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This trip was first run in 1995 and with 15 years experience of taking our clients to the summit via all of the major routes we feel confident to say that this is a mountain we know well and that this is reflected in our superb record of summit success.
The Rongai Route has traditionally been one of the quieter routes on Kilimanjaro, as the access point is on the north side of the mountain and because of the distance from the towns of Arusha and Moshi, is always more difficult to reach. It is one of the gradual ascent routes, in terms of altitude profile, and it is acclimatisation to altitude that is the most important factor in summit success. At 5894m this is a mountain of Himalayan proportions, but without the opportunity to gradually acclimatise on a walk-in through a region of foothills. A poorly acclimatised person will not cope well with the Kilimanjaro climb and may even become quite ill during the ascent.
We know that some companies offer an ascent of Kilimanjaro with just 6 days on the mountain. In our opinion, this at best risks your chance of reaching the highest point in Africa and, at worst, can threaten your health. Our itinerary includes two nights at 4300 metes and an acclimatisation walk to 4500+ metres before climbing Kilimanjaro. This extra day will make all the difference to your chance of success and also to your enjoyment of the trip. On a 6-day ascent 5 or 6 people out of 10 will reach the summit, most of them having really struggled to get there. On a 7-day ascent with the extra night at Mawenzi Tarn, 9 out of 10 on average will make the summit.
Our suppliers work with a Tanzania-owned operator in East Africa, and all aspects of the company are run on a day-to-day basis by Tanzanian people who began working in the tourism business as guides themselves. Over the years, the business has grown, and now all guides and cooks are trained by the company owners. All produce for meals during the camping parts of this trip are sourced locally, with the emphasis on fresh fruit and vegetables.
Porters are critical to the success of our groups, and we take good care of them by ensuring that they are paid above the recommended levels, are adequately clothed and equipped for the ascent, are provided with food (3 meals a day), do not carry more than the recommended limit of 20kgs and are provided with sleeping accommodation.
Typically, group size are very small – we limit the maximum group size to 16 people so as not to make a detrimental impact on the surrounding environment. The groups follow a Mountain Code, taking care to take all garbage with them as they travel and to dispose of this appropriately at the end of the trip and we offer all our clients the opportunity to offset carbon emissions through Climate Care.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
