Kilimanjaro in the time of COVID

Writ­ten by Steve Guthrie

The ​“nor­mal” process of how expe­di­tions to Kil­i­man­jaro oper­ate has changed to adapt to the real­i­ty of the virus, but these changes pro­vide a bea­con to shed light on how we go forward. 

Moun­tain Mad­ness has a long asso­ci­a­tion with Kil­i­man­jaro. In 1984 Scott Fis­ch­er and Wes Krause pio­neered a trekking route, devel­oped logis­tics plans and infra­struc­ture, hired and trained staff, and oper­at­ed count­less trips. Their vision is car­ried on to this day, which impor­tant­ly includes a guid­ing ten­ant for us to not only leave no trace in the lands we vis­it, but be a good part­ner to the peo­ple that work with us and have a pos­i­tive impact on their lives. A liv­ing wage is just the first step. Mak­ing sure that all staff are prop­er­ly equipped, pro­vid­ing cut­ting edge indus­try stan­dard train­ing, and oppor­tu­ni­ty for advance­ment is impor­tant but needs to be com­bined with respect, trans­paren­cy, open com­mu­ni­ca­tion and embrac­ing our dif­fer­ences. The essence of Moun­tain Mad­ness is that we strive to be a fam­i­ly, a group of friends, both oper­at­ing and staffing the trips but also par­tic­i­pat­ing as guests.

As the extent of the pan­dem­ic became appar­ent, we worked with our part­ners in Tan­za­nia and our friends/​clients of Moun­tain Mad­ness to pro­vide some relief to Kil­i­man­jaro staff. Funds were col­lect­ed and food and cook­ing sup­plies were pur­chased and dis­trib­uted to ease the bur­den until reg­u­lar work could begin again. 

This past fall it became clear that Tan­za­nia offered a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for trav­el in a world large­ly shut down. Wilder­ness, moun­tain envi­ron­ments, and Savan­nah make it eas­i­er to prac­tice social dis­tanc­ing. We worked dili­gent­ly with Tan­zan­ian staff to devel­op risk man­age­ment pro­to­cols relat­ing to COVID that would allow guests to con­tin­ue expe­ri­enc­ing Kil­i­man­jaro and safari with all the mag­ic inher­ent in our trips. To accom­plish this, we are tak­ing excep­tion­al mea­sures which include: 

- Test­ing of all staff pri­or to each trip and iso­lat­ing every­one at a remote safari camp while wait­ing for test results. In fact, we test 120% of need­ed staff so we can have ​“extra” in case some­one tests positive. 

-Vehi­cles are cleaned and san­i­tized after each use. Dri­vers are test­ed and iso­lat­ed with the rest of staff.

-Masks are required in vehi­cles, in groups and where social dis­tanc­ing may be difficult. 

-Bub­bles or pods are cre­at­ed to lim­it con­tact. For exam­ple, porters will not have direct or close con­tact with guests. The lead and assis­tant guide will pack, pre­pare, and san­i­tize guest bag­gage begin­ning and fol­low­ing each day of trekking. Addi­tion­al­ly, they will set up guest tents and pre­pare the din­ing tent. Kitchen staff will have their own bub­ble and food prepa­ra­tion and ser­vice will be main­tained with­in that bubble. 

-We are not using hotels or pub­licly accessed accom­mo­da­tions. Moun­tain Mad­ness has pri­vate com­pounds and camps that we can keep iso­lat­ed and mon­i­tor all staff and guests. We have been oper­at­ing remote safari camps for decades which has pre­pared us for this tran­si­tion dur­ing the pan­dem­ic. These camps are high-end and very com­fort­able with great food and accommodations. 

-We mon­i­tor, in real time, all news relat­ing to the virus both in Tan­za­nia and through­out the world and will not oper­ate in places where we feel there is excep­tion­al dan­ger or unknown factors.

Moun­tain Mad­ness is cur­rent­ly offer­ing Kil­i­man­jaro treks and safari. We had two groups in Decem­ber and expe­ri­enced effec­tive imple­men­ta­tion of the pro­to­cols. Despite all the lim­i­ta­tions, changes, and dis­ap­point­ments of the past year, it is not only pos­si­ble to trav­el to Kil­i­man­jaro, but high­ly rec­om­mend­ed. Imag­ine being the only par­ty on the sum­mit. You will prob­a­bly have much of the moun­tain to your­self. On safari you might not see anoth­er vehi­cle for hours and have a large expanse of the Serengeti or the Ngoron­goro Crater in splen­did iso­la­tion. This is per­haps a once in a life­time chance to see Tan­za­nia as it was 40 or 50 years ago. Sub­lime beau­ty, vast tracks of unin­hab­it­ed land, herds of ani­mals with­out herds of tourists, and the care and warm hos­pi­tal­i­ty of our Tan­zan­ian friends. 

Once again, as through­out his­to­ry, Kil­i­man­jaro stands as a bea­con and a land­mark, guid­ing adven­tur­ers and trav­el­ers through an unchart­ed time. It shines hope and as the cra­dle of human­i­ty, shows us that there is a way for­ward and the future is bright. Kil­i­man­jaro was, and remains, the most life-chang­ing and empow­er­ing adven­ture I have ever embarked upon. My eyes were opened to an utter­ly amaz­ing world and that first expe­ri­ence there still res­onates strong­ly and is an impor­tant touch­stone. My wish for the New Year is that when you feel com­fort­able enough to trav­el, that you have an adven­ture that res­onates with you as much as my first trip to Kil­i­man­jaro res­onates with me. We will take care of the details so you can relax, take a deep breath of life and shed the skin of this past year.