Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, is one of the
many options visitors to the country have, and the vicinity of Moshi,
one of the starting points, to the international airport aptly named
Kilimanjaro International, makes for a swift start as tourists can fly
in, spend a night at a base hotel, and then embark on their week-long
climb.
A week-long climb is considered “normal,” but what takes ordinary
mortals between 5 and 7 days, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and come back
down the mountain again, was reduced last week to just 6 hours, 56
minutes, and 24 seconds by Swiss Ecuadorian Karl Egloff who ran the
distance, going up the steep Umbwe route and down to the Mweka gate.
This is reportedly a new record and was a result of several months of
high altitude training in the Ecuadorian Andes and then on site in
Tanzania, courtesy of sponsorships by Switzerland’s Aktiv Reisen and
local partner Leopard Tours.
Fitness is, however, a major requirement and although porters with
every climbing group carry the heavy stuff, those who set their sights
on the summit will still have to do all the walking themselves and brace
the thinner air as higher as they get. There are specialized
mountain-climbing operators organizing such trips from Arusha and Moshi,
licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and bona fide
members of TATO, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators.
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