While it is fresh(ish) in my head, I wanted to get some particulars down in regards to my experience in climbing Kilimanjaro. What worked or didn't work, what preparation was useful, and what I wish I would have done differently. There is already a fair bit of information out there and reading it in advance was useful; hopefully my suggestions will help another group out in making their goal a reality.
Kit List:
A search of Kilimanjaro Kit Lists brings up more than a few suggested readings. I'd say I scanned five-or-so different lists from different levels of searching. An example of one I used is: http://www.kilimanjaroclimbs.com/plan-your-climb/documents/Kitlist-KilimanjaroandMeruClimbs.pdf and it was a good start because it separates essentials from optionals (and in tick-list format, which always appeals to me). It also has a good two-lines of wisdom that I only caught out on return to the list after the climb: "It can be very, very cold..." and "It can also be alternately dusty and muddy...". C'est vrais!
Baggage: two bags needed; three bags handy.
1) Day sack (normal sized 20 - 30L backpack). Best if it has a waist clip because although things like your camera, snacks, and gloves are in there, you are also carrying 3-5L of water. This was heavier than I liked most days, but that also gives you the incentive to keep drinking your water and eating your snacks to lighten your load. Multiple pockets are good for storage/ access to different things (camera; sunscreen vs. water vs. toilet paper). Good to have a cover for the rain or the dust.
2) 60 - 70L bag (soft duffel or backpack) to keep the rest of your stuff. The porters carry this for you. I had a large technical backpack, but the porters carry this on their heads, rather than their backs, which is why it can be a duffel bag, instead. I would recommend to bring what you feel like you can carry in the airport and getting to your hotel. If you are being shuttled everywhere, then a duffel isn't a terrible idea. Alternatively, if you are the one carrying your bag to and fro, take what you know you can carry. Again, multiple pockets/ access points are handy, it's good to have a cover for the rain or the dust, I would make sure that all of your stuff fits IN the bag, rather than draping things on the outside of it. Two reasons really: 1) the dust- if your sleeping bag is draped outside, it will get dusty; and 2) when you are walking around the city (before your adventure), who knows what could fall off or else get pinched.
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3) A spare small duffel or 20-30L bag is handy to have to put the rest of your holiday stuff into while you do your trek for the main reason that you really don't want any extra weight going up for you or the porters. Most hotels/ hostels will keep this for you until you get back.
Sleeping Bag: four season minimum!! From day 2 it is 0C at night. My advice on sleeping bags is two-fold: 1) make sure that it fits in your duffel with the rest of your stuff; 2) a plush one will be a little piece of heaven at the end of the day. As far as synthetic vs. down; down will always be better because it compacts smaller (my friend had a down one and I was super jealous of how small his sleeping bag compacts) and be warmer (and arguably, a bit more plush). I had a synthetic because I didn't want to spend mega bucks on it. My sleeping bag was warm enough; although I still wore socks and leggings in the night. It also felt plush enough. A negative however, was that it was bulky thus taking put 2/3rds of my backpack.
Sleeping mat: suggested as essential on many kit-lists. It is essential; however, most tour groups should be able to provide something for you if you are unable to carry one yourself. If you have specific needs for a mat, bring your own.
Clothes: the best advice I can give is to leave the cotton at home. Really only bring wicking materials and fleece. All kit lists go through the details of base layers, long sleeves, thermals, etc. Some tips that I would suggest are:
- Have wool socks. Have at least 4 pairs (3 to alternate between, one bonus pair for the last day)... if you have the space, have clean socks (and underwear) every day for a bit of luxury.
-On the subject of the last day, a great piece of advice our guide gave us was to have a clean base layer for summit day. I couldn't definitively say this made a difference or not, but after 5 days of dust and not washing properly, it's nice to put clean clothes on. This being said, I would suggest three alternatives of absolute base layers (tshirt/ tank top, something for your legs, socks, underwear). All the rest (longsleeves, fleeces, leggings, etc.), you can get away with one or two alternates.
