During your climb to extreme altitude you may have an emergency and require a hasty evacuation. High altitude emergencies happen all the time. When your life is at stake, you need to know that you can rely on your climbing outfit to get you down the mountain as safely and as fast as possible. Before you join a climb it is important to know how (and if) your climbing company has prepared for your rescue, evacuation and medical treatment.

On Kilimanjaro there is no 911. All companies on Kilimanjaro rely on the National Park rescue service to send up a rescue team, which we have found to be inconsistent. So we have developed our own rescue procedure with our own professionally trained guides.

Every Tusker guide carries a 623-liter tank of oxygen when climbing. We use a very high guide-client ratio on every climb. (Mostly the client-guide ratio is 5-to-1, and with smaller groups 2-to-1.) So, if you have to be evacuated, a medically trained guide with oxygen, not just a porter, will take you down the mountain. In the event you cannot walk down, you will be transported in a portable stretcher, custom-designed by Eddie Frank (patent pending). This is the safest and fastest way to be evacuated down Kilimanjaro. Your guide will then contact our base to ensure that a vehicle is waiting for you at the gate.

If you need emergency medical care, you will be seen by our Moshi-based doc and if necessary, you will be taken immediately to the hospital. Also, if you are forced to descend the mountain for non-emergency medical reasons, our Doc is on call to examine you if you choose.

We strongly recommend that all of our climbers join up with Global Rescue. If you choose, they will evacuate you to a hospital of your choosing back home.

Click here for Global Rescue details.