Altitude Sickness

Altitude Sickness

Whether you ascend or just stand at the bottom and stare it, it’s a joy to behold. The ascent to the peak is through five distinct routes, each having a different climate, vegetation and different level of difficulties. As it’s a high altitude trek, rapid ascent doesn’t help for acclimatization and it makes the trekkers feel Acute Mountain Sickness also known as Altitude sickness. Kilimanjaro has three distinct altitude zones. The effects of altitude first show up once you breach the 2400m mark and strengthen once you cross 3000m. Preliminary symptoms you can feel are headache, fatigue, problems with the digestive system, sleep disturbance and dizziness. But if the symptoms don’t get better and you keep on to push further then life-threatening complications like High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) or High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) can be a possibility requiring immediate evacuation and attention.