-Bring at least one proper thermal layer.
-A windbreaker is essential- better if it is dual purpose with zip in fleeces or fluffy layers rather than a kagool.
-A heavy down jacket wasn't necessary for our group but we did have 5 layers of longsleeves/ tights/ thermals/ fleece, etc. It's up to you if you have the space and are confident in the technical performance of your clothing. The top is -15C! But, you aren't hanging out there for that long.
- Socks and gloves: you know your hands and feet and how they work or don't in the cold. There are days you are hiking and you are touching the rocks to help you manoeuvre, so thin gloves are good to keep your hands warm. I have moderate Reynaud's, and a combination of silver threaded socks/ finger gloves and thick wool over socks/ over mitts worked well for me. I would wear my gloves in the evening at camp to keep my hands warm (temperatures from 5C to -2C). On the last night to the summit, I used hand warmers as a booster to keep my fingers toasty. This worked really well. On my feet however, the last night I had silver lined socks, woolly tights, and one pair of wool socks. I wish I had a thicker woolly pair of socks on as my toes did go a bit numb. Lastly on the subject of gloves, because I was wearing my gloves in the afternoon and evening and because it was so dusty, they got dirty really quickly. I suggest having a pair for the evening and a separate pair for the daytime, unless you are okay with eating dirt.
-Boots: make sure they have good chunky grip. I had light-weight boots with a quite flat sole. I only felt on the way down that better grips would have made a difference (the track down on the very last day was compact mud). Our guide mentioned that sometimes the summit track up has snow. I know these boots would not have been sufficient if there was snow.
-Hats/ scarves: sun hat/ bandanna is good for blocking the sun/ keeping the wind out of your ears. A bandanna can double as a balaclava if you are sensitive to dust or to cover the back of your neck from the sun. Your toque is essential for warmth. A scarf is a bonus for when it is cold. If it is silk (or silk-like) materials, it can work as a balaclava when it's warm and sunny or thermally if it's cold.
-Gaiters: I bought some and wish I hadn't. I walked into the shop and thought: do I buy gaiters or poles. I wish I would have bought the poles. If your socks, boots, and pants/ leggings are good enough, then you don't need gaiters. Some say they are good for keeping your boots dry, so I would contemplate it if I was going in rainy season.
-If you are going in rainy season, be prepared with your waterproofs. I can't comment more than this because I had good trekking weather.
Hygiene:
Keep it simple and start getting used to the fact you will not be clean until you come back. You do get a bowl of hot washing water in the AM and at the end of the day (on most days... Machame route warning, there is no fresh water at the last camp: Night 5/ Day 6 has no hot washing water). The hot water for washing is why it is suggested to bring a travel towel and it is a very useful thing to have. So, pack: tooth-stuff, soap, wet wipes, antibacterial hand gel, toilet paper (2 rolls minimum. Your guides should have some more. You know your body so pack appropriately and then some), sunscreen (min factor 30. For face, neck, ears, lips), hair brush, NAIL BRUSH (this I wish I would have brought!), deodorant, insect repellent (although there are not at all many insects after day 1).
Things that you don't need:
-Shampoo, even dry shampoo was a waste of space. Day 2 was dusty and the dust in my hair did a better job than Baliste would ever do. I've never had such body to my hair. From Day 3 onwards, you start to wear a hat or something to cover your ears, so it is pointless to even bother.
-Razor: deal with the fact you will become a hairy monster :)
-Lotions and potions... added weight that you will not need to carry. Leave these behind for when you return.
And while on the subject of hygiene, my advice for medications:
Aspirin was my saviour! There is a lot of talk about taking Diamox or something similar with you. I bought enough for just in case, but from when we booked the tour, we were advised by the agency that Aspirin was a better choice. Diamox is a diuretic, and if you already have trouble drinking enough water, this will not help. Listen to your body. You know how susceptible you are to side effects. Think about the situation and if you want to deal with the possible side effects.
