mountaineering

The Mountain Club of Kenya recently (and regrettably) acquired a copy of this book. Using the Club library, I read it and was shocked to see that some of the Club's photographs had been used to illustrate it (e.g. picture of Arthur Firmin); apparently without the Club's permission. National Geographic and Audrey Salkeld should be sued for copyright infringement.

Kilimanjaro is a much over-rated mountain. Serious mountaineers don't go anywhere near it unless they are herding the countless tourists up and down. It is filthy pig-sty and clients are forced to pay ridiculously high charges for the privilege of "climbing" (actually walking up) it.

Salkeld completely ignores this fact, as she ignores the fact that all the local guides on the mountain know absolutely nothing about mountaineering and what they do know is downright dangerous! She ignores the fact that 20-odd people a year die on the mountain; completely needlessly as they rush up too fast, trying to save some money on the outrageously high park fees charged daily by the authorities. She ignores the fact that on average, for every tourist (please don't call them "climbers", Salkeld), there are at least two "guides" or porters, collectively three times more people on the mountain than is necessary: rubbishing the environment, chopping down trees for fuel, eroding away at the trails, defecating in the water sources.

In short, Salkeld wrote a typically boring tome that poses as a coffee-table book. And National Geographic, supposedly a serious scientific and geographic society, published something akin to the worst papparazi tabloids.

I won't be buying this book.

I saw this book right after returning from a trip to Mt Kilimanjaro, and was amazed by the high fidelity of the images in the book. I believe it truly captures the essence of the moutain. The main risk related with this book is that, after reading it, you may find yourself dreaming with this moutain. It also contains an interesting introduction to the mountain's and the surrounding area's history.

Kilimanjaro, an African icon, is the only one of the seven summits that can be climbed by anyone, including children and senior citizens. This coffee-table book is a great choice for armchair travelers and anyone who wants to climb (or has climbed) Africa's highest mountain. The book documents the journey of a party of climbers who accompanied David Breashears and his team as they made an IMAX film about the mountain. Author Audrey Salkeld, who specializes in books about mountaineering, has assembled a great mix of Kilimanjaro ecology, geography, history, lore, and travelogue related to her climb. The story starts with East Africa's Chagga people and their legends, then moves to missionary Johannes Rebmann whose story of equatorial snow was met with disbelief, then on to the other explorers, and eventually the first (known) mountaineers who climbed the mountain. Several other authors contributed articles on the Kilimanjaro's relation to the Rift Valley, Missionaries in Africa, Elephants, Mountain Sickness, Film and Literature, Plants, Volcanic History, etc. Very well illustrated with color photographs and historical images, as one would expect from a book published by National Geographic.