DEMYSTIFYING SAFETY EQUIPMENT FOR KILIMANJARO

Kilimanjaro kills: not many – only 0.1% of trekkers (1 in every 1000), and not often, but Kilimanjaro kills those climbers who go beyond their sensible limits. Uhuru Trails by AfricanMecca has an enviable safety record because its leaders do not waste time on technological fixes on high altitude, but get sick and injured trekkers off the mountain without delay.

Although Uhuru Trails climbing team leaders carry First Aid and related emergency equipment, including oxygen tanks and pulse oximeters as standard, there is only one real safety option on Kilimanjaro: “If in any doubt, however, miniscule, don’t hang about, get them out!” Africa’s tallest mountain is deceptively gentle. The danger is that hikers on a Mount Kilimanjaro adventure trip will underestimate its hazards and overestimate their own abilities. But the dangers are physiological facts which no amount of willpower can change.



At higher altitudes, air pressure is lower. You work harder to take in as much oxygen as you would at ground level. Your body will adapt, given enough time. But climbing too high, too fast and sleeping high will result in altitude sickness. Altitude sickness leads to swelling of lung and brain tissue; which in turn leads to pain, nausea, shortness of breath, fatigue and poor judgment.

In addition to these problems, you are breathing freezing air and trekking for long hours in difficult conditions. These demands cannot be met from a depleted state. Your body systems will shut down and you will be entirely dependent on the skill and determination of others to save your life.

You may argue that other Kilimanjaro mountain tour operators routinely take pulse oximeters to diagnose and Gamow hyperbaric pressure bags to deal with these problems. But they simply encourage a false confidence which can lead to unrealistic risk taking. Reading a pulse oximeter is a special skill, and interpreting the results is extremely complex. There is no level that says, “danger!”

Fit people can show high levels with no need for anxiety, while unfit people can be in danger at much higher readings. Your trained high altitude responder team leader can recognize these symptoms from your report and knows when they are severe enough to warrant turning back: when the only sane response is to go down to higher air pressures.



The time wasted getting a sufferer into an unwieldy Gamow bag and maintaining pressures on a difficult descent are not justifiable when rescue teams can have a casualty back at sustainable levels in little more than half an hour, since a drop of only 300 meters is enough. You may take all kinds of safety equipment if you are willing to meet the supplementary cost with AfricanMecca, from portable hyperbaric oxygen chambers to cardiac defibrillators.

But Uhuru Trails supply much simpler and more effective safety equipment – a head guide with 15+ years of Kilimanjaro experience who has done 250+ successful climbs. Additionally, our safe, strong, warm and comfortable four-season Hilleberg “Tarra” tents may not be “showy”, but they will reliably withstand gale force winds and heavy snow falls, which are the most predictable hazards on a Mt. Kilimanjaro climbing expedition.

Review Below The Pro's & Con's Of Safety Equipment For Your Kilimanjaro Trek

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