Trip to Mt Kilimanjaro

I will be a doing a 8 day trek to Kilimanjaro in September.

Wondering how many batteries and how many GB of CF cards I should plan for.

I have the 7D with 3 batteries. I think I have a 16GB, a 8GB and some 3 or 4 2GB cards.

I think 3 batteries would be fine if you're hiking most of the time. If you're shooting raw I'd get another 16GB.

Going all the way up to the top of Uhuru?

Bring Asprin. It helps with the altitude.

Yes, all the way to Uhuru and taking the Machame trail. Just reading up about Asprin, acetazolamide dosages etc.

Will be shooting RAW - 16GB more sounds good.

12 V solar charger to take along?

I am also looking at options for the backup point and shoot. Any suggestions welcome...

vk2gwk wrote in post #16008027
12 V solar charger to take along?

Most of them would take a whole day, or more, in the sun to charge one battery. And you'd look a right pratt trying to balance it on your head as you were walking along.

I never take anything smaller than 32GB 800x cards to Africa. I have two for each camera body as that is enough storage to usually last one day of wildlife shooting (not landscape). If you will not carry a laptop for storing/editing photos, I would want a stack of 32 or 64 cards. Relative to the cost and effort of a international trip and your camera equipment....large fast CF cards are dirt cheap. Always have a stack of them available. And indeed you want a second camera body along...just in case. A S110 or G12 would work well as they shoot raw. But you need SD cards for them.

Bring a high-end point and shoot. My opinion.

Two reasons: first, you'll want pictures of yourself taken by others. And those pretty scenic photos can be had with a point and shoot with excellent quality.

Secondly, weight. Water is more important than a dslr.


Really focus on your health. One of my student's father (and his twin brother) just climbed it three months ago. The brother never made it to the top, became very sick, and had to be flown out by helicopter. They were insured for that. He had some health issues anyway. But it's still dangerous to climb that mountain because many do it in a short period, and it's far more straining on the body than most people realize.

Being in excellent physical condition is a huge benefit. Hydration too.

Note: according to Wikipedia, more climbers have died here than on Everest. The percentage of deaths is lower, but it's still a deadly place. The success rate is 41%, and the experts advise a minimum of seven to eight days. Many try it in under a week and fail as a result. The biggest reason people fail is peer pressure. Committing to a group that is under time constraints causes people to exceed their physical limits too soon and they either persist and die or turn around and fail.


Deaths aren't rare and occur every year.

Slow and steady wins the race. You mentioned that your trek was eight days. Are all eight days on the mountain?

That said, go for it. With proper preparation you'll be in the 41%.

After reading your original post again I stand by my suggestion of bringing a high-end point and shoot. Weight, weather, extreme condensation, frost, humidity, stumbles, dropped packs, spills.

Get a S110 or similar and put it in a waterproof pouch. Lightweight.

https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Mount_Kilimanj​aro

That depends on what you have climbed already. Can you run 10 miles easily at sea level?

Personally I would bring vivitar wide and slim or olympus stylus epic. Brain with no oxygen give errors in namual node with DSLR

I'm not sure how well the cameras would work at below freezing. My rebel didn't perform very well at -10, so extra batteries might be a good idea.

Do you need crampons and ice axe at the top? It seems glaciated.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #16009613
Do you need crampons and ice axe at the top? It seems glaciated.

Nope. The summit doesn't require any specialist gear and climate change means that any ice on the top is rapidly disappearing.

hollis_f wrote in post #16009699
Nope. The summit doesn't require any specialist gear and climate change means that any ice on the top is rapidly disappearing.

But isn't there ice/snow runout for about 300 feet or so? How do you climb an iced slope without an axe and crampons?

I come from a different approach to mountains, I'm curious how kilimanjaro is done in a touristy fashion. Or is it the same as everest base camp?