Achieved a dream of 20 years with Tusker Trail My dad (65M) and I (35F) climbed the Lemosho route with Tusker Trail on July 7-15. Four out of four hikers in our group reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro at 12:15pm on July 13 thanks to the leadership of our amazing guides (Kombe and Pastori) and the team of 24 staff and porters who supported us. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience that I will keep with me for the rest of my life! There are many companies on the mountain and I chose Tusker for a few reasons. First, Tusker has been operating on Mt. Kilimanjaro for decades (I believe the founder actually was involved in the initial mapping of the Lemosho trail), so you can't find a more experienced and safety-conscious group of guides and staff. Second, Tusker has a high summiting success rate because they offer the longest climb (7 day ascent and 2 day descent), which maximizes opportunity for acclimatization and is well worth the extra expense. Third, Tusker summits during the day (on the Lemosho route) rather than at night. This meant that we left the Barafu base camp for Uhuru Peak at 4:30am and we were able to see a view of the sunrise on the trail, and we also weren't freezing and scrambling in the dark with headlamps like most groups that left base camp around midnight. The basic flow of the climb was waking up around 6:15am most days, beginning to hike at 7:30am after packing, breakfast, and medical check-ins, a break for lunch around 1pm, continuing to hike after lunch most days (although as we reached higher altitudes, we often were done hiking for the day after lunch), snacks at 4:30pm, and dinner and medical check-ins at 6:30pm. By the time you arrived at each camp, the porters already had been there setting up tents (including the mess tent and toilet tent) for several hours and all your belongings already were there. I was amazed by how efficient the porters were, each carrying 20 kg every day! We spent three days camping at 13,000' and hiking to 15,000' during the day, which prepared us to stay at 15,000' the night before and the night after summiting. The summit day was brutal because of the altitude, but the rest of the climb was not especially difficult and none of it was technical. And help always was available to get through any tricky parts (e.g., the Barranco Wall, the descent from Uhuru Peak). All members of our group encountered some difficulties with the altitude at one point or another (headache, diarrhea, loss of appetite, etc.), and the guides were very knowledgeable of how to mitigate the symptoms. I always felt safe thanks to Tusker's medical procedures and check-ins, and I had a lot of trust in the guides' judgment. More than once I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I or another member of the group recovered from fairly debilitating altitude sickness symptoms. The entire staff of the climb was so polite, professional, and energetic, and they watched out for our individual needs the entire time. The mantra that the guides repeated to us throughout the climb was "safety first, summit second," and this above all else is the reason I would recommend Tusker without reservation. THANK YOU to Kombe, Pastori, Julian (in the Tanzania office), Katie (in the US office), and all the porters for an incredible and memorable experience! I look forward to traveling with Tusker Trail again someday.
