News

PLEASE NOTE: our news are now being posted to our blog - http://summitsafrica.wordpress.com/

World Travel Market 2011
7 Nov 2011: We are exhibiting at the World Travel Market. Presenting the new biking tours, updates on training, updates on new vehicles and our new super guides (cross discipline mountain and bush masters!).

Instructors - paving the wave for a better future
10 Dec 2010: November saw the second of our annual training sessions and this time it was a chance to work on the number of instructors we have and as well as first aid we had a course on training porters to become English basic level instructors. Results: 5 recertifications for Community Based First Aid(CMBF) Instructors, 11 NEW CBFA instructors, and with our new development officer(Rabson, karibuni sana Summits!) and our own porters through the English instructor course, you could say we're ready to make more positive impact next low season! March / April / May Summits is looking towards running a number of 1st aid courses and in conjunction with the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP) we expect to be spreading the knowledge for a long time to come!

12 New Wilderness First Responder guides
April 2010: In April 2010 Summits Africa enrolled 13 guides and trip leaders into the Aerie Wilderness First Aid Course. 12 passed and secured their WFR certification and 1 with a wilderness first aid certificate. Well done chaps!

Summits guides in South America
25 Feb 2010:Congratulations to Managing Director Ake Lindstrom and head guide Respicious Baitwa on reaching the top of the highest mountain in the Americas. Aconcagua is 6962 meters above sea level and the highest peak outside of the Himalayas, nestled in the heart of the Andes in Argentina. See Ake's blog for a full read of his trip.

Aconcagua - 6962 m asl - an extremely beautiful hike and a logical progression from Kilimanjaro.

3 Peaks 3 Weeks Success!
31st Jan 2010: Well done to the 3 peakers, what an achievement (all to the top!) and most importantly the challenge of raising money for great causes has also been extremely successful. For those that are wondering how much this great event has reached to date check out their website (it's over $500,000 AUD) and the event continues for 2011.

Related articles can be found on:

Greenwich Time

3 Peaks: all 11 3-Peakers to Lenana Point!
13 January 2010: a very quick entry to congratulate our wonderful team! Well done for reaching Point Lenana. This year's team made it in just 3 nights, very well done! Keep checking their blog: http://3peaks3weeks.wordpress.com/

3 Peaks Underway
7/1/10: 3 Peaks 3 Weeks is underway! 11 courageous ladies attempt to hike Mt Kenya (Point Lenana), Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro in 3 weeks after a year of fundraising. Check out their website http://www.3peaks3weeks.org and follow their progress on http://3peaks3weeks.wordpress.com/

Training November completed
16/12/09: Many thanks for Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project for helping to source funding to run porters classes and we also ran English as well as HIV / AIDS awareness courses this year in conjunction with SIC (Support for International Change). A great series of sessions, more to come in April, as always. Also this low season were the guide refresher courses which 10 of our guides attended - refreshing WFR for some and preparation for others for certification in April 2010.

Many thanks also to head guide Sam Makala for his role in setting up this seasons training courses and keeping everything on track!

World Travel Market 2009 (WTM)
28/10/09: Ake Lindstrom is attending the World Travel Market, stand AF2800, please contact him to make an appointment. Ask about our Kilimanjaro outfitting services, new biking adventures and select ground handling services.

For an October News roundup select here.

Adventure Travel World Summit
21/9/09: Ake Lindstrom will be attending the world summit, if you are visiting please email and set up an appointment (info@summits-africa.com). Oct 19th - Oct 22nd... look for us at the Marketplace for Inbound Tour Operators.... http://www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com/

Success rate all routes exceeds 94%, safety rate 100%, on demand oxygen
20/9/2009: our year to date figures are currently running a very healthy 94% success rate and bearing in mind that we are outfitting all routes now including the Marangu route, that is a very healthy average indeed. Our advice remains the same - more days = higher success rate and on the Lemosho 9 day trips we have had a 100% success rate in 2009.

