From: schrenk@lns598.tn.cornell.edu (Steve Schrenk)
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Re: Top of Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)
Date: 9 Jan 1993 11:32:46 -0500
Organization: Wilson Lab, Cornell U., Ithaca, NY  14853
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: lns290.tn.cornell.edu



>I intend to go to Tanzania in order to climb the Kilimanjaro
>moutain and I'd like to have some pieces of information about
>it:


I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in 1986. The information that follows should
be read with the understanding that this is written six years (yikes!)
after the fact and ones memory does fade.

The round trip normally takes five days; three and a half days up,
one and a half days back down. The climb could be don
 faster but usually isn't to allow the body some time to adjust to
the altitude. I was told that park rangers can do it in a day in
an emergency. I was also told that only about 10% of the people
that attempt the climb actually make it to the the very top
(Uhuru peak).

You need warm cloths for the trip. It is very cold at the top,
especially after starting out in a tropical climate. Also hiking boots
are needed for the last part which is across a snow field. Both
can be rented at the park entrance... although the day we
left almost all the boots were reserved for a climb sponsered
by an official of the goverment for diplomatic staff in the country.

The park entrance fee at the time had to be paid in hard currency.
It was over $100 US. This fee included the lodging in mountain
huts along the way and a rescue fee (they keep bottled air at the
top as well as maintain radio contact with rangers at the various
huts.. they seemed to take safety very seriously). We purchased
a package from the YMCA hotel school in Arusha that include food,
a guide and porters. I think that was about $40 US.

On the first day you walk through forest for about 4 or 5 hours to the
first set of huts. There is actually a road up to the first hut. The second
and third days consists of about the same or a little longer length walk.
The second set of huts is around the tree line while the third set is well up
there.  The final part of the ascent starts at 1 AM. This is so you can reach
the first peak at around sunrise and can walk to the real top before
the snow softens in the sun  (and also perhaps so your not discouraged
by seeing the long steep distance you must climb). The real top is
about a two hour walk on a gradual incline from the first peak. The trip
is an amazing tour of different ecosystems starting with forest and
ending up with a lunar landscape.

The group I climbed with had only one flash light, a small unit with no
on/off switch. You turned it on by a loud whislte and it turned off
by itself after about a minute. The morning of the final ascent I was
the only one feeling well enough to continue (the rest were feeling
the effects of altitude). I whistled every minute for six hours to give
us light for the climb!  The guide couldn't  get a working whislte
out till we reached the top. As for being like a highway, while there
were plenty of people at the lower levels, I was the only one
besides the guide at the top.

>  * It is possible that I come from Burundi where some relations
>of mine are living: what kind of means of transport should I use
>to go from, say Bujumbura, to Arusha? Are there coaches, trains?

There was a weekly boat that went from Bujumbura south
on lake Tanganiyika to Kigoma and then on to Zambia. At Kigoma
you could catch a train east. There was also another boat
which went from the Burundi/Tanzanian border to Kigoma. You
take a van from Bujumbura to the border, go through immigration and
customs and them board the boat. This was a little tricky as
there was no place to legally change money and the 100 Tanzania
shillings that one can bring in to Tanzania isn't enought for the boat.
I did take the boat from the border, but then I headed south to
Zambia and points beyond before returning to Tanzania by way
of Malawi. I went through Dar es Salaam on my way to Arusha.
A guide book like the ones Lonely Planets puts out should give
you all the details you need as well as details on weather.
TheMichaelan (sp?) maps are by far the best for travel in Africa
and would give you an idea of other possible routes and
the distances envolved. You probably need visas for both
Burundi and Tanzania.

Hoped that this helped.

	Steve Schrenk
	schrenk@lns598.tn.cornell.edu





Newsgroups: rec.travel,rec.music.folk,rec.music.cd,rec.music.beatles