Climbing Kilimanjaro.

[mattmacman]

Hey guys as the name suggests me and a friend would like to climb/walk Kilimanjaro. Has anyone done it and who is the best group to do it with? I think Im alright to organise airfares. Any input appreciated.

[ninjapuppet]

Hey Matt, I done Kilamanjaro 4 years ago.

Didnt you say you're 14 years old - Do you have milliionaire parents or something? It cost me around $5-6k all up and I found that quite expensive even when working full time back then.

The walk is basically an alpine bushwalk, but do not underestimate the altitude. 2 of our group members were fitter than me suffered bad headaches from the altitude. After our whole group delayed our walk by a day at lower altitude, 1 of them had to abandon the whole trip. I pulled up reasonably well from it, though we only carried light day packs. I didnt pay too much attention to the altitude preparation, which I think people should. You cant really train for it completely but it does help to be in top fitness condition and drink more than you think you need.

One thing I found was that our porters were quite annoying. at camp they would borrow my gear like mp3 players and wouldnt return them unless you nagg them. One of the dudes would check out my jacket and put it on without asking, etc...

[mattmacman]

Hey NP, I wish I had rich parents =), my world challenge/ India trip has cost me over $7000 and I have payed that off myself through work and entrapeunerial skills. Im happy to pay the price as hey at least im not spending it on a computer. As for the dehydration I always drink heaps whilst hiking (and go to the loo every two minutes as a result) but I will keep it in mind.

[aujayeb]

hey
i did kilimanjaro, meru and mount kenya in 2.5 weeks
as said above, you cant train for the altitude but doing the mount meru trek over 3 days just before kili is good preparation.
i can tell you who i went with etc if you are interested, our head guide was one of the head of the kilimanjaro park and it was awesome. food etc was just awesome.
cost about 1300pounds plus flights ( i was in the UK at te time)
avi

[mattmacman]

That'd be great if you could tell me what company you went with, im considering these guys http://www.ultimatekilimanjaro.com/ , that was a cheap price (the 1300 pounds) for the three summits. I am aware of the problems with acclimatisation and ill have to see how it goes. Also, did you find it to be a safe trip? My parents are happy for me to do the trip with a small group of friends (gotta convince me to save the moneyz, but a couple of em are pretty keen on it) because they know me and my friends are pretty sensible, and I am doing a trip on the 24th of November for a month to India, so I should have some experience with safety etc.

[Onestepmore]

Reposted in 'International'

[mattburga]

I did it in 07.

It's a great walk. I went with http://www.intoafrica.co.uk/ because of they're an ethical company.

[neil_fahey]

Kili has been on my list for ages. I was about to book a trip a couple of years back but had to bail at the last minute unfortunately. Aaand now I have small step-children, so it will be delayed for quite some time I think. Bummer.

I've seen some pretty bad cases of altitude sickness myself, so definitely don't underestimate it. I avoided most of the effects when we did the Inca Trail... Probably because I had previously been on a 4WD trip across the Atacama that reached around the same altitude as Dead Woman's Pass, so even though we were (obviously) much lower in Cuzco, I think we were still partially acclimatised. That's my theory, anyway... So maybe it wouldn't hurt to do one or two of the smaller summits first?

Also, make sure you pick a tour company that doesn't just try to rush you to the summit as quickly as possible. You need to take your time going up, and even sleep lower than you've climbed each day.

Hope that helps! Man I wish I was doing that kind of stuff at 14!