorable night at Crater Camp (18,800ft), before our summit of Kilimanjaro the following morning.

“Sleeping is a problem for most high-altitude climbers due to a phenomenon known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing. While dozing, the climber breathes normally for a minute and then stops completely for thirty seconds. Suddenly, breathing resumes at an accelerated rate. One minute you sound out of breath, the next, dead. It is often more disconcerting for the tent mate than the sleeper.”
John Roskelley from “Nanda Devi, the tragic expedition.”

Please understand this missive is for edification not condemnation because I was the flatlander who had chosen to climb the Western Breach and camp just under the summit. I was the flatlander who thought doing an overnight at 18,800 ft. would be the experience of a lifetime. And I’m the one who wouldn’t trade that sleepless night with my son for anything in the world.

We discovered this phenomenon while attempting a nap before dinner. We had been up, in the predawn chill, climbing to minimize the risk of rock falls on the Breach (the very thing that ultimately closed the route in January of 2006). We had scaled it in just under 5 hours and spent 2 hours exploring the Reusch Crater, the surrounding cinder cones and the mythical iconic glaciers. As we arrived at our moonlike camp nestled between the Furtwrangler Glacier and the foot of the 1000ft summit ridge, our head Tusker guide simply said, “The UV is intense up here, you should stay out of the sun before dinner”. Our oxygen starved brains went “OK” without thought and we lumbered into our much loved, two man Eureka Scorpion tent. We had been on the mountain 9 days to this point and were tired by default. Naps were easy to accomplish. As I recall however, I was the first one to grope to a sitting position gasping for breath but with 50% less oxygen in the air, I have little memory of how we spent the time before dinner or what was said. I don’t even remember dinner.

As night fell we were warm and cozy in our bags but deep sleep again forced our gasps for breath needing 2 to 3 desperate inhalations to regain our oxygen balance.

For whatever reason, (I’ll blame the altitude), I waited until midnight to get up and tell our head guide we were having trouble breathing. He dutifully got up and came to our tent with the pulse oximeters and some oxygen. The oximeters measure blood oxygen content and my numbers were “normal” for 18,800ft. He gave me some O2 but I could breathe just fine while awake and it had no effect. If he would have let me sleep with it I probably could have, but there was only one bottle and one mask. There was no way I would have considered using it if my son couldn’t have the same so I didn’t even ask.

It was then I remembered the dozens of mountaineering books I have read and all the references to, “sleep was out of the question” and “another sleepless night” comments. I looked at my son and said, “Welcome to altitude buddy, what do you want to talk about until morning?”

There was an abundance of quality material to solicit from each other; we’d ascended past a dead climber being dragged down the Breach Route in a tarp earlier in the day, we knew we would summit “easily” (compared to the Western Breach) in an hour when the sun came up and we’d be at 12,500 ft. the next night, we were two nights from our coveted first shower in 11 days and we knew hunger would return so we made lists of all the foods we were going to eat…and lots more.

The gift that was rendered from our sleepless canvass that night wasn’t so much what we said or the stunning beauties of the moon lit cerulean blue glaciers or by stars close enough to pluck from the sky with your finger or even our location on top of Kilimanjaro, the roof of Africa. The true essence of the experience we shared was the opportunity a father and son were given to fight a common foe. No doubt climbing the mountain together was a big part of it but that night keeping each other company and awake, was the exclamation point. I don’t know how many times we clamored, “Can you believe we are on top of Kilimanjaro?”

Since that night forward our good father/son connection became an indestructible bond which has never let our relationship suffer. This would never have happened with such conviction had we been able to sleep.

In all the accounts I’d read while researching our trip everyone seamed to be able to sleep just fine at Crater Camp. The night before at Arrow Glacier Camp we slept without issue at 16,000 ft. so I can’t really say why 2,800 ft made such a difference, but it is, indeed, over a half mile higher into to rarified air.

I still recommend the Crater Camp strategy to anyone who asks because so few take that opportunity (less that 5% of the annual trekkers choose this option) to experience its unique topography and stunning beauty. Summit day starts with an hour pitch up to the top, not an 8-hour slog through the night and standing next to the “Snows of Kilimanjaro” may not be available after 2015 or at least that’s what the “experts” say.

My research never identified Cheyne-Stokes as an issue on Kilimanjaro so I will postulate that we were some of the very few to experience it but my son and I carried priceless equity from our sleepless endeavor none the less.

As expected, when we settled in at our last camp our hunger returned and our trouble sleeping the night before was forgotten. After our exceptionally delicious celebration dinner we slipped into our bags as the sanguine glow of dusk receded and slept like two guys that had just climbed a 19,340-ft mountain.

It is fun to watch the jaws drop on the folks I share this story with now. Most of course, would never dream of climbing Kilimanjaro much less camping at 18,800-ft. When they understand I’d been there however, the first question is always, “What’s it like up there?” Before I answer, I take a breath.

The peaks of Kilimanjaro are the following:Shira Peak (3962 meters), Uhuru Peak (5896 meters) and Mawenzi (5149 meters).

Shira and Mawenzi are both extinct volcanoes. Mawenzi is the third highest peak in Africa after Mount Kenya.

If you look at a modern day map, you will notice how the parallel line to Lake Victoria would keep the mountain in Kenya, but instead if carves right around it. In fact, if you drive around Kenya, you have to be careful as to not pass into Kenya, as it’s very close.

The Chaggas are some of the most educated, wealthy, Tanzanians and many of them are considered businessmen – and hence have moved to Arusha, Moshi and Dar es Salaam. They are primarily involved with coffee, tourism, trading and farming on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

For more details, check out Wikipedia’s perspective on the Chaggas

This is PER PERSON, PER DAY on the mountain.

Daily Charge $60.00
For a six day trip, you would pay $360.00 per person to the Tanzanian government. On a seven day trip, you would pay $420.00 per person.

Night Charge $40.00
For a six day trip, you would pay $200.00 per person to the Tanzanian government. On a seven day trip, you would pay $240.00 per person.

Rescue Insurance $20.00
This is a one time fee.

That means, on a typical trip up Mt. Kilimanjaro, you would pay between $580 to $680 PER PERSON to the Tanzanian government. All tour operators absorb this cost and pay it for the client.

I especially enjoyed the Nasa picture from the ground level of the mountain. Although not in preportion, you get a great view of the other extinct volcanoes as well as Kilimanjaro’s little sister, Mt. Meru.