BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi all,
I am planning a kili climb with my 14 y/o son for the beginning of Feb 07.
Have been in touch with 2 local operators "Chagga Tours" and "Leopard Tours". Than I discovered the BootsNall forum and a whole bunch of new names came into the picture.
Can anyone recommend Chagga or Leopard?

Thanx,
Yood

Hello,

I'd recommend Tropical Trails based in Arusha. They've been very helpful and professional.

Go to www.tropicaltrails.com

I'm thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro in February of 2008. I have virtually no climbing experience except for a one-day 7 hour climb on a mountain called Cerro Torres in Argentina's Patagonia region and a 4-hour climb through the nearby Viedma Glacier. I live at sea-level in the caribbean island of Puerto Rico and want to choose safe and experienced operators, especially because of the altitude factor. I've read tons about operators but have seen very little info on F&S Kiliwarrios. Has anyone climbed with Kiliwarriors? Would appreciate feedback and comments. Thanks.

Hi -

My partner and I just climbed Kili January 23 - first off - it is amazing! It was by far one of the most difficult things we ever did both mentally and physically. All to say - that I am really excited you are doing it and you will have a great time.

I saw all the tour operator names that you have listed below on our safari. I don't know too much about them. I know that when we were doing our research, we narrowed our search to two people/ companies- one established company and one freelance guide. In the end, we went with the free lance guide and they were AMAZING!

Its a group of cousins that are trying to start a business together-all the money you spend goes directly to them with no middle man stuff going on. They are an amazing group that knows the mountain well, are very considerate, down to earth and fun. Their cook is amazing - we didn't eat the same thing two days in a row and they really customize the trip for you. The person who coordinates them is Victor - victortz2000@yahoo.com. He has been a guide for a very long time and is also doing his masters in wildlife. I highly recommend them. Let them know that Anisa and Karim gave you their address.

Other than that - we did the Rongai route which I also recommend. Its a moderate climb - but the best thing about it is that you can see Kili every step of the way. In the end, on summit day - there is no where else to go except UP!

I've written some other comments in other responses on how we worked with altitude sickness and all that stuff - if you have any questions, I'll be checking this to reply back.

Hi - My partner and I climbed Kili in November. We went with a company called Zara Travel. The Guide Kitambia, was a fantastic guide, he spoke excellent English, he was extremely knowledgeable about the mountain and we enjoyed walking with him everyday.

Our assistant Guide, Frankie, although he didn't speak very much English, we managed to communicate okay, and he was also a really nice guy.

We also had six porters with us. Which they didn't really make very clear to us when we book, but once you see what they have to carry up the mountain, you can easily understand why you need them all.

The food for the first few days was really good tasty food, but then towards the end, we were served alot of deepfried frenchtoast and it became a little unappetising - we did give our guide feedback on this... he said that it was good to know what people didn't like, because they could only go on what previous clients had liked... and according to our guide, lots of previous clients liked the deep fried frenchtoast... but we're not into greasy food!

The tent they supplied was absolutely awful! - and we did complain to Zara. It was old, it leaked, it stank of urine and to date, we have not had a response from them.

Our guide said that it was because Zara was also taking a group of 200 people up the mountain at the same time and that that group had all the new tents - I must admit that there was a group of French Canadians on the mountain with u and they had the same blue and yellow tents, and they all looked brand new - but still, when you're cold and wet and dirty and tired, you don't want to be sleeping in a leaking tent that stinks of pee!

They also carried up a mess tent, table and two chairs for us to eat our meals in. That was all absolutely fine.

One thing that I will say, is that my partner got altitude sickness at about 500mts from the summit. Our guide, Kitambia, took him straight back to camp while I continued the climb with Frankie, our assistant guide. My partner doesn't really feel that they took a great deal of care over him when they got back to camp - he collapsed back in our tent and he doesn't recall them coming to check on him during the 3 hours or so that I was still on the mountain.

But as soon as I got back from my summit, our guide came up to me and explained that he had to get my partner back down the mountain as soon as possible, so we all packed up and left straight away. Fortunately as soon as we started to descend my partner started to feel much better and by the time we got down to camp he was absolutely fine and no lasting problems.

I had Salmonella - BUT NOT FROM THE MOUNTAIN.... I contracted it on an Emirates Business Class flight from Dubai to Nairobi(I think it was the chicken)!!!!... I was sick even before I started my climb.

Hi,

I just got back from Kili, summited on March 15th. I can't say enough good things about our tour operator, Team Kilimanjaro. The whole trip organization far exceded our expectations, everything about TK was first class. Our guide, Deo was exceptional and all the porters were great. I think they are a fairly new company, so you may not see too much on them in guide books. We booked through Destination Africa Tours, although you should be able to book directly with Team Kilimanjaro. We did an 8 day Lemosho trip with a night spent in the crater, the total cost was very reasonable for 8 days, about $1600.

-Carl

Hello all,

I just came back from a wonderful, succesful experience on Mt Kilimanjaro. I'm 24 years old and had no mountain experience. Me and my father did the Lemosho route together. I keep being convinced that this is the best choice, mostly because of the silence and beauty. But, since I'm already thinking of going back, I'd like to try Umbwe too, the hardest one.

We went with a great crew, which I recommend to anyone. Our guide, Godfrey Mbuya, and his porters are actually being hired by other more expensive touroperators but you can contact him directly: www.kilimountainsafariguide.weebly.com

I believe that this crew made our trip even more memorable. It's very important that you have a guide+porters around you that act professional, enthousiastic, helpful, interested and polite. Always busy making you feel happy and first goal getting you to the summit. The arrangements, equipment, conversations, food, atmosphere were of great quality. The people, their characters, made my time on the kili (apart from reaching Uhuru Peak of course!!) an even more unforgetable, heart-reaching period in my life. Especially when I think of other guides and porters I saw on the mountain -> poor tourists. A fine crew is half of the preparations!


Good luck! I wish anyone a time like I had!

MiekieMow - Glad your experience was such a positive one, from the hike itself to the crew that got you up there. I would definitely agree that hiring a good tour company is very important. I went this summer and loved every minute of the hike, but the tour company that we hired, Black Mamba Travels, was not good at all and I would warn people about using them.

Long story short, when we got to the base of Mt. Kili to start our climb after driving 2 hours to get there our guide(who, along with our porters that did a good job) tells us the owner of Black Mamba Travels, Leonard Lomayani did not give him enough money. He needed and asked for $300 from myself and my friend. We thought it was a bit shady, but we were at base camp with few options and Leonard said he would pay us back. Long story short, not only did we not get our money but the same thing happened at two of the parks we went to for the safari. Each of us ended up having to give him an extra $385 in order to do what we had already paid him up front for. Leonard and Black Mamba Travels are extremely manipulative, lying crooks. Beware! Do not want this to happen to anyone else!

quote:

Originally posted by Yood:
Hi all,
I am planning a kili climb with my 14 y/o son for the beginning of Feb 07.
Have been in touch with 2 local operators "Chagga Tours" and "Leopard Tours". Than I discovered the BootsNall forum and a whole bunch of new names came into the picture.
Can anyone recommend Chagga or Leopard?

Thanx,
Yood

hello yood, how was your trip and how did your son do ? i am taking my 16 yr old daughter up in june 2008 and am curios how the younger generation does. thks, kimh