BootsnAll Travel Community

Does anybody know the best place to buy water bottles / gaiters or anything of that sort for the climb???

REI???

Personally, all my "high tech" bottles (i.e. nalgene and camelbak) froze. But the $1 kilimanjaro water bottles worked great the whole way up...

Are they available at the enterance???

They are available everywhere. "Kilimanjaro water" is the same as any bottled water you find in the states. $1 will get you a liter sized bottle. I'd take a couple with me (Maybe 1 empty and then buy one at the gate) as well as your nalgene and camelbak. The water they boil for you is kind of nasty. Has a horrible flavor, tastes thick... So I brought plenty of gatorade packets. On average I would drink about 3 liters a day. I'd go through my camelbak and nalgene, then have the water bottle as a backup. If I did not have the backup on summit night, I'd have been screwed as everything else froze.

You might be hard pressed to find a Nalgene bottle for sale at the entrance to the park, but there definitely people selling gaiters. I don't know how much they charge though.

I'd look to buy all your equipment before you travel to Africa. I noticed you're from Ireland - maybe check out the Outdoor Adventure Store in Dublin.

I'd recommend a carrying a hydration pack like a Camelback in your daypack supplemented by a Nalgene bottle or two in case your Camelback nozzle freezes.

I'd also recommend getting a water purifier (not a filter) like the General Ecology First Need purifier. It filters out everything including viruses and makes the water taste great.

Gatorade powder is also good to bring just to replenish electrolytes.

quote:

Originally posted by raiducks503:

Personally, all my "high tech" bottles (i.e. nalgene and camelbak) froze. But the $1 kilimanjaro water bottles worked great the whole way up...

Gets me wondering what actually was in that water/bottle to prevent it from freezing? Anti-freeze?

quote:

Originally posted by Hota:
Gets me wondering what actually was in that water/bottle to prevent it from freezing? Anti-freeze?

quote:

Originally posted by Hota:
Gatorade powder is also good to bring just to replenish electrolytes.

Electrolytes = salt.

That's the same stuff you put on the sidewalk to melt the ice in wintertime.

quote:

Originally posted by Bowe:
Does anybody know the best place to buy water bottles / gaiters or anything of that sort for the climb???

I bought all of my equipment at Blacks - if you buy a lot of stuff then ask for a discount - I got 20%

As for water bottles - I took a Platypus water pouch which is great but mine froze on the climb to the summit! We actually found that using normal plastic water bottles (an Evian or similar) worked the best and didn't freeze.

If you want any more tips and advice have a look at a site I've made Trek Kili