In 2009 of interest to those that lead trips / trip doctors, we have trialled our pulse oxygen delivery system (regulators that have on demand flow capabilities) successfully and used it to evacuate a patient with a pulmonary edema. The results were impressive: on our standard cyclinders we were able to deliver oxygen for 7 hours! From personal experience we can safely say that this system works extremely well. With a nasal cannular it is also relatively comfortable compared to the masks. Essential tool for Western Breach and Crater trips and provided as standard by Summits Africa!

2010 T/O rates available
4/07/2009: Tour Operators contact us for your 2010 climb rates. We have also started providing daily rates for vehicles for our adventure trips and other outfitting services that require vehicle support.

Mountain biking safaris are great in June
25 Jul 09: In early June trip leader Ake led a 4 day short mountain biking safari across the Tarangire dispersal zone - the Maasai steppe. In doing so he managed to snap some video of one of the game encounters but watch what happens on the video.. YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im1R-R1itXc
Just goes to show, the little things are as important as the megafauna!

Guides take control.. training, training, training
26th Mar 2009: many will have read and heard about our commitment to training. In april 2008 6 guides were trained to become first aid instructors and ran their first 2 sets of courses in 2008 training a total of over 100 porters and crew in Community Based First Aid. Well, now for April 2009, the guides have taken the initiative and are running the next training sessions for the next batch of porters. Summits Africa must at this juncture also give huge thanks to Kilimanjaro Porters Assistant Project for their financial support in making this possible. If you want to support training programs then you can do so through the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (and for those in the US it is tax deductable..) then contact Karen Valentin on karen@kiliporters.org

In May there will also be our advanced guide / crew training programs with presentation of results of the last 5 years of pulse oximetry data. It's all interactive and this is where our guides shine - sharing, teaching and learning through experience. Images and the best of the best test results to come in May..

Summits Africa is Carbon Neural!
14th Jan 2009: we've done it! Being Carbon Neutral is all about actually doing something about your Carbon Footprint, namely buying carbon credits to offset our emmissions. As of today, the 14th of Jan 2009, Summits Africa has paid up for all our trips from Jan 1st to May 2009. Note, this is at no extra cost to our guests and is now part of our corporate policy to ensure that whereever possible all Summits Africa trips in East Africa are Carbon Neutral. To futher offset International air travel or find out more you can enrourage your guests to visit Carbon Tanzania's website - http://www.carbontanzania.com/.

Summits Africa Joins Leave No Trace
3 Jan 2009: since our inception Summits Africa has practised 'trash in -trash out' policies on all trips, including camping trips in fragile environments such as the Serengeti, Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya. Taking this one step further we decided to look for likeminded organisations that provided clear guidelines, enter Leave No Trace. Joining Leave No Trace has meant some slight adjustment to our existing policies and an increased awareness and provision of information to our guests - we do this in our guest briefings to help them understand the issues and help us comply. Our staff are all briefed and as part of our guide information packs we provide a constant reminder (see image below). You can learn more about Leave No Trace at their website.

Leave No Trace, incorporated into Summits Africa Systems - below a screen shot of our guide briefing packs

3 Peaks 3 Weeks Starts!
8 Jan 2009: the second 3 Peaks 3 Weeks event is underway! 12 ladies from around the globe start climbing Mt Kenya on Saturday 10th of Jan. Learn more on their website, find out more about the causes and support them in this fatastic 3 week epic challenge.

Summits Africa is going Carbon Neutral!
28 Dec 08: A process that started back in August 2008, for 2009 our aim is to have all our Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya and Mt Meru climbs carbon neutral. We will be shortly posting information on all calculations so that anyone can critique our methodology and calculations, but the point is we are doing it... Summits Africa will be the first East African climbs operator to go Carbon Neutral. Will clients have to pay extra and will pricing change? No. Our aim is to avoid making this a burden on guests and keep everything simple. We will, however, post links for people that want to offset other parts of their travel - for instance their international air flights which Summits Africa will not be covering. More to come as we develop our Carbon Offsetting information pack and links.

