26 October 1998

The Editor
Getaway Magazine
PO Box 180
Howard Place
Western Cape 7450

For Attention : Mr David Bristow

Dear David

KILIMANJARO CONSERVATION

Your evocative recent feature on Mt Kilimanjaro will bring back wonderful memories to those who have climbed to the roof of Africa and must also inspire many more who have not yet done so, to climb the mountain.

Recent letters to Getaway magazine have raised the question whether simply by telling readers about wonderful wild destinations and how to reach them, and thus popularizing them, you may perhaps be contributing to their potential degradation. To subscribe uncritically to this view would be to suggest that no books or magazine and newspaper articles on outdoor adventure should be written - obviously an untenable viewpoint. However, there is no question that the more that a destination is highlighted, especially in enthusiastic terms, the more it will be visited, your feature on Mt Kilimanjaro being a case in point. Your September 1998 editorial says "with every feature ……… we include information about ……… environmental concerns". Though written in the context of the 4x4 debate aired in that editorial, we would like to think that you would apply the same policy in all your feature articles. The purpose of writing to you is to express our dismay that in the Mt Kilimanjaro feature, you did not mention any of the serious environmental issues relating to this priceless international asset.

As you will have experienced, the Mt Kilimanjaro park fees are very high, yet there is little evidence of funds being ploughed back into protecting the mountain. We believe that the principal environmental issue on the climbing routes on the mountain is the destruction of the forests, especially the Erica arborescens alpine woodland, due to the collection of firewood for cooking and heating purposes for climbing parties. In addition, there is a growing accumulation of rubbish that has built up at the camps. Inadequate provision and servicing of toilet facilities at the camps results in unsightly scattering of human faeces and toilet paper in these areas with attendant health risks. In places, path erosion is bad, even on little used routes.

In October 1995 Prof Paul Fatti (MCSA President at the time) wrote to the UIAA (the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation) bringing these concerns to the body's attention, and appealing to it to assist in taking positive steps to protect the mountain. A copy of the letter is attached. Now, in view of the increasing numbers of climbers visiting Mt Kilimanjaro and the apparent failure of the authorities to recognize and deal with these environmental problems, the MCSA is directly drawing its concerns to the attention of Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), and has again referred the issue to the Mountain Protection Commission of the UIAA for its support.

Notwithstanding this action, we are convinced that a large part of the solution lies in the hands of the commercial agencies organizing climbing tours on Mt Kilimanjaro and perhaps even more persuasively in the hands of the individual climbers who sign up for these organized tours. If all climbers refused to employ agencies whose guides and porters still light fires, the major environmental problem of deforestation could effectively be overcome.

One well known Mt Kilimanjaro tour leader of our acquaintance responded to this suggestion by saying "yes the destruction is bad but camp fires are traditional". It used also to be traditional to light fires in the Drakensberg, yet few present day Drakensberg hikers are even aware that this was once so. The same can be said of many other climbing areas of the world such as the Nepal Himalaya. In a comparable African context, the guides and porters on Mt Kenya cope very well without firewood. They carry paraffin stoves. So we believe that excuses like "traditional" or "how else would they cook" are not tenable.

Do the two tour companies who you recommend, "Wild Frontiers" and "Destinations Africa Tours" permit their guides and porters they hire to light fires ? Judging from the photographs illustrating your article it would seem so.

We appeal through the medium of your magazine, to all the commercial agencies organizing climbing tours on Mt Kilimanjaro and also nearby Mt Meru to take a positive stand on this issue. We suggest that responsible agencies should advertise the fact that they use stoves for cooking and do not light fires on the mountain, also stating the environmental ethic on which this practice is based. Individual climbers should refuse to hike with agencies that do not support and practically implement this ethic.

We appeal to both agencies and individual climbers to also ensure that they, their guides and porters carry all rubbish back down the mountain. If there are no usable toilets, everyone should follow normal good practice moving away from the camping area and from water supplies, and use a trowel or trenching tool to dig a hole and bury all excrement and toilet paper.

Yours sincerely

André Schoon