Climbing Kilimanjaro

A dream of mine is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It's the tallest mountain in Africa at 19,340 feet (as a point of reference, base camp at Everest is about 17,700 feet), and the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Unlike most major summits in the world, "Kili" requires little to no technical skills. Basically, you can walk up. Now, although you won't need to utilize crampons and rope on your ascent, you certainly need to train. Most training plans call for 4-5 months of progressively more strenuous hiking, some form of high altitude acclimatization, and/or weights and cardio work. The climb takes anywhere from 5-10 days and requires daily hiking of up to eight hours. In addition, there are steep Park fees, and you MUST be with a hired guide. It's illegal to try to ascend on your own. Kili has six different routes (seven if you count the Western Breach), all with their own advantages/disadvantages. I thought I'd post a summary of these routes, as well as some helpful tips for anyone considering this climb. If you'd like to read on in more detail on these routes (including level of difficulty and days required), please click here.

Route Summary:

Marangu Route: This is the easiest route (often referred to as the "Coca Cola" route), and the easiest route up the mountain; it is characterized by the different zones of vegetation. This route will also have (by far) the most people. Trekking takes about 5 days to descend.
Machame Route: This is the route for experienced trekkers; can also be quite crowded though. The route takes up to 6 days to descend.
Umbwe Route: This is a great route to follow if you are looking to climb the mountain and get an insane workout in the process. The route has a very steep slope, and goes straight to the Peak.
Mweka Route: This is the most straight route, and is used by descending parties on the Machame, Umbwe and Shira routes. Can also be quite crowded.
Shira route: This route ascends through Shira plateau from Londorossi Gate, and is the most fascinating and scenic route on Kili. When I climb this mountain, this is likely the route I will take. The route provides great views of the Great Rift Valley, Mt Meru and Longido. it involves a drive to high altitude on the first day.

Technical Routes: There are two more technical routes on the Western part of the mountain: Breach and Lemosho, requiring much more climbing expertise.
Western Breach Route: This is for experienced mountaineers. It is the shortest winding through Shire Plateau, the glaciers, and Kili's dormant volcanic crater, and takes one to two days to the top with several tough sections up steep scree and some rock scrambling.
Lemosho Route: This route is the same as the Breach Route; it has steep scree leads to Stella Point (half way between Uhuru Peak and Gillman’s Point), but this route passes through Shire Ridge, which allows a bit more acclimatization.

General Tips:
1. The longer you give yourself on a trip, the better. The real challenge on this mountain is getting acclimated so give your body as many days as possible to do so.
2. Find a good tour operator with porters, experienced guides, oxygen (if needed), and evacuation insurance.
3. Don't pay more than $3,000-$4,000. You'll see some companies trying to charge 7-10K. Don't believe the hype - they don't have anything or anyone that is better than the 30 companies that do it for 3-4K.
4. Don't pay less than $2,000. Some companies will offer cheap routes up the mountain. Can they get you up? Probably. But, do you really want to risk getting up quicker, with 65 other people, and not as highly trained/insured guides? Probably not.
5. Be prepared for extreme cold at the summit. Yes, you can climb in shorts and a t-shirt towards the bottom, but the summit can be below zero frequently.
6. Educate yourself on altitude sickness. This is a very real threat, and one you should be familiar with before you depart. Know the symptoms, and be able to recognize them should you begin to suffer. Read more...

The Misconceptions of Tours

One thing Jessica and I have learned over the last year or so is that people have a lot of misconceptions about taking tours as a vacation, or as a part of a vacation. Truth be told, I should raise my hand first, as I too used to have the same misconceptions. A couple of years ago I would have responded to tours by saying some of the following:

Why would I want to be ushered around with 85 people following someone waving a flag annoying everyone at every major site visited?
I don't want to be on a bus full of people driving around from place to place listening to someone on a megaphone.
Why would I want to have every second of my vacation planned.... I'm on vacation to relax!

While it is true that there are tour companies that run tours like the points mentioned above, 98% don't (thank goodness). In fact, I have been blown away by the different offerings of tour companies, their professionalism, expertise, access to behind the scenes locations, the structure of the tours themselves, and the ability to take such tours for an amazing price. I thought I'd list some of the finer facts of what tours have to offer for travelers while abroad:

1. Nearly every tour company has limits to the number of people allowed on each trip. Typically, the maximum number allowed on any given trip is between 6 and 15 people. Essentially we're talking about 3-4 couples or families. Furthermore, nearly every tour company has private tours as an option as well. This means private guides, transfers, meals etc for you or your group. And while most people think this is substantially more expensive, you'd be surprised how often the price is nearly the same or nominally more.