I decided to take one Diamox 2 hours from the summit because I was dizzy, had head pressure, was running out of Aspirin and already had three Aspirin 5 hours previously. I already had all of the side-effects so I thought, what the heck, let's try this stuff. I did feel better after taking it, but I couldn't say for certain that it was the medication. Had we had had more Aspirin, I probably could have taken that with the same effect. I might have also started to feel better because of the adrenaline building from getting so close to the finish. My fellow climbers succeeded without medication. I personally err on the side of preparation. Whilst speaking about painkillers, also bring either Paracetamol or Ibuprofen (whichever your body reacts best to).
Other tablets to bring are: your normal medications, Imodium, anti-sickness tablets, malaria tablets, and water purification tablets. My advice is to plan for the worst: if you needed to take maximum dosages for every day you are there, then take that many tablets. As well if you plan to use water purification tablets (you have boiled water for some of the trek, other days it is fresh glacier spring water), putting hard boiled sweets (Fox's or Jolly Ranchers) to mask the flavour of the chlorine helped to make the taste more palatable .
Other Kit considerations:
The list I suggested mentions some other bits and bobs to consider: optionals on the list are steel thermos, camera (et al.), binoculars, penknife, tape, string, sewing kit... Optionals that jump out at me are camera with spare batteries (and keep them warm on the summit day). The best advice I was given by a friend who climbed was to take lots of pictures, because you will forget. Looking back a month later, I am so glad we took so many pictures! Other optional, but highly recommended considerations are a penknife, spare shoe laces (double as string, if needed), and ear plugs (especially if you are noise sensitive at night).
The Other items that are recommended and necessary are sunglasses, head torch/lamp with spare batteries, 3L water bottle (Camelback is good for sipping along the way vs. a standard water bottle), water purification tablets, spare bag for dirty clothes, and telescopic walking poles. In regards to the steel flask, my friend only had a 2L water bottle and used her flask as a third litre. On summit day the guide brings hot sweet black tea, and the spare flask on the day meant more tea for all. The tea is perfect for the conditions, your energy levels, and a superb mood lift, so the more the merrier. I would think it would be great if at least one person in the group was willing to haul a steel flask for the team.
Food:
What do you need to bring? Food that is comfortable to you. It is nice to have something familiar when the last thing you want to hoover down is another bowl of cucumber soup or fried chicken gone cold. Granola bars, your favourite high energy chocolate bars, sweets, etc. Peanuts and cashews are widely available to purchase in Moshi, so don't worry about packing them from home. There is also a very good selection of hard cookies (like custard creams, Oreos, digestives, etc) that are comforting to eat at all times.
Food/ the menu when climbing was astonishingly diverse considering the conditions. Apart from breakfast, I believe that we only had the same soup no more than twice in the 7-day trek. Breakfasts were beef sausage, fried egg whites, toast, fresh fruit, and a variety of spreads (margarine, peanut butter, jam and some very dark molasses-y type honey).
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We were provided with a packed lunch on many days: boiled egg, fried chicken leg, empanada/ french toast-like sandwich, juice box, custard creams, oranges, and mini bananas. Some days we were cooked a hot lunch: vegetable stew with bread or onion pancakes. After trekking we were provided with a snack: hot drinks, popcorn, and peanuts.
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Dinner in the evening always started with a vegetable soup for a starter (and enough for at least two bowls each) with bread- cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, potato, and then I can't remember because they all kind of tasted the same and I was so turned off of food to care. Top tip, even when you feel absolutely beyond crap, you MUST eat two bowls of soup and two pieces of bread and then at least one FULL bowl of starch. This should ensure you enough calories to re-nourish your efforts from the day.
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The main course on a platter was usually sauteed vegetables (beans, carrots, cabbage, beansprouts, etc), a starch (potatoes, pasta, rice, repeat), a mild, yet flavoursome vegetable curry (very delicious) and often a "meat" dish. I can only remember sauteed beef chunks one day and a bolognese another. Like I mentioned earlier, I was so off of food, especially meat, that I chose not to remember that part of the trek.
