On a recent visit to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, we tried to get an idea of how the government and locals are trying to look after their environment.
The place is stunning, and full of monkeys and massive insects (yes i know, a very technical assessment) and the journey from the start (about 1000 metres up) to the top (nearly 6000 metres) takes you through loads of different environments, from rainforest to a cold dusty desert to snow and glaciers.
We took the Coka Cola route (Marangu route), which takes 5 days, 3 days up and 2 down. We stayed in triangular huts which were really comfortable, and had lighting powered by solar panels outside, no generators were used in the camps we stayed as far as we could tell.
The route itself did have some rubbish on it, there are some cleaners who trek up every 10 days to clear the route of rubbish, and there are strict rules for porters relating to collecting all their rubbish, but as our guide Chombo said, ‘Some porters don’t do as they should.’ We found full rubbish bags on the route up, it’s hard to know how long they had been there.
The toilets on the way up are all long drops (holes in the ground), which are filled in and moved once they’re full. Not the greatest move, especially as this can contaminate the streams on the way (where the water comes from ultimately).
The final night trek to the top was amazing and hellish in equal measure (for us anyway!), but worth the effort for the spectacular views. The top was dirty though, the altitude makes it hard work to do anything up there, and I suspect some porters are even less keen to waste precious energy collecting rubbish. Myself and a friend have large memory blanks from the top, and hallucinations, the last thing on some people’s mind is what to do with their rubbish when they’re seeing themselves covered in trippy-looking rats. We reckon the local park authorities should look to do a clean up – we saw toilet roll, poop and all types of food packaging up there, not ideal.
Whilst the rubbish at the top didn’t detract from the amazing journey and stunning scenery, it’s a shame to see that some people don’t respect the environment that they have the privilege of visiting, threatening wildlife and local resources.
Another startling thing we noticed was the shrunken glacier at the top of the mountain. There is some snow up the very top but it’s rapidly disappeared over the last 30 years, and where there was once a huge thick sheet of ice, there is now a giant ice cliff and a flat bed of shale and rocks.
All in all an amazing trip!
Check out the Kilimanjaro pictures i’ve added!
