New record set on Kilimanjaro

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, is one of the many options visitors to the country have, and the vicinity of Moshi, one of the starting points, to the international airport aptly named Kilimanjaro International, makes for a swift start as tourists can fly in, spend a night at a base hotel, and then embark on their week-long climb.

A week-long climb is considered “normal,” but what takes ordinary mortals between 5 and 7 days, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and come back down the mountain again, was reduced last week to just 6 hours, 56 minutes, and 24 seconds by Swiss Ecuadorian Karl Egloff who ran the distance, going up the steep Umbwe route and down to the Mweka gate.

This is reportedly a new record and was a result of several months of high altitude training in the Ecuadorian Andes and then on site in Tanzania, courtesy of sponsorships by Switzerland’s Aktiv Reisen and local partner Leopard Tours.

Fitness is, however, a major requirement and although porters with every climbing group carry the heavy stuff, those who set their sights on the summit will still have to do all the walking themselves and brace the thinner air as higher as they get. There are specialized mountain-climbing operators organizing such trips from Arusha and Moshi, licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and bona fide members of TATO, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators.