DAYS OF HIKING IN KILIMANJARO

DAYS OF HIKING IN KILIMANJARO, Seeing Filmland of Mount Kilimanjaro might be enough to inspire you to go on a Kilimanjaro touringadventure.However, your first question might be how high is Africa’s loftiest peak? Kilimanjaro is 5895m( 19, 341feet), If climbing Kilimanjaro is on your pail list.

MT KILIMANJARO MAP

If you are not an experienced bush hiker, then you need an idea of what to expect when hiking Kilimanjaro.

Yes, you need to be fit and be able to walk for hours.

Of course, you need to be mentally prepared to push your body and mind beyond your comfort zone.

You’ll also need to get really organised and make sure tick everything you need off your packing list for the hike.

The altitude of Mount Kilimanjaro means there’s the potential of altitude sickness to consider but the most important thing you must give some thought to before committing to hiking Kilimanjaro is how to manage your ablutions.

Finding a toilet while hiking Kilimanjaro (or Kili) is serious business.

For me, the physical challenges of hiking Kilimanjaro were on par with the challenges of using the toilets during the climb.

A word of advice – your hiking guide can make a huge difference to your level of enjoyment and comfort during a Kilimanjaro climb so book through a reputable company. Here’s a comparison to help you choose between G Adventures or Intrepid Travel, two well-known hiking companies.

KILIMANJARO ROUTES

How long does it take to climb Kilimanjaro? That depends on the route you take and how many other people are also climbing on that route.

 

THE RONGAI ROUTE

The Rongai Route is a drier but less scenic route, however, it has great views of Kili, especially from the toilets. Here’s our Kilimanjaro climbing itinerary along the Rongai route.

DAY 1:  CLIMBING MT KILIMANJARO TO SIMBA CAMP

The Rongai route starts at Nalemaru Gate (1950m) and the toilet here sets the standard for the hike.

This is an easy day with warm temperatures and a day of slow gentle walking through green farmland and rainforest.

The evening campsite is surrounded by trees and high shrubs with a clear starry sky.

The Simba Camp bush toilet is a relatively clean wooden hut.

Watch out for the African guard in full military uniform with a rather large rifle over his shoulder.

The gun is ‘to protect you from wild buffalo or elephant, Missy’.

This is nothing like campsites back home, where the odd kangaroo might bound past as you dart for the ‘dunny’.

Guarding vulnerable tourist backsides against marauding wildlife is a job of great honour.

After all, this is Africa.

DAY 2:  MOUNT KILIMANJARO HIKE TO KIKELEWA CAVE

Ascending Kilimanjaro, past the Second Cave at 3450m, the vegetation changes as you enter the heath zone.

You are encouraged to drink four to six litres of water a day, which seems like a sound piece of advice.

But the problem is unless you are a camel you will need to use the toilet more frequently than at the formal stops.

You’ll appreciate my comment later – read on.

The evening is spent at Kikelewa Cave with spectacular views to towering Mawenzi in the distance.

DAY 3: COLD WINDS WHILE CLIMBING KILIMANJARO TO MAWENZI TARN HUT

Mawenzi is an extinct cone of the three volcanic cones of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

At 5149m, the ‘long drop’ toilets at the base of Mawenzi offer great views of Mount Kilimanjaro’s majestic rocky outcrops whilst one does one’s business.

It’s a little cool and somewhat breezy but the wind keeps the flies at bay.

This is a huge bonus on relatively warm days.

As temperatures fall, however, positioning such toilets on the edge of a rocky precipice were howling and freezing winds pass through is by no means the height of ingenious African construction or forward-thinking.

Tip For Hiking Kilimanjaro – Use A Shewee 

Using a bottle whilst enjoying the luxury of sleeping in a warm tent is easy for a man but a woman has to improvise.

This is where a female urination device or shewee comes in very handy. Shewees are a female urine funnel that can come in many shapes and colours.

