 Hello everybody, welcome back to the channel. If you're new here, my name's Habiba and this is Trekking Pals. And today we're going to talk about Mount Kilimanjaro. Milimma Kilimanjaro in Swahili. I love saying the word Milimma Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain in the world. Its peak, Hurupik is the highest natural point in Africa and trekking Mount Kilimanjaro is on the list of a lot of adventure travelers from all over the world. In the early stages of preparing and planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, you will have to decide what route you are choosing. There are seven routes on Mount Kilimanjaro. They come with different levels of difficulty, different length and duration of time. And if you want to have high chances of succeeding and making it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and back safely, you probably should consider choosing a route that's got a higher success rate. The Machame route and the Lemosho route have a success rate higher than 80% if done over the course of seven days because there are climbs that are only three days. The more time that you spend on the mountain, the more time you give to your body to adjust to changes in the elevation. In this video, I'm going to be referencing the Machame route because this is the route that I chose for my first climb in 2021. You start at an elevation of 6,000 feet and you have to climb all the way up to Hurupik that's 19,341 feet. The elevation gain is significant imagine if you try to go from 6,000 feet to 19,000 feet over the course of three days that is going to be extremely difficult for your body. With seven days, you have enough time to adjust to changes in the elevation. That's why these routes, they have higher success rates. When you are climbing at this elevation you should be aware of risks of high altitude sickness usually for the human body. Once you get to 8,000 feet and higher you can start experiencing symptoms of high altitude sickness. And it's different from one person to the other. There are people who start experiencing that 8,000 feet. Some people 10,000 feet, 12,000 feet, it really depends. The higher we go up in elevation the less oxygen there is for our body to consume and so it becomes difficult for the human body to deal with these changes in elevation. At this elevation, the human body starts experiencing symptoms of high altitude sickness. Usually it's headaches, dizziness, nausea, sometimes sleepiness and the most severe form would be high altitude cerebral edema and this is when the brain swells in fluids from being at high altitude. These are some side effects that you should be aware of. Before you climb Mount Kilimanjaro it's important to have a one-on-one conversation with your physician to make sure that you don't have any health conditions that will make it difficult to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. And usually you will tell your doctor what you are up to. They are going to ask you about the elevation of the mountain. You're gonna be climbing and there is a possibility to have a conversation about taking medication that can help you with high altitude sickness. This is very common in the word of climbing or mountaineering. Common medication, it's prescription medication is called Acetazolamide. In the U.S. it's branded as Diamox probably different names in other countries. This medication will help your body handle high altitude a lot easier and so you're not gonna be experiencing a lot or severe side effects of high altitude. You can probably still experience some headaches every now and then and that's why I think it's a good idea to make sure that you pack some painkillers whether you take Advil or Ibuprofen to help with any headaches especially when you want to go to bed and you have to battle the pains from your headaches it's going to come in very handy. For me personally, when we are hiking 14,000 feet up to 16,000 feet I prefer to not take Diamox but for a climb like Mount Kilimanjaro especially if you know your goal is to make it to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro this is going to be a once in a lifetime adventure you're probably not coming back to Mount Kilimanjaro you want to get it done, get to the peak and that's it. In a situation like this it's probably a good idea to opt for medication that's going to help you to get all the way to the top at the end of the day it's just a personal choice you have to train for Mount Kilimanjaro. There are some people who choose to train six months before the climb or three months before the climb this is what I personally did three months before the climb and I thought it was a good amount of time. When it comes to training for Mount Kilimanjaro you have to focus on three important aspects cardiovascular training, endurance and strength three months before the climb that came up with a schedule I put together a printable where I would write down every weekend what are some of the hikes that I'm gonna go for and when I'm training during the week what are the type of trains that I'm going to engage in every weekend we would go for a continuous hike and during the week we would go to the gym three times a week on an average and we thought that it was enough training so going to the gym running is going to be helpful walking on the treadmill with an incline perhaps with your backpack your hiking shoes is going to be helpful the stair master is going to be helpful but nothing beats being on the trail and trying to train in conditions that are very close or similar to the actual conditions on Mount Kilimanjaro that means you want to be training at elevation if it's possible and at least understanding how your body reacts at elevation, especially if you never climbed at higher elevation 8,000 feet, go from mountain that it's 10,000 feet 12,000 feet and have that initial understanding of how your body reacts at elevation try to go for trails with a significant elevation gain I usually like to use the mobile application or trails and you can put in filters to choose specific parameters so I would say show me trails nearby that's got an elevation gain of 5,000 feet or 6,000 feet because you could walk for hours on flat ground but it's not going to be similar to conditions on the mountain you have to be comfortable trekking and walking with an incline I would look, for example, since we live here in Arizona I would look for the high-speak in Arizona or the high-speak in the neighboring states I think, like I said, the best way to train is to train at elevation I'm going to leave a link in the description box with the principle in case you want to grab a copy this way you have a plan in front of you and you are ready to execute it and check your gear