Big trouble on Mount Kilimanjaro: More routes shut down as fire outbreaks overwhelm control efforts

Tanzania closes down more routes to the Kilimanjaro Summit as massive fires continue to take drastic toll on the mountain.

Tanzania, though the country’s National Parks management, has just closed down more gates and routes leading up to Mount Kilimanjaro elevation as massive fires continue to take toll on Africa’s highest peak.

The Rongai route is no longer in use now. According to an official statement from the Tanzania National Park.

And the worst part of the situation is that tourists are being compelled to pay twice due for the inconveniences instead of being compensated.

For over four weeks now, raging flames of fire have been burning consistently on Kilimanjaro, raising alarm and concern among local residents, conservators and tourists.

Tanzania, however, has been insisting that tourism activities on Kilimanjaro will go on unhampered by the fires, but meanwhile the management continues to slam shut routes leading up the mountain, signaling an even serious situation than what the local authorities want to admit.

Some porters and guides claim that, when fires break on the mountain people who report the incidents get arrested, that is why most of them maintain silence until the situation gets out of control.

“If we were allowed to report these outbreaks earlier, things wouldn’t have become worse,” they lamented.

The wildfire is currently affecting parts of Mount Kilimanjaro near the areas between Sangarini and Kamwanga escarpments towards the Shira Plateau.

So far three gates and their related routes have been closed down.

These include the Lemosho gateway, the Londorosi corridor and ​ now the Rongai routes.

At the moment climbers can only use three mountain passageways, the Machame gate, the Marangu (Coca-Cola) and Umbwe routes.

Tour operators have meanwhile been complaining that their clients are being forced to pay twice once the routes they had initially booked get closed and compelled to take alternative ones.

“It is like they are starting their journeys afresh which is not fair,” the operators stated.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, efforts to contain the raging fires on Mount Kilimanjaro are reportedly going on in the Northern Tanzanian Municipality of Moshi.

Reports have that, the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) wardens, the Tanzania Fire and Rescue Brigade as well as teams from local authorities and other stakeholders are working to control the outbreak.