I had a fancy pink, collapsible and washable latex version bought at our local hiking store.

Be diligent and watch a few YouTube videos before use. There is a technique required to use one properly!

I found my shewee very useful in the dark of the night. While crouching in our low two-person tent using my husband’s night time bottle, I managed to achieve a successful outcome whilst he snored.

Brilliant!

DAY 4: ROCK HUNTING OBSESSION AS WE CLIMB KILIMANJARO

The guides will encourage you to drink lots but the more you drink, the more you pee.

It’s simple biology.

This needs to be taken into consideration as the vegetation disappears and is replaced by an alpine desert.

African shrubbery is slowly replaced by rocks.

Our guide often disappeared mumbling “I go look for rock”.

At first, I thought he was collecting small rocks along the way for one of his children as a momento but I soon understood why he repeatedly went off rock hunting.

Upon increasing my fluid intake, I too joined in the hunt for a rock.

Women need big ones to crouch and hide behind out of view whilst one drops one’s trousers and gets on with business.

The biggest problem is when you find the ideal rock, you can be sure that hundreds of trekkers before you have also used that rock.

What you see behind those rocks will supercharge you to hold on until your next lunch stop with a proper toilet!

DAY 4 – SNOW ON KILIMANJARO AND THE SHEWEE

Kibo is the only dormant volcanic cone of the three cones (4703m) and the point of the final ascent to Uhuru.

By now, the landscape is bare earth and volcanic dust, with sub-zero temperatures and light snow.

Kibo houses flashy ‘Tourist Toilets’ complete with partly tiled floors.

Compared to the bush rocks, it’s a luxurious touch but walking to the toilet in the middle of freezing-cold nights is simply not an option.

I’d rather volunteer to walk with lions that go outside in sub-zero temperatures.

Here’s where you’ll be thankful for your shewee.

Bouyed with confidence from my previous success, I positioned myself and my shewee perfectly.

I aimed into my husband’s bottle.

Hole-in-one I thought as I heard the trickling of my urine into the bottle but although I was greatly relieved of my bladder pressure, I soon realised I had a blowback effect and had leaked all over my sleeping bag – aaargh!

Thoughts of nursing homes and warm uriniferous beds came to mind.

Noooooo!

Thank God I had brought some perfume to mask the odour.

Yes, that’s another tip. Bring perfume while climbing Kilimanjaro.

You never know when you may need it!

DAY 5: TREKKING KILIMANJARO TO THE KIBO HUT

Use the tourist toilets as much as possible during the day to prepare yourself for the final ascent to the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Wearing five to six layers of clothing in freezing cold conditions at night is not conducive to ablutions on the rooftop of Africa.

The tramp through the night to sunrise at Stella Point (5739m) and on to Uhuru Point (5895m) is without a toilet stop.

However, the exhilaration of getting to the top puts any thought of toileting well out of mind.

In fact, I don’t remember having to go until late afternoon back down at Kibo.

DAY 6: UHURU, KIBO AND HOROMBO HUT

By late morning when you return down the mountain to Kibo, the short toilet break and spaghetti and popcorn carbs top up after the 1000m vertical climb is very welcome.

The continued walk to the final stop late that afternoon at Horombo Hut is now a downward breeze.

But there are also surprisingly civilised and new toilets there now, complete with a flush system, tiles and running water.

Oh, what luxury! I slept like a baby through the night after the long 15-hour walk and best of all, I didn’t have to use the she-wee.

DAY 7: MOUNT KILIMANJARO HIKE BACK TO CIVILISATION

Be conscious of celebration too much during your last night on the mountain as there is only a very old toilet midway during the walk out of the park.

I was about to use it out of sheer desperation until I went inside.

It didn’t take a split second to decide to wait till the lunch stop at Mandara Hut.

The very nice, clean luxury style western toilet at Mandara is a blessing indeed.

Passing through Marangu Gate at the end requires a dance of victory and a celebration of a return to relative civilisation.