I emailed AfricaTravelResource enquiring about how much the Kilimanjaro Trip will cost, and what I can do now to prepare for the trip.

There was a long reply, giving me a lot of details about each route! According to the email, the routes on the mountain fall into three groups: South-Eastern, South-Western, and North-Eastern.

The only South-Eastern route is the Marangu (Coca-Cola) route. Marangu is the easiest route, but its packed because of that.

South-Western routes include Machame (5 nights), Shira (7 nights) and Lemosho (6 nights). Shira is the one I want to go! It is supposed to be tough but wonderfully scenic trek!

The only North-Eastern route Rongai, which is usually a five night climb. According to the guide, this route not as scenic as the South-Western routes, but is generally considered to be slightly easier.

The guide recommended Rongai route, because it is the one with the least traffic!

How? Am I confident of my fitness? The five nights climb costs about US$1500, and seven nights about US$2000. Whoa! Start saving now!

Anyway, Africa Travel Resource is a listed company in London… I think! The signature was “Africa Travel Resource Ltd”. Great! Hmm… but still, I think I should find out about more operators first!