The list I suggested mentions some other bits and bobs to consider: optionals on the list are steel thermos, camera (et al.), binoculars, penknife, tape, string, sewing kit... Optionals that jump out at me are camera with spare batteries (and keep them warm on the summit day). The best advice I was given by a friend who climbed was to take lots of pictures, because you will forget. Looking back a month later, I am so glad we took so many pictures! Other optional, but highly recommended considerations are a penknife, spare shoe laces (double as string, if needed), and ear plugs (especially if you are noise sensitive at night).
The Other items that are recommended and necessary are sunglasses, head torch/lamp with spare batteries, 3L water bottle (Camelback is good for sipping along the way vs. a standard water bottle), water purification tablets, spare bag for dirty clothes, and telescopic walking poles. In regards to the steel flask, my friend only had a 2L water bottle and used her flask as a third litre. On summit day the guide brings hot sweet black tea, and the spare flask on the day meant more tea for all. The tea is perfect for the conditions, your energy levels, and a superb mood lift, so the more the merrier. I would think it would be great if at least one person in the group was willing to haul a steel flask for the team.
Food:
What do you need to bring? Food that is comfortable to you. It is nice to have something familiar when the last thing you want to hoover down is another bowl of cucumber soup or fried chicken gone cold. Granola bars, your favourite high energy chocolate bars, sweets, etc. Peanuts and cashews are widely available to purchase in Moshi, so don't worry about packing them from home. There is also a very good selection of hard cookies (like custard creams, Oreos, digestives, etc) that are comforting to eat at all times.
Food/ the menu when climbing was astonishingly diverse considering the conditions. Apart from breakfast, I believe that we only had the same soup no more than twice in the 7-day trek. Breakfasts were beef sausage, fried egg whites, toast, fresh fruit, and a variety of spreads (margarine, peanut butter, jam and some very dark molasses-y type honey).
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Packing:
What's my top tip for packing? Pack the least that you can! Easier said than done. Do a dry run before you leave to ensure everything fits. Stick to the list. Use every nook and cranny of your bag. Separate clothes into plastic bags to protect them from dust, rain, or potential water bottle explosions. A piece of advice I was given was to pack your essential climbing/ cold weather attire in your carry-on luggage. Rationale being that if your sleeping bag/ backpack/ beach clothes don't show up in whichever airport your are flying to, you can hire that kit. You will have greater trouble finding your tried and true thermals in Moshi/ Arusha.
Tips:
So this is the last of the tips and is in respect to tips as in money as you have just had a whole plethora of top tips dumped on you... Again, in scouring the VAST amount of research out there, we came semi-prepared. Two categories of tipping continuously come up: 10-15% of the trip payment or a "per day rate" per crew member. Because our trip seemed so economical (African Spoonbill Tours), we went for the per day rate which allowed for more money for the crew as a whole. Not only did this better reflect the service we received, but it also allowed us to better divvy up who got what amount.
We were advised by our Guide the last night to split the money for each individual crew member. This lead to us directly handing them their tip the next morning as a chance to thank them in person. We followed the general rule set:
Guide: 20-25$ per day (24$/d= 168$)
Assistant Guide: 15 - 20$ per day (21$/d= 147$)
Cook: 12-15$ per day (15$/d- we are foodies= 105$ for Cook and 105$ for Waiter)
Porter: 8 - 10$ per day (9$/d= 63$/ person x 7 people= 441$)
= Total of 966$ of tips for a crew of 11 on a seven day trek. Three trekkers= 322$ each.
If we were to tip 15$ of our trip, it would have been 210$ each which didn't seem fair.
