Flights
Mt. Kilimanjaro is located in the northern part of Tanzania, near the international border with Kenya. The closest town to Kili is Moshi, which serves as the logistical base for many climbing teams. But getting to Mt. Kilimanjaro requires some planning. Many people are inclined to book a flight to Dar es Saalam, the economic hub of Tanzania, or through Nairobi, Kenya. Both options require a long bus ride to Moshi, adding time to a trip where days are a precious commodity. The best option, as we discovered, is to fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport, about one hour southwest of Moshi. This airport, however, is only served by a handful of Airlines, including Air France, Ethiopian Air, Air Kenya and KLM. Air France was ridiculously expensive, so they were not an option. Wanting to save money, we looked at the two African airlines, but we were scared off by the short layovers, such as 45 minutes to change plans in Addis Abbabi, Ethiopia, crossing our fingers that our climbing gear would make it to Tanzania. The best option for us turned out to be KLM and we will keep you posted about how that turns out. Our route to Tanzania takes us from Montreal (no direct flight from Ottawa) to Amsterdam, then to Nairobi and then onto a small propeller plane for the 1 hour flight into Kilimanjaro International Airport. Layovers are sufficient, but not excessive with the exception of our flights back home on February 11 where we have to endure an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam and another 8 hour layover in Toronto before flying into Montreal at midnight. That will be brutal!
Guides and Porters
Tanzania is among the poorest countries in the world, so Tanzanian rules are such that you cannot climb Kilimanjaro without hiring a Guide and High Altitude Porters. Tanzania depends on this foreign interest to create jobs. Unfortunately, some Guiding Services do not treat their Porters well in that many of them do not get paid adequately and many of them climb through heavy rains, wind, snow and cold with inadequate gear. For this reason, some people will book their climb through North American Agencies that specialize in Adventure Travel, thereby having most of the climb logistics pre-arranged. We wanted a less pre-packaged experience, one where the adventure included making our own arrangements with a local Guiding Group that was locally based in Africa. For our trip, we looked to the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP), who’s mandate is to improve the conditions for these key people (www.kiliporters.org). We developed our own selection criteria that were aligned with KPAP. We contacted Guiding/Porter services that adpoted the KPAP standards, and were based in Tanzania. We solicited their proposals based on our criteria of our preferred route and number of climbers, and based our Short List on their treatment of Porters, price, professionalism and communication. Eventualy we narrowed it down to one group, Keys Tours, who own their own Hotel in Moshi, the Keys Hotel.
Accommodations
As indicated above, selecting Keys Tours as our Guides meant that we also had a base in Moshi for before and after the climb up the volcano, that being at the Keys Hotel in Moshi. The Keys Hotel is not a 5 Star Hotel. In fact, it is described by others online as being more like a Hostel than a Hotel. That suites us fine. Rather than stay in the main hotel building, we have opted to stay in the African Cabana rooms, round, stand alone rooms with thatched grass roofs. It should be fun. The hotel also has a small pool which should be refreshing apres-climb as the average temperature in Moshi in February is +31C.
All of our accommodations while climbing will be in 2-man, 4-season tents. The tents are supplied by our Guides. There is one route on Kilimanjaro that allows climbers to stay in huts, but this is not the style of trip that we are after. Our goal is to live it all, good and bad. Temperatures will range from +20C as we start climbing to 0C mid-mountain, and -15C up top.
Following our climb we have booked a two-day Safari in Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, and area with the highest density of lions and large game than any area of Africa. This should be great. Our accommodation will be the Ngorongoro Lodge, perched on the rim of the massive crater that makes up this Safari Park. This is our one night of luxury and we hope to take full advantage of it (including every piece of food that we can steal from the buffet table!).
Regional Details
Moshi is a great town in northern Tanzania, a country that is just celebrating 50 years of independence from European rule. Although Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the World, Moshi is relatively well-off thanks to the education that early Missionaries provided to the local Chagga tribe’s people. Moshi is a climber’s town, hosting a steady stream of teams from all over the world, adding to it’s cosmopolitan charm. The most lively part of town would be the open air Market and the coffee shops. Aside from Western Climbers, called Muzungu in the local Swahili language, nothing moves quickly in Moshi.
Northern Tanzania has a great deal to offer, including the Great Migration of millions of Wildebeest and Zebra, making their way from Kenya to the Serengeti Plains of Tanzania each year as they search for food and water. Of course, the other famous African animals are here in abundance (Lions, Elephants, Giraffe, Hippos, etc), particularly in the Ngorongoro Crater, a World Heritage Site and an area that contains the highest density of these animals in all of Africa. Other great Wildlife Parks in the region include Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park.
Aside from Animals, the local people are amazing to discover, such as the Maasai Tribes. Maasai are Semi-Nomadic Herders who have rich African Traditions in their dress, dance and language. More details of the Maasai are contained elsewhere in our ongoing Blog.
Co$t:
The overall cost of this adventure comes in at about $4,500 each, paid from our own pockets. Flights run $1,500, Guiding costs are about $1,500, we added a two-day Safari for $500, a day with the Maasai for $200 plus food, transfers and some gear. Of course, we will need to buy some nice jewellery and souvenirs for our Spouses to pay them back for allowing us to take off for two weeks while they stay home and shovel the driveways! Bribery can be tough ;-)
We hope you enjoyed this second part of our three-part series on our upcoming trip to East Africa. Stay tuned for a detailed description of what is entailed in our climb, and in the meantime, please donate to Cancer Research with the DONATE Button on our website, kili4cancer.blogspot.com
Thanks and Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment