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Kilimanjaro


mikeyp102

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Not done it but I’ve done similar sort of treks to Base Camp , diamox is your friend if you can get it ( used to get it from Dr Fox online but i think that got shut down ? ) , other thing is to drink plenty of water and listen to your body , don’t continue up if your head is wobbling like a jelly  

Being conditioned will def help so do a few hikes up steep hills etc before you go ... for the hike itself they should take you up high and bring you back down to give your body a chance to acclimatise 

 

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12 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Not done it but I’ve done similar sort of treks to Base Camp , diamox is your friend if you can get it ( used to get it from Dr Fox online but i think that got shut down ? ) , other thing is to drink plenty of water and listen to your body , don’t continue up if your head is wobbling like a jelly  

Being conditioned will def help so do a few hikes up steep hills etc before you go ... for the hike itself they should take you up high and bring you back down to give your body a chance to acclimatise 

 

I knew you would’ve done something, thanks Tony.

I had diamox (well the other name for it) from Dr Fox in Peru, so will defo use that again.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 17/10/2018 at 13:51, mikeyp102 said:

Thinking of doing a hiking trip to Kili next year, has anyone done it? Any tips? Acclimatisation is obviously going to be a huge thing, plus 8 days of straight hiking will be hard. 

Why are you doing it? Are you a regular climber? Is it a bucket list thing or something else? 

Not trying to be a nob I'm asking because I went to Tanzania a few years ago and looked into climbing Kilimanjaro because I heard lots of people do it etc. When I weighed up everything I found that (for me) I wanted to spend my money on seeing the incredible wildlife in Tanzania and spend as many days as possible in the parks. A week on Kilimanjaro being cold/wet/tired and paying through the teeth for it didn't seem that appealing in the end.

I'm sure you know but the parks are absolutely incredible and depending on the time of year you can time it to coincide with the great migration either crossing the Mara River or the birthing season.

We combined it with a trip to Rwanda (you can fly direct into the Serengeti from Kigali) and climbed in Volcanoes National Park to hang out with the mountain gorillas.

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43 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

Why are you doing it? Are you a regular climber? Is it a bucket list thing or something else? 

Not trying to be a nob I'm asking because I went to Tanzania a few years ago and looked into climbing Kilimanjaro because I heard lots of people do it etc. When I weighed up everything I found that (for me) I wanted to spend my money on seeing the incredible wildlife in Tanzania and spend as many days as possible in the parks. A week on Kilimanjaro being cold/wet/tired and paying through the teeth for it didn't seem that appealing in the end.

I'm sure you know but the parks are absolutely incredible and depending on the time of year you can time it to coincide with the great migration either crossing the Mara River or the birthing season.

We combined it with a trip to Rwanda (you can fly direct into the Serengeti from Kigali) and climbed in Volcanoes National Park to hang out with the mountain gorillas.

I’ve done a fair bit of hiking before and love it. Want to push on to a bigger one, although I have no interest in doing Everest etc as they are far too dangerous (although I’d possibly do base camp), and kili seems one of the “easier” of the highest continent ones. I like active holidays and it’s a great way of seeing some amazing views. 

I’m sure the migration crossing was awesome, would love to see something like that as well, but I think more than 2/3 days in a park I’d get a bit restless. 

Really intrigued about the Gorilla climb but that was breathtaking, was that through a company? 

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32 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

Really intrigued about the Gorilla climb but that was breathtaking, was that through a company? 

We booked that part of the trip directly through the lodge. I can PM you name and website etc. It did feel a bit weird wiring a few thousand dollars to Rwanda but it couldn't have been better.

They picked us up form our hotel in Kigali (admittedly in an old Toyota corolla) and drove us around Kigali and then to a school as we'd bought some supplies, games, pens, books etc. Then up to the lodge in the North. Next morning they took us to the entrance to the park where we were assigned out guides. They booked the permits for us before as well. As the lodge owner was local he knew the guys that assigned you to one of the gorilla families and we got one all to ourselves! We didn't have to share our trip with anyone which was amazing.

The flight from Kigali in Tanzania and the whole Tanzania trip I used a company called "Access to Tanzania" who are based in Minneapolis - most honest people in the US and they were great too.

Edit  - Name of the lodge is Villa Gorilla - Gilbert was great as were all of his staff. Not 5 star but great value, safe and the food was great.

Edited by TheAuthority
Added lodge info
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