before you go and climb Mount Kilimanjaro and that includes your shoes, your trekking poles, water bladder your backpack but most importantly your shoes you want to make sure that you are training and hiking in the same shoes that you're going to be hiking with on the mountain same thing for your backpack let's say you're going for 30-liter, 40-liter backpack you want to take it on hikes to make sure that you are comfortable with that backpack the frame is comfortable same thing with your trekking poles the last thing that you want is to be on Mount Kilimanjaro on the mountain and then you realize some of your gear is not even working maybe your gloves or your trekking poles so make some time to make sure that you go over your gear everything is functioning and you are comfortable in everything your jackets, your base layers, your pants you try them and you go hike with them and make sure that it's something that you are happy with you don't have to be in the best physical shape of your life to climb Mount Kilimanjaro but since you are going to be training let's say four times a week, up to five times a week it's a good time to consider healthier eating habits or a healthier diet that is going to help you on the long run if you have been wanting to get rid of some extra pounds this is a good time to do so this is not necessary but from my experience it's a lot easier when you have to drag less body weight up the mountain so that's something for you to consider if you are choosing a good company your guide's priority number one is your safety on the mountain they want you to be successful they want you to make it to the peak and back safely and you have to build that trust you have to trust what they have to say you have to trust their judgment if they say it's time for you to turn back you have to listen and turn back if they say drink enough water you have to drink enough water if they say get enough sleep, you get enough sleep they have more experience than you do they probably helped hundreds or thousands of clients before you they can look at you, assist the situation and tell you if you are in a good shape to continue or to turn back sometimes it can be very difficult the most difficult decision is to turn back knowing that you are very very close to a goal that you worked very hard for but you have to trust that it's for your good also you have to be open and communicate to your guides how you are feeling there are daily health checks where the guides and the assistant guides they are going to check your levels of oxygen and they are going to ask you if you are experiencing any symptoms from high altitude sickness are you feeling okay? I am feeling okay are you feeling tired? no are you feeling dizzy? no how do you sleep? fantastic fantastic like an old baby like an old baby, exactly you don't want to hide anything from them if you had a crappy night you have to communicate that it's for your safety it's for the safety of your whole group and it's also for the guides to know what to do if you are in a situation where you need to go back trust your guides and be open about how you feel a lot of companies will have enough food for you on the mountain the company that we climbed with we had breakfast, lunch and dinner and believe me they fed us quite a lot there's not going to be shortage of food but with high altitude you will probably experience loss of appetite there will be times where you feel like you don't want to eat or you can't eat try to force yourself to eat well on the mountain because that's how you sustain yourself if you don't eat enough food or you don't drink enough water you're not going to have a very pleasant time also pack with you some of your favorite snacks if the food that's presented to you is not appealing you at least have something for you to eat loss of appetite is very common on the mountain but try to force yourself to eat pole, pole pole, pole means slowly, slowly in Swahili the pace on Mount Kilimanjaro is slow which is super convenient it is not a race to the top of the mountain even your guides they're not going to allow you to go a faster pace no one is going to be left behind there is usually a lead guide in the front there are many assistant guides depending on the number of people on your group and there will be a guide all the way in the back at the tail end of your team there will be a guide even if you are a slow hiker that's not an issue for me personally even though I know that there is a guide with me and people that I'm familiar with on the trail I still like to have my own map and I think it's a good idea during your briefing before the climb to study the route and know the names of the camps where you're going to be spending the night I was able to find the name of the trail the Matrami route I was able to find it on all trails with all trails pro you can download an offline map to your phone and so throughout the hike I was able to follow along it was pretty accurate and it just gives me that confidence knowing that if for one reason or the other I get separated from my group I still have my phone I have a portable charger and I can find my next camp and finally, summit day summit day is going to be the most challenging and demanding day of the whole trek physically and mentally you are not getting enough sleep we started trekking at midnight it was the longest day going all the way up and all the way down to camp there will be moments where you will ask yourself why am I even doing this? there will be moments where you feel like you don't have it in you to keep going in these moments you have to remind yourself of your reason to be on the mountain you have to remind yourself of all of the hard work that led to this moment your teammates, your guys, assistant guys they will be there for you to encourage you and push you but you will have to push yourself and don't forget to have fun on the mountain this is going to be an adventure of a lifetime these members are going to live with you forever so have fun document these unique moments and enjoy your time on the mountain if you are still watching up until now that tells me that you are enjoying this video you are finding value in this video and if you are, please do give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel this is going to help me tremendously to grow this YouTube channel if you are planning on climbing Mount Kilimanjaro soon do let me know in the comments and if you climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in the past also let me know in the comments thank you so much for watching I can't wait to bring you with me on more adventures as I explore the world one trail at a time my name is Habiba this is Trekking Pals and I will see you very soon on a new adventure