Preparations for Kilimanjaro

One week from today I will be arriving in Moshi, Tanzania and preparing to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.  I will be joining 30 other climbers from the Charlotte area on the six-day climb of the mountain.  Most of the other climbers are members of Rotary clubs in the Charlotte area.  These Rotarians have committed to raise $100,000 for Rotary International's "End Polio Now" campaign.

For some of us polio is a distant memory, and many others have no recollection of the disease, except for a required immunization.  I remember getting the oral vaccine on a sugar cube at a local volunteer fire department when it was first developed by Dr. Albert Sabin.  The fact is, polio has been eradicated from much of the world, but in some places it still poses a threat.  Polio today is almost nonexistent in the Western world, but still a threat in Africa and parts of Asia.

In preparing for the trip, I consulted with the Travel office of the Buncombe County Health Department.  I was advised to get all the usual vaccinations for travel to developing countries: Hepatitis A and B, typhoid, and tetanus, which I already had from my trips to Belize.  New to me was a vaccination for Yellow Fever.  Ironically, I was advised to get a polio booster since the disease is active in parts of Africa.  A daily oral malaria pill is the only other preventive medicine I will need.

The next few days will be organizing all the clothing and gear I have laid out for the trip.  I can expect temperatures from mid 80's to sub-zero.  We will be trekking through a tropical rain forest, semi-arid desert, and finally an arctic-like zone at the top of the mountain.

At 19,341feet, Mt. Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa.  It is a dormant volcano in northern Tanzania only 3 degrees south of the Equator.

The mountain is not part of a mountain range, so it towers over 16,000 feet above the surrounding plain.  This makes Kili one of the largest free-standing mountains in the world.

More details on the trip will follow on this blog.