Customer Reviews
'The' pocket guide to Africa's great white mountain - By: J. Brand, 04 Dec 2007 
Stedman's trekking guide to Kilimanjaro really is a gem of a guide. It provides just about all the information you might need to help you conquer Africa's great white peak. A mine of practical information that will help take you from planning your trip to the summit & which you will probably find you take with you on your way up the mountain.Certainly when I turned Kilimanjaro into Kili half the party I was with had a copy of this book with them!
Henry Stedman covers his subject very methodically taking you from the early planning of which tour companies to use or if you arrange your trek on arrival which trekking agencies to use. The equipment you will need & the health precautions you should take. He progresses through the practicalities of how to get to Tanzania even giving a brief guide to the ins & outs of travelling via Nairobi's somewhat haphazard airport & city. A brief description of Kilimanjaro airport & practicalities precedes more extensive descriptions of the major towns around the base of the Mountain & finally he moves on to the meat of the book - climbing the mountain itself.
Climbing the mountain is where this book really earns it's keep. Stedman starts with a quick summary of the major issues you might encounter, which is principally altitude sickness & what to do to avoid it & treat it before getting into an extensive description of each of the major routes. On each of these he does an excellent job describing the route, the practicalities, waymarks, features of the trek distances covered & altitude gained. Even if you weren't using a guide & porters this book could be enough to steer you up the mountain (although trying to climb Kili without a guide & porters is just silly as if you can afford to get to Tanzania you can afford to give a little bit more back to the local economy). Its second edition is worth getting, not just because the mountain changes as glaciers retreating & routes are altered, but because the second edition is much more comprehensive.
Flawsin the book. Well Stedman describes the flora, fauna & people of the region but attempts to do soin little more than ten pages. Far too short but then again this is a practical travel guide not a travelogue. The maps used for each section of the routes are just sketch maps & really these should be supplemented with proper maps, or was Stedman trying to prevent people using this guide to avoid paying for local porters & guides? If those are flaws then they are flaws that can be excused.
Compact & practical to take with you & comprehensive enough to help plan your trip from fireside to summit. Buy this book follow it's advice & it will make your ascent much easier or at least as easy as climbing 20 thousand feet is ever going to be. Buy it!
Exactly what I was looking for - By: Mr. K. J. Parr, 25 Nov 2007 I was looking for a book with frank, honest & impartial advice about trekking on Kilimanjaro. This is it, with far more information besides. It is not JUST a reference book - I have read it with continued interest from cover to cover. The one minor criticism I have is the prolific use of sub-text boxes which are distracting & break up the flow of reading.
A brilliant guidebook - By: Andrew Halston, 22 Nov 2006 What a great guidebook! We had to wait ages for this book to arrive (it finally arrived last month), as apparently there was some delayin publication. But we were determined to wait after reading all the rave reviews to the first edition. And after spending the best part of a month reading through it, we're glad we did. Though we have yet to climb the mountain, this book has already comein useful with its extensive reviews of trekking companiesin the UK & Tanzania , whilst its descriptions of the routes are by some distance the most detailed we've come across. It's also a surprisingly funny & well-written book. A couple of our friends who climbed Kilimanjaro last year said that their guide said it was by far & away the best book on the mountain & carried a copy with him `justin case' & used it to identify the mountain flowers!
Well done Trailblazers on a cracking book. Now we've just got to get to the top!
Fantastic!! No need for your Lonely Planet or Rough Guide!! - By: N. Patterson, 24 Apr 2006 I bought this book a few months before I actually went away to climb Kili as well as buying a Lonely Planet & Rough Guide for Tanzania. There was no need to buy either the Lonely Planet or the Rough Guide as you get everything & morein this book.
Quite simply, if you are new to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, or if you think your interestedin doing it, BUY THIS BOOK. Its all you will needin the form of a guidebook (and probably more) & it is small enough to fitin your rucksack for when you do go to climb it. Im sure that even some of the suggestions assisted mein getting to the top!
Having checked the market for competitors, this book is the finest by a long, long way.
Good luck for when you attempt!!!
indispensible guide to the mountain - By: , 13 Jan 2006 Went up Kili last year, found the book extremely useful before departure & during the trek (Machame route) The section on acute mountain sickness should be compulsory reading for anyone attempting to get to the top.