We adjusted based on our interactions with different group members. For instance, we had a Waiter who was very gracious and friendly, he was probably somewhere in the pecking order between a Cook and a Porter, so we paid him the same as the Cook because of his warmth and friendliness throughout the trip. Our Assistant Guide was awesome and as we were three, we tipped him 21$ per day because he certainly deserved it. We were told afterwards by our Guide that we were average tippers- not the highest, fair, but not the lowest; and with that my recommendation would be to tip what you feel is fair with the guidelines above as the bare minimum... These guys work incredibly hard the entire time.
And as you can see, all monies are quoted in dollars, these are USD, and this leads to my last top tip: money in general. Bring USD for the trek and bring it in multiple denominations because when you go to split the tips up on your last day, the small amounts are handy. You won't be asking the porter to change your Benjamin for you into smaller change. If you are giving out Benjamins, make sure you are giving them to all of the porters, you high-baller!
In regards to the rest of your holiday, I found that Tanzanian Shillings were far easier to use than USD, especially if you plan to shop in the markets. However, the trade off is how padded do your want your wad? The largest TSH note is 10,000 which is from 6-7$. If you've budgeted 300$ for the rest of your holiday... think how fat your pocket will be. What would I do if I went back? I would either bring all USD again and swap at the many available currency counters, or else bring my own major currency to swap when I am there. Rates were pretty fair in general for all major currencies. You can also use the ATM if you want.
I hope that this has helped in your planning (for those planners out there). Feel free to post comments if you have any other questions. Good luck!
So this is the last of the tips and is in respect to tips as in money as you have just had a whole plethora of top tips dumped on you... Again, in scouring the VAST amount of research out there, we came semi-prepared. Two categories of tipping continuously come up: 10-15% of the trip payment or a "per day rate" per crew member. Because our trip seemed so economical (African Spoonbill Tours), we went for the per day rate which allowed for more money for the crew as a whole. Not only did this better reflect the service we received, but it also allowed us to better divvy up who got what amount.
We were advised by our Guide the last night to split the money for each individual crew member. This lead to us directly handing them their tip the next morning as a chance to thank them in person. We followed the general rule set:
Guide: 20-25$ per day (24$/d= 168$)
Assistant Guide: 15 - 20$ per day (21$/d= 147$)
Cook: 12-15$ per day (15$/d- we are foodies= 105$ for Cook and 105$ for Waiter)
Porter: 8 - 10$ per day (9$/d= 63$/ person x 7 people= 441$)
= Total of 966$ of tips for a crew of 11 on a seven day trek. Three trekkers= 322$ each.
If we were to tip 15$ of our trip, it would have been 210$ each which didn't seem fair.
We adjusted based on our interactions with different group members. For instance, we had a Waiter who was very gracious and friendly, he was probably somewhere in the pecking order between a Cook and a Porter, so we paid him the same as the Cook because of his warmth and friendliness throughout the trip. Our Assistant Guide was awesome and as we were three, we tipped him 21$ per day because he certainly deserved it. We were told afterwards by our Guide that we were average tippers- not the highest, fair, but not the lowest; and with that my recommendation would be to tip what you feel is fair with the guidelines above as the bare minimum... These guys work incredibly hard the entire time.
And as you can see, all monies are quoted in dollars, these are USD, and this leads to my last top tip: money in general. Bring USD for the trek and bring it in multiple denominations because when you go to split the tips up on your last day, the small amounts are handy. You won't be asking the porter to change your Benjamin for you into smaller change. If you are giving out Benjamins, make sure you are giving them to all of the porters, you high-baller!
In regards to the rest of your holiday, I found that Tanzanian Shillings were far easier to use than USD, especially if you plan to shop in the markets. However, the trade off is how padded do your want your wad? The largest TSH note is 10,000 which is from 6-7$. If you've budgeted 300$ for the rest of your holiday... think how fat your pocket will be. What would I do if I went back? I would either bring all USD again and swap at the many available currency counters, or else bring my own major currency to swap when I am there. Rates were pretty fair in general for all major currencies. You can also use the ATM if you want.
I hope that this has helped in your planning (for those planners out there). Feel free to post comments if you have any other questions. Good luck!
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