2. The level of expertise of local guides is a huge asset while traveling. How many times have you been to a historical site, museum, building, or archaeological ruin, and wondered of its significance and/or history? Having a knowledgeable local guide really enhances the experience as you learn infinitely more than you will on your own. And by the way, any reputable tour guide doesn't carry flags!

3. Most tours do not plan every second of every day. In fact, nearly every tour company provides as much free time as they do planned tours. It's typical that a standard tour has transfers, lodging, internal flights, some tours, some meals, and a few extras included in their packages but provide built in free days or portions thereof. Sure, you can find tours that will keep you busy the entire time your gone (some people prefer this), but by and large tour companies know people want to relax as much as they want to sight see.

4. Tours can be customized. Any time you are looking at a pre-set package on a tour operator's Web site, know that most tour operators post itineraries as much as suggestions as they do canned packages. If you want to take a trip that includes 90% of a trip online but without one day or activity, ask them to amend it. You'd be surprised how often trips can be changed (this is especially the case on private trips).

5. You don't have to take a tour for your whole vacation! If you like to explore cities on your own, and see adventure in getting from point A to point B, then a two-week tour probably won't make much sense to you. That said, why not hire a guide for a day in a region you want to learn more about? Or in a museum full of art you'd love to know the history of? There are plenty of options out there for every travel personality. Read more...

Travel Junkie

I think I might be a travel junkie. They say the first step is admitting it, so there you go, I'm addicted. In fact, I may have a problem. Hmm.... A travel junkie, huh? Yep. That's right, full-blown addiction here folks. I'm talking raging veins when I'm away from it, a tendency to not stop thinking about it, and it's certainly a vacuum for all things financial. Am I alone here?

The last trip I took out of the country was Thailand/Cambodia early last year and it seems like an eternity ago. As my next trip can't come soon enough, I typically fall into a predictable pattern of the next best thing: Being frustrated that I'm not away traveling, looking at trips online, imagining I am on them, having my excitement level go through the roof, realize I'm dreaming, getting frustrated that I'm not traveling. And so the pattern continues. Yes, these are the tales of a travel junkie.

Now at the moment I seem to be full-blown in the middle of the cycle where I am imagining myself on some of these trips. Since this travel addiction has me here, I figure I'll just go ahead and take you all down with me and share some trips out there that have piqued my interest. Warning: You may read about these trips and in turn become frustrated like me that you're not there. This is my attempt to warn you.... hence removing any responsibility I may have for said travel fantasy behavioral swing...

- Machu Picchu Mountain Lodges Trek; Wildland Adventures
- Hidden Monasteries of Tibet; Wilderness Travel
- Namibia Explorer; Ker & Downy
- Passage to Indochine; Asia Transpacific
- Futaleufu River Rafting; Bio Bio Expeditions Read more...

The Green Mile..... travel eco style!

So the word 'green' is being used quite frequently recently. For instance, NBC is in the middle of their green week, I am actually really excited to see David Schwimmer and Al Gore team up and act like super heroes. Hilarious.

Since all you out there are travel experts, you probably know how detrimental travel can be on the environment. That is why the term eco travel or green travel has created such a buzz. However, there are a lot of disreputable companies out there that are simply jumping on the green bandwagon. Sooooooo......I (in my infinite wisdom) have created a great list of the BEST eco-tour companies for all your inquiring minds. Upon creating this list I have taken into account a few things, such as why the company is green and how they are green.

1. Natural Habitat Adventures: Love them. This company is a pioneer in carbon-neutral travel, they off-set all the carbon emissions created by their cleints tours. They also provide their clients with the ability to off-set their flights, so people may decide to pay a little extra money to off-set the majority of damage.

2. National Geographic Expeditions: This is the magazine's tour company arm and the same dedication to sustainable travel exists. They have won a number of awards including Outside Magazine's Best Trip award. Side note, I am dying to take their trip to Nepal and Tibet!

3. Adventure Life Journeys: A wonderful tour company which works with local communities to create sustainable travel with the local environments. They won Conde Nast's Green Traveler award in 2006 and there is no question why. This is simply a well run and committed organization. Read more...