Safety on Mount Kilimanjaro

Action or Ways to Follow on an Emergency Events on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Call for rescue service: Besides the assistance you will be provided with our professional guides immediately as the incident happens also communication will be made for further help.

Flight Rescue and Search Services: Currently there are search and rescue services on Kilimanjaro operating from Moshi using helicopters. It’s conducted by Kili Medair. In times of emergency our highly trained guides who learned how to assess patients and call in an evacuation, our guides will be held responsible for calling the helicopter for the rescue. The flying zone of the helicopter will be about 4600 meters. It can’t land on the summit, neither fly during bad weather conditions nor fly at night. Therefore, the patient would need to be carried down to a low altitude before resecuring.

Traveler has to provide Castro with insurance details on arrival so that the manifest can be made to a flight company. As an evacuation has been made then your insurance company will be contacted to make payment. There are also medical clinics where patients can be taken for treatments and assessment, thus make sure your insurance covers for medical treatment after the evacuation.

Not all rescue or emergency events need a helicopter, thus in the events in which a helicopter is not required our guide will contact either local manager Castro Capelo in Moshi by mobile phone or the nearest Ranger station then the rescue process will be done in a cooperative way involving porters who will assist you to descent to the nearest way or by using a vehicle brought up to the Shira plateau. Also, in Mount Kilimanjaro, there is a specially designed stretcher having a bicycle wheel attached to the bottom to assist with a steady and quick descent.

From the park gate, Castro will pick up the patient, and based on his or her condition the patient will be taken either to the hotel or hospital. Then communication will be made to inform the next of kin and insurance company about the incident so that a case number can be applied and the situation can be monitored by the Emergency Assistance Team.

Some rescue services fees are covered in the park rescue fee which we pay on your behalf this includes rescue vehicles and ranger assistance on Mount Kilimanjaro. Our vehicles are quite ready for any help that will be needed and bills in the hospital can be made in cash or credit cards.

Our mountain team is packed with a fully equipped first aid kit on each trip, in addition, they carry a small oxygen bottle with a regulator and mask. It will be more worthwhile if you bring your list of preferred tools to ensure your safety on Mount Kilimanjaro. Our staff has pursued internationally recognized first aid certification courses and also, and they have undertaken extra training specifically in high altitude medicine.

Deciding when to Descent or Rely to Our Guides

Not all people will be able to acclimatize well to altitude and it won’t be worth going if it has some bad effect on your health. With the guide's assistance, you can decide to carry on or in a situation where you cannot decide on yourself our guide will do, and together with you, they’ll descend from the mountain and you’ll be safe on them.

When you’re not sure whether you can keep going because you’re not feeling well, please feel free to speak to our guides because they cannot tell you to descend, unless the situation becomes worse. Telling you to descend is against their way of living especially when it comes in touch with Westerners.

Our guides have climbed the mountain several times hence acquiring experience and being adept at recognizing the points at which someone can’t go to the summit. But they get it hard to tell you to descend or to answer questions like “Can I reach the summit?”. Usually, our guides are trained to encourage you but if the situation is worse, they are trained to not be afraid of telling if the summit is beyond your ability.

You shouldn’t put your health at risk if you think you cannot make it. Some signs might be helpful to alert your position whether you will be able to submit or you have to descend gracefully for the sake of your health.

1. Heavily breathing even after resting.
2. Loss of appetite and headaches.
3. Loss of sleep.
4. Feeling dizzy,
5. or feeling ill.

Nevertheless, you should not try to move faster than planned either during climbing or descending, just because you’re feeling well. Our guides have been instructed to deny any request to deduct the number of days of the trip. So do not insist them to do this.

Our articles carry a lot of information which are worthwhile and will encourage and give you confidence in managing your health and ensuring safety while you’re on Mount Kilimanjaro.