Despite measures to limit the number of people tackling Africa’s highest peak, officials are sometimes letting double the permitted number of climbers through.
Overcrowding has become so bad in recent weeks that poorly-paid porters have been forced to sleep outside in temperatures as low as minus 12C.
Conditions on the mountain, known as the “roof of Africa”, have been described as a shambles, with arguments raging among groups because of a shortage of sleeping huts, long queues for food and concern over the treatment of porters.
The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that a protest march is being held by the Kilimanjaro Guides and Porters Union on February 28 to highlight the problem, as previously reported in Times Travel (February 5).
One local agent asked not to be named for fear of losing his licence to take groups up the mountain, which is 5,995m (19,334ft) high. He said: “Wardens are taking backhanders to allow permits to groups at the last minute — the attitude seems to be: ‘let’s make money while we can’. Tanzania is flavour of the month at the moment, and officials don’t want to miss out.” He said that the official tourist limit of 67 people a day on the popular Marangu trail is regularly being broken, with almost double the number, around 120, starting out on it each day last week. The Marangu route, which usually takes five to six days to climb, is the only Kilimanjaro trail with sleeping huts rather than tents, making it most peoples’ first choice.
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“It’s crazy. The official tourist limit was brought in to limit the development of sprawling areas of huts and to maintain the beauty of the mountain. But all the backhanders mean there are way too many tourists there now and not enough huts,” the agent said.
“I was up there three weeks ago and no one was having a good time. There were terrible queues at the dining huts and fights over sleeping huts. The altitude tends to worsen peoples’ tempers. On top of that many porters were having to sleep in the open, although some were provided with extra tents at the last minute. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.”
The managing director of one of the main British tour operators offering trips also refused to be named for fear of upsetting local authorities. He said: “Corruption is normal in Africa: if an official can get an extra fifty dollars for a permit (which cost $400 per person), then it doesn’t surprise me at all what happens.”
The porters’ protest is over working conditions, which have worsened in recent weeks, partly because tourism to Tanzania has boomed as people switched to the country in the aftermath of the tsunamis in Asia.
Union leaders want agents who hire them to provide porters with better clothing to cope with the freezing temperatures (porters often rely on handouts from tourists) and to ensure that they do not have to carry more than the official load limit of 12kg (some have carried as much as 50kg).
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Another demand is that there is suitable sleeping accommodation, and that the practice of chief porters pocketing the majority of tourists’ tips is brought to an end (agents usually give tips to the chief porter but do not check that cash is distributed fairly).
In 2003, two porters died on the Marangu trekking route. This followed other porters’ deaths from exposure or exhaustion on the mountain in 2002. More than 25,000 people try to climb Kilimanjaro each year, while other visitors to Tanzania go on safaris in the Serengeti or snorkelling in Zanzibar.
Times Travel approached the Tanzania High Commission to ask whether anything was being done to block corruption. Yusuf Kashangwa, director of the Tanzania Trade Centre in London, said: “It is the first time I have heard such a report. I have forwarded the message to the appropriate institutions. Our government is keen to act against all corrupt individuals and that is why we have the Bureau for Prevention of Corruption to deal with problems, if they are supported by evidence.”
Crispin Jones, spokesman for Exodus, said: “We’ve stopped using the Marangu route because of problems. We only use the Rongai and Shira routes, which are longer, at nine and 12 days, but much quieter. Marangu is what we call the Coca-Cola route.”
Derek Moore, director at Explore Worldwide, which takes people on the Marangu trail, said: “Yes, there are a lot of people going, but we are not aware of corruption.”
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The local agent at Kilimanjaro, who approached Times Travel after reading our report earlier this month, said overcrowding made it less likely for groups to reach the peak. Usually only about 65 per cent of people reach the top. The agent said: “A lot of groups try to reach the summit too quickly, in five days rather than six, which is too quick for all but the fittest groups. If the park authorities keep this up, people won’t go. They will kill the goose that laid the golden egg.”
Details:
www.kilimanjaro-union.com www.tourismconcern.com www.tanzaniatouristboard.com www.exodus.co.uk www.explore.co.uk