I'm happy to be a participant on the Team Interactive trip to Kilimanjaro. I climbed Kilimanjaro in June 2001 (11 years ago) so now I'll be able to compare the climb 11 years later.  Here's information I sent to dozens of other people who wanted to climb with the same tour agency my colleague, Gerhard Koch, and I used. I sent dozens of these letters since the tour agency would send potential customers my name and email address as a reference. 

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I'd be happy to give you a good reference for Destination Africa Tours. My colleague Gerhard Koch (copied on this note) booked our Kilimanjaro climb based on the Website for Destination Africa. No one referred us to the tour company, so we were concerned about giving money to a tour group in remote Johannesburg. However, after exchanging e-mail with Mariesa Barnard of Destination Africa we felt that everything was being dealt with on a very professional level. We flew from New York to Johannesburg on June 13, 2001, spent two days on a Safari, and then met Mariesa at the Johannesburg Airport on June 16. Mariesa had our airline tickets to Kilimanjaro and some last minute advice on sunblock, water purification tablets (which we didn't use), etc. The whole trip went smoothly and since we both made it to Uhuru peak, we were quite happy with everything. Climbing at altitude is difficult for almost everyone, so we both found that the climb was more difficult than we had thought it would be.

In summary, we were quite happy with Destination Africa Tours and would have no problem recommending the tour group to anyone climbing Kilimanjaro. In hindsight, the Kilimanjaro climb was a great experience (although I must admit that on the final summit push when we started off at midnight and it was very cold and the air was thin and we were gasping for air, I wondered a few times "why am I doing this?"). The guides and porters supplied by the tour group were excellent and everyone learns to speak a few words of Swahili although there was no problem communicating in English. The accommodations (huts and food) were good. We took the Marangu (Coca Cola) route, so we had huts instead of tents.

One of the topics of conversation by everybody from many countries (UK, Germany, US, Canada, South Africa, etc.) was the medicines we took. A Yellow Fever shot was mandatory, but many people took a weekly Malaria tablet (Lariam) which could have strong side effects (vomiting) if you took it outside a meal. The most controversial medicine was for altitude sickness (Diamox). It made most climbers fingers "tingle" and some climbers had heard that Diamox just "masks" the symptoms of altitude sickness - so it can actually be worse than not taking anything. Gerhard and I (and over half the climbers that we met) took Diamox and we survived. After the climb an acquaintance suggested I read the chapter "Kilimanjaro" in the book "Travels" by Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park). I read the chapter and most of it could have been the story of my climb. There are plenty of tips in that story about what NOT to do. ne, I'd be happy to give you a good reference for Destination Africa Tours. My colleague Gerhard Koch (copied on this note) booked our Kilimanjaro climb based on the Website for Destination Africa. No one referred us to the tour company, so we were concerned about giving money to a tour group in remote Johannesburg. However, after exchanging e-mail with Mariesa Barnard of Destination Africa we felt that everything was being dealt with on a very professional level. We flew from New York to Johannesburg two years ago on June 13, 2001, spent two days on a Safari, and then met Mariesa at the Johannesburg Airport on June 16. Mariesa had our airline tickets to Kilimanjaro and some last minute advice on sunblock, water purification tablets (which we didn't use), etc. The whole trip went smoothly and since we both made it to Uhuru peak, we were quite happy with everything. Climbing at altitude is difficult for almost everyone, so we both found that the climb was more difficult than we had thought it would be.

In summary, we were quite happy with Destination Africa Tours and would have no problem recommending the tour group to anyone climbing Kilimanjaro. Feel free to send more e-mail about Kilimanjaro since the trip is still quite fresh in our minds (we got back to New York on June 26, 2001) and, in hindsight, was a great experience (although I must admit that on the final summit push when we started off at midnight and it was very cold and the air was thin and we were gasping for air, I wondered a few times "why am I doing this?"). The guides and porters supplied by the tour group were excellent and everyone learns to speak a few words of Swahili although there was no problem communicating in English. The accommodations (huts and food) were good. We took the Marangu (Coca Cola) route, so we had huts instead of tents. Gerhard may have some different opinions about the climb itself, but I think we were both happy with Destination Africa Tours.

One of the topics of conversation by everybody from many countries (UK, Germany, US, Canada, South Africa, etc.) was the medicines we took. A Yellow Fever shot was mandatory, but many people took a weekly Malaria tablet (Lariam) which could have strong side effects (vomiting) if you took it outside a meal. The most controversial medicine was for altitude sickness (Diamox). It made most climbers fingers "tingle" and some climbers had heard that Diamox just "masks" the symptoms of altitude sickness - so it can actually be worse than not taking anything. Gerhard and I (and over half the climbers that we met) took Diamox and we survived. After the climb an acquaintance suggested I read the chapter "Kilimanjaro" in the book "Travels" by Michael Crichton (author of Jurassic Park). I read the chapter and most of it could have been the story of my climb. There are plenty of tips in that story about what NOT to do.