Can you Climb Mount Kilimanjaro without a Guide?
Can you Climb Mount Kilimanjaro without a Guide? : Can you climb Mount Kilimanjaro without a guide? Can you climb Mount Kilimanjaro on your own without a guide? Not at all. You might be able to plan a Kilimanjaro hike, but you won’t be able to begin it without a registered and qualified guide. The worst thing anyone has ever done is climb Kilimanjaro alone.
Africa’s tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, has an elevation of 5895 meters. Every year, over 50,000 people attempt to reach the summit, but only 70-75 percent of them succeed. You may have successfully hiked to other summits across the world, but it is impossible to climb Kilimanjaro alone since you will pass through five different climate zones. Time for acclimation, altitude sickness, etc. are additional factors.
Since 1991, it has been prohibited to climb Mount Kilimanjaro without a registered and authorized guide due to rules established by the Tanzanian government and Kilimanjaro National Park Authority. In addition to guides, successful trekking also requires cooks, porters, and other staff members to set up camp, carry your essential luggage, prepare meals and coffee for you, and provide route instructions.
Why Do People Want to Climb Kilimanjaro Independently?
Some people may feel like they are “glamping” and being too pampered when a full staff is provided to guide the climb, carry the supplies, and take care of camp duties. They are willing to put up with all the challenges involved in reaching the seventh top peak. They want to believe they earned the summit entirely on their own merits. Additionally, they feel a little ashamed of the four-star care they receive from a sizable group of porters, cooks, and guides.
Second, some climbers choose to go it alone to save money. The cost of a Kilimanjaro adventure is expensive. Even though park admission prices make up the majority of the running costs, employee salaries come in second. It would make financial sense to get rid of the entire mountain staff.
The Rules against Climbing Kilimanjaro without a Guide
Unfortunately, climbing Kilimanjaro without a certified guide is not allowed. When the Kilimanjaro National Park Authority issued guidelines for what are referred to as unsupported treks on the mountain, this rule was put into place. Today, those same laws are still in force. As a result, it is prohibited under park regulations to ascend Kilimanjaro without a certified guide.
A licensed tour operator must also employ the guide or have another connection with them. The organization with the authority to buy park permits is the tour operator. Therefore, a freelance guide who lacks proof of affiliation with a legally existing company is ineligible to apply for permits.
The neighborhood guides and rangers are quite familiar with one another and can spot an outsider. The mountain is a crowded area with many eyes. If you are found rock climbing without a certified guide, you risk being fined, jailed, or deported. And you’ll most likely get caught. Avoid taking that unnecessary risk.
Climbing Kilimanjaro without Porters
So what if you just hire a guide? This is permissible legally. Regulations only mention having a certified guide with you. Porters and other support personnel are not mentioned. However, there are a number of significant obstacles that render this project unfeasible for the majority of people.
First, the guide himself will need at least one or two porters to carry his stuff. If it’s not necessary, he doesn’t want to spend days carrying food, fuel, tents, and other supplies up the mountain. He does not share your beliefs, despite the fact that climbing without assistance may be your ambition.
It would be comparable to someone ordering you to intentionally make your job enormously harder and you giving in. As a result, be prepared that your guide will ask you to cover his salary as well as the wages of at least one or two additional porters.
Second, the availability of water is a major problem. In order to ensure that our clients have access to enough water for drinking, cooking, washing, and flushing portable toilets, a crew of porters departs from camp each day to get water in five gallon buckets and bring them back to camp.
When the water source is nearby, fetching water in this manner is manageable at lower heights. However, it becomes extremely difficult at higher altitudes. Above 13,000 feet, there is no stable source of water. Around 15,400 feet is where the high camps of Barafu, School Hut, and Kibo Hut are situated.
Therefore, in order to climb alone, you would also need to carry all of your other equipment and enough water to last you until you reached 13,000 feet. In other words, for the most challenging portions of the climb, your pack weight may exceed 70 lbs. It is therefore impossible to climb Kilimanjaro without porters, even if it may still be possible in principle.
Roles of guides and porters
A little misinformation about what to do and what not to do might wreck your hiking trip, even though climbing Mount Kilimanjaro may not require any special technical expertise. Aside from the guidelines established for trekkers, climbing Kilimanjaro without a guide could make your situation worse because no one would be there to assist you. To conserve your energy for the summit, the guide merely gives instructions and guidelines.
A guide also establishes the camps and arranges everything in its proper location. All settlements and labor are genuinely completed by the guides in cases of acute altitude sickness or any other case.
According to Tanzanian legislation, you must have at least one guide, one cook, and three to four porters before beginning your trip to Mount Kilimanjaro. You need support workers and porters with you to carry all of your necessary bags and to assist you while traveling. Porters transport all of your equipment, including clothing, hiking, camping, and cooking supplies. They also help you set up camp.
Tour operators’ roles
You may only get a registered and authorized trekking guide from a tour operator. The planning of your hike or safari is another responsibility of travel companies. You get picked up at the airport and dropped off there again following your excursion. The “face” of the amenities and services you will use during your walk is a tour operator. Affordable hiking packages are available through Focus East Africa Tour, a legal and officially registered tour operator, for Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Meru, and Ol Doinyo Lengai.
Available routes
There are six ways, each with a unique specialty and time required to reach Uhuru Peak. These six routes are the Lemosho Route, Machame Route, “Whisky Route,” Marangu Route, “Coca-Cola Route,” Shira Route, Rongai Route, and Umbwe Route. The Umbwe path is the shortest, steepest, and most difficult route, whereas the Lemosho route is the longest and has a high acclimatization profile.
The Rongai route is the sole north-east route that is viable year-round, while the Marangu route is well known for its hut accommodations. The Shira path is a longer climb on the mountain’s northwest flank. Because the Kilimanjaro National Park’s rescue crew uses it to bring sick individuals from the Shira campsite to safety, this path is not well-known for trekking.
It may seem brave to climb Kilimanjaro alone, but in reality, it is the most foolish thing that person has ever done in their whole life. What is the big issue with hiring tour guides and porters that are in a low financial situation if you have appropriate trekking experience and wish to climb Kilimanjaro alone?
Our recommendation is to think about giving up that concept if you still have those ideas of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro without a guide in your brain. You don’t have to always be a hard-core person. Come to Tanzania and let our porters and guides (who everyone agrees are fantastic) treat you warmly while you concentrate on your tour. This technique is both much safer and much more entertaining. Additionally, by doing this, you are assisting the local workforce, whose existence is heavily reliant on tourists, as well as the local economy.
