Hard times always bring out the creativity in men. Necessity is the mother of invention. There are many offers across the internet for a price cut on Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The one-million-dollar question is How Much Does it Cost to Climb Kilimanjaro? if a trip is offered below cost, be aware, because the Kilimanjaro Climb Cost might be some Kili Scams.
Short Kilimanjaro Trips
This is a common trick used often over the years. It is very simple, and here is how it works:
You pay for an 8-day trip and upon check-in at the Kilimanjaro National Park gate, usually with the connivance of one or more TANAPA officials, your Kilimanjaro Tour Operators pay for only a 6-day Kilimanjaro Trip.
The crew is then under instructions to ensure that as many members as possible succumb to the AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) within those 6-days. Then, these are hustled off the mountain which allows the outfitting company to retain the Mt Kilimanjaro Trek fees. Not only for those paying packs, but also the Kilimanjaro Porters and guides whose fees will also have been charged but not paid.
The obvious way to guard against it is:
→ Making sure to pay the correct money at the gate and the due registration is complete←
This not easy, particularly if a TANAPA official is on it, but it is a precaution.
It is also worthwhile – particularly if you have been given younger guides whose attitude is less professional- not taking as rote everything they tell you.
The signs of this type of guides are easy to recognize:
- They usually remain plugged into their MP3 player or transistor radios.
- They have no particular answers to any queries.
- They are more interested in what kit they can beg from you than your well-being or enjoyment.
If you find yourself with this type of Kilimanjaro Guides you need to take more control of your circumstances:
- In the case, you are suffering obvious health problems and your guide’s advice is go, go, go! then pause.
- Do not feel coerced or bulldozed into side Kilimanjaro Hike excursions that you do not feel fit for.
- Do not adhere to any suggestions of shortcuts, truncated days or any other creative Mount Kilimanjaro routes that strays from the written itinerary.
Short Staffed for Kilimanjaro Routes
A very common sight on the final stretch of the Mt Kilimanjaro Trek are climbers clearly on their last legs, fading in and out of consciousness, retching and weaving, but being pushed forward by their Kilimanjaro Trip guides. This is extremely poor practice. Here is why:
It is essential when setting off from Barafu Camp towards the summit to have with your group enough qualified personnel or experienced at high altitude to:
- Ensure that everyone has a shot of getting to the summit.
Out of a group of ten packs when Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro it is possible that half of them might drop out at various stages and need to be escorted down by someone who knows what they are doing. The rest is then able to continue up with another guide, usually the lead Kilimanjaro Trek guide.
If a group of 10 packs is sent up on the last 6-hours slog to the summit with just one, or maybe two guides, in order that the whole group is not forced to return alongside the first casualty, the ailing member is put under enormous, and extremely dangerous pressure to continue.
Any Kilimanjaro Tour Operators that’s worth it will provide a ratio of guides-to-climbers of three packs to one guide. Usually, this is arranged so that the party is led by a leader guide whose age and experience are not enough to undertake the task. He will be supported by an assistant guide, or two Kilimanjaro Guides, licensed ones but gaining experience under the tutelage of the master.
On the Kilimanjaro Challenge, there will be a clique of Kilimanjaro Porters with ambitions to go through the licensing system who usually undertake the tasks of:
- Cooking.
- Camp manager and,
- Quartermaster.
They are able to escort the injured or weakened members of the climb down the Kilimanjaro when necessary. And also to stand in as emergency guides in a crisis.
It is worth remembering that:
- The bulk of the porters you will have on your Kilimanjaro Trip is part of the bottom rung of the climbing fraternity.
Most of them are an itinerant workforce with little Kilimanjaro Climb experience who do a trip or two when they need the cash, lowland farmers or sharecroppers accustomed to the steppe. They don’t have any degree of professional mountaineering.
Another point worth to mention is that:
- Your guides and porters will have their eyes on what your might be relieved of from the onset.
- Requests for a kit and tearful distress at low tips are a common feature of Kilimanjaro Facts.
My recommendation is:
- Arm yourself with foreknowledge.
- Do not give away kit that you do not want to just because your petitioner looks like he might need it. There is a 99% of probability that he intends to sell it.
>>Here are some more common scams...
These are just a couple of popular Mount Kilimanjaro Facts and scams.
Let me know if you have experienced any others. I would be happy to compile a gallery of rogue naughty boys that do this kind of stuff.
Photo by: nsmith.dem
