SELECT A RIGHTLY ACCLIMATIZED KILIMANJARO TREK

Obviously, a family group with older children on a trekking excursion in northern Tanzania will need to look at different options from those of a group of superbly fit young mountaineers. Your body is designed to function best at ground level and reacts badly to rapid changes in air pressure. This is why high altitude aircraft need pressurized oxygen and why deep sea divers need decompression stops. Gaining altitude is a serious safety business.

Your body needs to adapt to lower air pressure as well as to rapidly changing temperatures. Low air pressure means less oxygen in your lungs and blood. Long-term, your body would react by producing more red blood corpuscles to carry more oxygen to your muscles and your brain, which makes your blood more viscid, putting strain on your heart, liver, and kidneys.

Short-term, as when you try to cut down on time spent gaining altitude on Kilimanjaro, these changes can result is swollen tissues in lungs and brain leading to headaches and breathing problems, and in toxic liver and kidney conditions, resulting in nausea and sometimes vomiting. If not relieved by descent, these changes can be life-threatening.



Some tour operators offer short climbs on Kilimanjaro mountain, but their summit success rates drops to less than 50% and they are taking serious chances with your health with offering it as lower cost option, as well as making your Tanzania highlands vacation an endurance test rather than a pleasure. Five or six days on the mountain are not enough time to spend gaining a massive 5895 meters (19340 feet). Some irresponsible tour operators give you no real chance to acclimatize. They count in time spent at hotels before and after reaching Mt. Kilimanjaro. Others count the days spent descending.

Uhuru Trails by AfricanMecca advise a minimum of seven days on the mountain. You are spending a lot of money, but this way you will get full value for it and be able to luxuriate in the superb scenery and the experience of a trek with like-minded companions who are also enjoying themselves. It does not enhance a cut-price, miserable slog to have companions who are staggering, moaning and throwing up because you have all tried to do it on the cheap. There are suitable routes for all levels of fitness, experience and ambition.

The shortest is Umbwe, steep and rugged, only suitable for fit, seasoned climbers who must be acclimatized on Mount Kenya or Meru. Marangu is the cheapest route but high traffic and offers poor acclimatization and Machame is the commonly preferred alternative route to Marangu with the highest traffic but offer excellent acclimatization opportunities while, Shira is 3 kilometers longer than Umbwe and also offer minimal acclimatization, so it best to arrive with previous adaptation.

Lemosho offers a western isolated route with low to medium traffic for a few days with very good acclimatization while Rongai offers a very quiet, very favorable and successful route. All have their advantages and setbacks, but AfricanMecca can help you determine the best route for you. All routes including custom trails must be pre-approved by KINAPA, the Kilimanjaro National Park Authority under the banner of TANAPA, so that some were approved when there was less information about the causes of altitude sickness and the best ways to combat it.

Climbing high and sleeping low is the best advice, but each route offers distinct acclimatization experiences. Uhuru Trails by AfricanMecca is consistently involved in researching and improving the trail routes for optimum enjoyment and success precedented by many years of experience.

Review Below Primary Strategies For A Successful Summit Of Kilimanjaro

TANZANIA TRIP IDEAS

Mount Kilimanjaro Safari Trip Ideas

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