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BEFORE YOU CLIMB
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BEFORE YOU ARRIVE
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ON YOUR CLIMB
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Safety on Kilimanjaro – Our Number one priority
One of the Seven Summits, Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa, and at 19,341 ft, the summit falls into the “extreme altitude” mountaineering category. It’s one of the few mountains of this size that requires no technical skill to reach the summit.
It should not be underestimated. Trekking at altitude in a remote location can be dangerous, and every year it’s estimated over 1,000 people are evacuated from the mountain and sadly, some never return to their families.
Key factors affecting your safety on Kilimanjaro:
- Altitude sickness and altitude-related complications
- Remote location
- Experience and training of your guides
- The right equipment for dealing with an emergency
- Robust monitoring and evacuation processes and protocols
How We Work to Keep You Safe on Kilimanjaro
Staying safe on Kilimanjaro starts with understanding the risks and knowing how to mitigate them. We ask all our climbers to fill in a comprehensive medical questionnaire, and in the case of some pre-existing conditions, we may ask for confirmation from your doctor that you are fit to climb. Your guide will need to know any existing medications you are taking (including over the counter) and whether you are taking Diamox to help acclimatization.
You need to know that your guide has the proper training to know how to detect the early signs of altitude sickness, and what to do about it. Our guides undergo Wilderness First Responder training, which teaches essential skills for managing medical conditions in remote locations.
Carrying emergency equipment is useless if your guide doesn’t know how to use it.
A note on guide-to-climber ratio
It’s our mission to ensure a safe and successful summit for everyone. We have a guide to climber ratio of 1 to 2, so for every two climbers, we have one trained mountain guide. This allows for more careful observation and evaluation of the group’s condition.
Communication with your guide is important. If you’re feeling under the weather, have a headache, nausea or any other symptom, you must tell your guide. While hiking, your guide will be keeping a lookout for any early signs of trouble:
- Are you having difficulty on the trail, stumbling or very tired
- Are you eating well, or is your appetite diminishing
- Do you keep stopping to catch your breath, and having difficulty breathing
- Are you drinking enough water
- Any signs of erratic behavior or confusion
Daily Health Check
Every day, you’ll have a one-to-one meeting with your guide for a comprehensive health check-up:
- Using a pulse oximeter to measure your blood oxygen saturation and resting pulse rate, using this data in combination with:
- Symptom picture, using the Lake Louise Scoring System to determine whether you are showing signs of altitude sickness
- Self-assessment questions to determine how you are feeling
Constant monitoring prevents a mild case of altitude sickness from escalating into an emergency.
Our team carries a comprehensive medical kit, including bottled oxygen, and portable stretcher.
- We carry supplemental oxygen for emergency use only.
- The only cure for acute mountain sickness is immediate descent to a lower elevation.
- In the case of an injury that prevents a climber from descending on foot, we use a portable stretcher that is provided by the National Park at each campsite.
- Oxygen can be administered to alleviate AMS in combination with immediate descent.
- We carry a first aid medical kit to treat minor injuries
In the event of an emergency, we use a search and rescue service that operates out of Moshi. After a distress call, a helicopter will be dispatched to the nearest landing point and the patient can be airlifted off the mountain and taken to the local hospital. Of note, in the event of adverse mountain weather, a helicopter may not be able to land, and if this is the case, a manual evacuation will need to take place via a stretcher provided by the National Park.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
We take your safety very seriously and don’t believe in leaving anything to chance. Emergencies can and do occur, due to the nature of the remote, high-altitude environment. Climbing Kilimanjaro with an operator who has well-trained guides, robust safety procedures, and good quality equipment reduces the incidence and severity of any issues that arise.
You can prepare yourself by being fit, bringing the right gear, and taking adequate precautions on the trail.
Our top picks for Best Hiking Tours in Tanzania
Words From Our Happy Clients
We have been receiving reviews from our served clients and We are rated 5/5 by customers. This honor is given to us by customers because we always remain committed to all our customers to do whatever is needed by them to make their safari fully satisfied.
Verified
Pim S2019-12-04perfectly arranged experience of a life time We did the Lemosho as a group of 4 people from around 21 years old. From the very first moment we knew that we were in good hands. We were picked up from our lodge which was arranged by Debby Adventures as well. After renting our equipment and meeting the crew, our journey began: we were driving towards the Kilimanjaro. The first day was a hike to the first camp. This hike was mainly in a beautiful jungle scene. The first thing we noticed was the very pleasant way of hiking. Our two guides Anton and Wilfred knew exactly what they did and led the way in an agreeable tempo. After the hike in the wild jungle of Kilimanjaro National Park the night quickly arrived and we were introduced to our personal waiter, Jackson, who brought our food and drinks. Jackson was a great example of the warm and caring staff that joined us on our journey. With an iconic voice and sense of humor he certainly gave a special addition with his presence. That evening we were also introduced to the chef who made food for us every morning, afternoon and evening: Eli. We think that partly because of the excellent food prepared for us, we made it to the peak in such a pleasant fashion. The food was very nutritious and tastful. In the following few days, we made our way up. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. We did not expect so many different landscapes and views. Every night after dinner, Anton or Wilfred did the daily briefing. This is when we discussed the day and answered some questions about how we were feeling and other health-related questions. Also, every night our oxygen level was measured and we experienced it as professional and pleasant. Speaking of professionality, Anton and Wilfred were the best guides to climb the Kilimanjaro with. Their daily advice, carefulness and knowledge about the mountain could not have been better. Before we knew it, summit night arrived. From base camp to the peak took us 6,5 hours which was pretty tough. But we all made it as a group and we could not be happier. The euphoria of getting to the top is indescribable. After descending Debby took such great care of us which made the experience even more perfect. In conclusion, we would recommend this tour to anyone we know. We are a beautiful life experience richer, thanks to Debby and her crew.VerifiedMasecha2019-03-27An amaizing experience! I have left mount Kilimanjaro with memories that will last a life time with a 6 days Marangu route. It was a great experience, good intro to Mt Kilimanjaro, our guide was super insightful I was impressed with his knowledge of ancient history of Mt Kilimanjaro and all the near places. Everything was planned and organized professionally, Morgan our trip leader was energetic and fun, he looked after us very well.VerifiedBeatrice T2019-03-217 Days Rongai Route with Debby Adventure Before I did the Mount Kilimanjaro trekking (7 days Rongai route) with Debby Adventure, my perception was that not everyone can make it to the top because of the distance, weather conditions and little experience in trekking from people like myself. But when I arrived in Tanzania I jointed a motivated team from Debby Adventure who encouraged and coached me until I made it to the rooftop of Africa. This felt like my dream came true. “Anyone can make it to the rooftop of Africa with such an encouraging team”.VerifiedElicy D2018-11-276DAYS MARANGU ROUTE WITH DEBBY ADVENTURE I did coffee tour and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for six days via marangu route with debby Adventure. I spent my time effectively to climb mt. Kilimanjaro and to reach in Uhuru Peak for real it was amaizing especially theur guides are kind and funny, excellent in English speaking experienced and hard working. Thanks Debby Adventure I enjoyed to the fullest I promise I will come back with my friends
