What I wish I Knew before Climbing Kilimanjaro

What I wish I Knew before Climbing  Kilimanjaro , Kilimanjaro Mountain is the tallest free Standing Mountain in Africa. It’s a dormant volcanic mountain in Tanzania located near the Kenyan border standing at an altitude of 5895m above sea level.

As you hike Kilimanjaro, you will experience a mixture of emotions ranging from the euphoric triumph moments and a couple of challenges. Most travelers do a lot of research after booking a Kilimanjaro trek but it’s impossible to exhaust all the possible occurrences along this hike.

Below are a list of things I wish I knew before traveling for the Kilimanjaro mountain hike. A couple of the things I came across on my Kilimanjaro experience I actually already knew however hadn’t imagined them to be so intense while others I completely had no clue.

 

• All the camps are cold

While anticipating on what my Kilimanjaro hiking experience would look like, I came to terms with the fact that as I ascend the Kilimanjaro Mountain, the camps will get colder due to the changes in altitude. Little did I know that actually every single camp on the mountain would be cold, including the very first camp within the rainforests near the foot of the mountain. However, since this camp sits at 2895m above sea level, this should have been expected.

Therefore despite the fairly good that you experience at the lower part of the mountain during the day, in the night you will need to snug yourself up in a thermal sleeping bag.

• Learn how to Layer Up

Other than the cold camps, the trails along the hiking routes are cold too thus expect to experience immense coldness during the Kilimanjaro mountain hike generally. Most people underestimate how cold this place can really get given its located close to the equator but trust me, you will need a couple of layers of clothing to keep you warm.

Therefore on your Kilimanjaro hiking safari, ensure to carry with you enough clothes that can easily be layered. While layering, ensure that the outer most cloth is always water proof to prevent you from getting wet as being cold and at the same time wet may get you sick.

• You skin and lips suffer damage

Going for the Kilimanjaro mountain hike, I never thought there will be need for me to protect my skin, let alone my lips from the weather. I mean, the weather up the mountain is cool therefore I was not expecting any challenges such as sunburns.

And I was correct, I didn’t need to protect my skin from sunburns however I needed to protect my skin and lips from the wind. The cold and strong winds that the Kilimanjaro mountain experiences ruined my skin and lips. I didn’t realize this at the instant but as days went by, my lips started peeling and cracking and they were so painful.

This awful experience can easily however be avoided by properly protecting your lips with regular application of lip balm while on the mountain especially during the strong winds. If possible, get yourself a balaclava since it can be used when you get exposed to extreme cold and strong winds and for skin, bring with you a heavy duty moisturizer.

• Water in the hydration pack freezes on the summit day

A hydration pack is one of the most prized equipment one should carry on a hiking safari. Before my hiking safari, I had never used a hydration pack before but trust me, it comes in handy on a hiking safari since it’s easier to carry than an ordinary water bottle given you have to keep hydrated during the hike.

These hydration packs carry about 1.5 to 3 liters of water and the recommended amount of water you should drink per day on the hike is at least 3-litres.

Throughout the Kilimanjaro hike, the water in your hydration pack will be fine until the summit day when it freezes. This is because on this day the hike begins at midnight and takes you to the artic zone. This therefore implies that you may require and ordinary water bottle deep inside a thermal sock placed in your bag pack on this day. The water bottle must also be placed upside down just in case the water freezes because if it’s to freeze, it will start from the top allowing you to still access your water.

• You feel the urge to urinate almost all the time

As recommended, Kilimanjaro hikers require to drink at least 3-litres of water per day to keep them hydrated and as well relieve the symptoms of altitude sickness. However, the more water you drink, the more you will have to visit the toilets.

Let alone the hydration, the high altitudes also impact on how frequently you urinate therefore with the two combined implies you will urinate a lot more frequently. This urination is done either in the toilets at the camps or behind rocks while on the hiking trails.

• Leave no trace policy

Kilimanjaro national park has a leave no trace policy. This policy requires tour operators to carry all their client wastes down the mountain and the trekkers must not leave any toilet papers on the trails therefore they are required to carry their waste down to the campsites and dispose them off in the bins.

• You will find difficulty sleeping

After a very hectic day, what you expect is the moment you get into your sleeping bag you will fall asleep immediately and enjoy a proper rest before the next day’s hike. However this will not be the case since falling asleep at high altitudes is a bit tricky.

Despite this disturbance with sleep, avoid taking sleeping pills. This is because sleeping pills suppress the respiratory system and this is the last thing you need on a Mount Kilimanjaro hike given the air is already very thin. Just try embracing this as part of the unique experience.

• Expect some symptoms of altitude sickness

Symptoms of altitude sickness are totally different from the actual altitude sickness. While altitude sickness is a serious illness that requires one to descend the mountain immediately in order to recover, feeling a bit off during the hike is not something to worry about and unfortunately you can’t help it. In fact the best way of dealing with it is preparing yourself mentally for such occurrences since it’s inevitable to feel somewhat weird be it a headache, or nausea, or anything. This will enable you not get alarmed when it happens.

Personally, it was very clear for me before beginning the Kilimanjaro hike that altitude sickness is a common occurrence more so as one goes higher but I didn’t expect to feel unwell for such as a long time. For each individual, the point during which they start feeling unwell is different and the symptoms also vary though this feeling generally starts at about 3000 meters above sea level.

• Summit day is the Hardest

The entire Kilimanjaro hike involves climbing the mountain for hours every day. This is hard but the summit day is the hardest. This is because the summit climb is even longer than the others. To make it worse, on this day you are required to wake up at around midnight. This is to ensure that you reach the peak before the sun rises and the glacier begins to melt.

The summit day hike involves climbing through the highland dessert, and the Arctic Tundra climate.

• Choice of route hiking matters

On my Kilimanjaro hiking safari, I choose to hike the Marangu route. I had intended to summit Uhuru in 5 days however, it was a bit straining thus I added an additional 1 day.

Trying to summit Kilimanjaro in the least days possible may actually not be a good idea. There are several routes up the mountain and some are more difficult than others. Choosing a longer route however increases your chances of summiting Kilimanjaro since it allows you time to adjust to the changes in altitude. As a result, 8-days and 9-days routes have higher success rates than the 5-days and 6-days routes.

However, if you are an experienced climber, this will not be a problem for you at all.

Despite having an insight of all these, the most important thing to remember during the Kilimanjaro hike is to take on each day’s hike slowly with some patience as it’s the only trick to summiting this mountain.