USEFUL ITEMS TO TAKE WITH YOU UP KILIMANJARO

Earplugs - Some porters on Kilimanjaro have stereos and mobile phones, and they love advertising this fact by playing the former and speaking into the latter extremely loudly at campsites. A set of earplugs will reduce this disturbance.

Plastic bags - Useful for segregating your wet clothes from the rest of your kit in your rucksack on Kilimanjaro.

Aluminium sheet blanket - An aluminium sheet blanket provides extra comfort if your sleeping bag on Kilimanjaro isn’t as warm as you thought.

Sandals/flip-flops - A change of footwear on Kilimanjaro is useful in the evenings at camp , but make sure they are big enough to fit round a thick pair of socks.

Candles - By all means bring candles with you to Kilimanjaro, but don’t use them in the tent and keep them away from everybody else’s tent too.

Bootlaces/string.

Clothes pegs - Clothes pegs on Kilimanjaro are very useful for attaching wet clothes to the back of your rucksack to allow them to dry in the sun while you walk.

Penknife - Always useful, if only for opening beer bottles at the post-trek party.

Matches - As with the penknife, always useful, as any boy scout will tell you.

Sewing kit - For repairs on the trail.

Trowel - If you envisage needing to defecate along the trail at places other than the designated toilet huts, this will help to bury the evidence and keep Kilimanjaro looking pristine.

Insulating tape - Also for repairs - of shoes, rucksacks, tents etc. and as a last resort for mending holes in clothes if you have forgotten your sewing kit, or are incapable of using it.

She-wee AKA the Miss Piss, this is for ladies who want to wee without the bother of removing layers or getting out of the tent at night. According to some, the ‘female urinal’ is cheaper and better. Guys, by the way, usually make do with an empty mineral water bottle.

Watch - Preferably cheap and luminous for night-time walking.

Compass - Not essential, but useful.

Map - A map is not essential, but will, in combination with a compass, help you to determine where you are on Kilimanjaro, and where you’re going.

Whistle - It’s difficult to get lost on Kilimanjaro but if you’re taking an unusual route - on the northern side of the mountain, for example, or around Mawenzi - a whistle may be useful to help people locate which ravine you’ve fallen into, in the event that should happen.

Trekking poles - If you’ve done some trekking before you’ll know if you need trekking poles / sticks or not. If you haven’t, assume you will. While trekkers on Kilimanjaro often use trekking poles / sticks -also called ski poles - the whole way, trekking poles really come into their own on the descent, to minimize the strain on your knees as you trudge downhill. Telescopic poles can be bought from trekking/camping outfitters in the West, or you can invest in a more local version - a Maasai ‘walking stick’ from souvenir shops in Moshi or Arusha.

Boiled sweets/chocolate - On Kilimanjaro sweets are great for winning friends and influencing people. Good for energy levels too.

Bandanna (aka ‘buff’) - For keeping the dust out of your face when walking on the Saddle, to use as an ear-warmer on the final night, and to mop the sweat from your brow on those exhausting uphill climbs. Also useful for blocking out the odours when using the public toilettes at the campsites.

Chapstick/lip salve or vaseline - The wind on the summit of Kilimanjaro will rip your sunburnt lips to shreds. Save yourself the agony by investing in a chapstick, available in strawberry and mint flavour from pharmacists in Moshi and Arusha.

Money - For sundry items on sale at huts en route to and from the summit of Kilimanjaro.