Kilimanjaro expedition equipment

Inoculations

The only mandatory inoculation to enter Tanzania is the yellow fever. Don't forget to bring your vaccination certificate.

Other inoculations are recommended but not mandatory:

• Hepatitis A or infectious hepatitis. It causes leaver inflammations. The contamination occurs via water or food.
• Thyphoid which is also caught from water or food.
• Tetanus
• Meningococcal meningitis

Malaria

Tanzania is one of the highest risk countries in the world regarding malaria. Anopheles mosquitoes reponsible for this plague are prevailing on costal areas.

Of course you are unlikely to contract malaria on Kilimanjaro as it is way too cold for the mosquitoes to survive. But your first day in Moshi or Arusha as well as the last day are risky.

That's why it is strongly recommended to take an anti-malarials treatment (malarone, lariam).

Altitude mountain sickness (AMS)

Altitude sickness is a frequent disease likely to happen to anyone whether you are used to altitude or not if one climbs too fast or if the acclimatization is not sufficient.

There are different degrees in altitude sickness: mild, moderate and severe, each with typical symptoms. If you have symptoms of mild or moderate AMS doesn't mean you have to give up the climbing. But whoever suffers from severe altitude mountain sickness should immediately stop climbing and start to descent as soon as possible.

The symptoms for mild and moderate are painful headaches, nausea, lack of appetite, insomnia, stability loss.

The symptoms of the severe altitude sickness can start with a lack of coordination and balance, incoherent speech and evolve to a watery cough which may produce a clear liquid or blood leading to HACO (High Altitude Cerebral Oedema) or HAPO (High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema). You must take these symptoms very seriously as they can lead to death if no action is taken that is to say immediate descent.

What are the causes of altitude sickness?

Pressure and oxygen level in the air decline rapidly with altitude. For example on top of Kilimanjaro, at 5895 metres, the oxygen in the atmosphere is half that found at sea level.

To compensate, the body activates several mechanisms like hyper ventilation, it will produce more red blood cells, the blood will thicken and so on.

If you clim too fast the body has no time to set these mechanisms, the altitude sickness symptoms will then appear.

The key is to give time to your body and garanty a good acclimatization. That's why we decided to climb Kilimanjaro in 7 days instead of 6, increasing our chances to reach the summit.

How to avoid altitude sickness?

The prevention is acclimatization.
It is recommended to climb no more than 500 metres per day.

In case of severe altitude sickness there is a drug called Diamox which acidify the blood enabling to increase breathing hence oxygenation. But beware, Diamox doesn't take off altitude sickness, it is not a way of continuing upward. This drug should only be used to stabilize someone state before or during the descent to a safer altitude.

First aid

This is a non-exhaustive list of drugs you'd better bring during the Kilimanjaro expedition.

• Anti-diarrhea
• Antiemetic
• Paracetamol, aspirin
• Broad Spectrum Antibiotic
• Sunburn relief cream
• Articular trauma cream
• Antiseptic
• Eyes Antiseptic
• Mosquitoes repellant
• Cream against insect bites
• Water purifying tabs
• Bandage