Kenya Porters & Cooks training starts
15 Dec 08 - consistency and commitment to our crews remains one of our foundations. This week head guide and first aid instructor Joseph Kumbau and systems and executive chef Frank Castro headed up to our Kenyan office to start training our newly opened Kenya office and crews. A shared vision in business is obviously important and more so across international borders - our aim to always ensure that our Kenyan climbs meet the same rigourous standards as our Kilimanjaro operations and with trekking veteran Paul Kanja manning the helm of our Mt Kenya team our guests can rest assured that our Kenyan teams will be every bit as friendly and fun as our other operations!

Training and learning never stops at Summits!
20 November 2008 - It is November which in Summits speak means training time! As many people will know Summits Africa runs training programs bi annually. This training session is all about the porters. In April of 2008 we put 6 of our guides through a 2 week intensive course to become first aid instructors - and now they are giving back to the porters and crews that support them on the mountain. Lead by Joseph Kumbau and assisted by Edward Jonas, Godson Kastai, Jacob Oscar and Charles Obedi, the porters are being taught in depth in Swahili to ensure that the information is properly taught, and understood. Classroom sessions with theory are blended with practical sessions and in December we're off to the mountain!

For more information and for those that want to support individual porters with English classes please contact ake@summits-africa.com

Summits Kenya Opens
6 November 2008 - After almost 5 years working together on cross border challenge events Summits Africa founder Ake Lindstrom has teamed up with Paul Kanja to form Summits Africa Kenya. This new company, being based in Nairobi, will be enable the Summits Africa group to serve the needs of our clients better, including meet and greet services on arrival and a consistent service delivery on East Africa's 3 giants of Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya and Mt Meru.

Summits Joins ATTA

24th October 2008 - Summits Africa joins ATTA, the UK based Africa Travel association. Their slogan actually stands for Advancing Tourism To Africa.

2009 Rates Published

Contact our sales team for all of our FIT rates now. Please note that Travel Agents can also contact their local ground handlers for rates information.

Summits Africa is 1 Year Old!

348 guests, a whole lot of hiking and a 98.3% summit success rate for the various peaks we helped guests reach in the period September 2007 to 2008.

Summits Supports Voluntary Testing Clinic

Every little bit helps - in August we provided our large yellow North Face mess tent for one of our favorite NGO's. The bright balloon brought record breaking numbers to get tested during 'Nane Nane'. Get info and learn more about HIV Testing and the great work of SIC (Support for International Change) - www.sichange.org.

3 Peaks 3 Weeks 2009 - Support the issues that face East Africa Today!

Building on the success of 3 Peaks 3 Weeks - 2007 event challenge, the 3 Peaks event is running again in 2009. For those looking to help effective organizations working in the realms of conservation, education, and health, then the 3 Peaks Challenge could be an ideal and fun event to support. Every member of the all girl team raises her own funds for their climb. Learn more on their website - www.3peaks3weeks.org

Summits Africa Trains 120 Porters in first aid

We are often asked just what set's us apart from other operators and here is one key difference - as well as providing over 100 hours of training for our guides this year we have also set up training for 120 porters in basic first aid. In April 2008, 6 of our guides became Community Based First Aid Instructors and now they are giving back to their porters. For other companies reading our blog, feel free to contact us about our training programs that they can have their guides, crews or porters join.

Ake Tops 20 Ascents!

General Manager Ake Lindstrom has finally hit his 20's! Ascents of Kilimanjaro that is and he should, all things equal, reach his 25th ascent by the end of the 2008 season. This is of course rather paled by head guide Joseph Kumbau, who will reach his 160th ascent by the end of the season... Experience is highly valued at Summits Africa and combined with our systematic approach and data collection of client heart rates and oxygen saturations as they ascend to high altitude, we are ahead of the pack in client management and assessment. Want to know more about our assessment methods? Contact Ake on ake@summits-africa.com

Our growing Blog

The Summits Africa Blog has started! For info, mountain recipies, songs that porters sing and much more, keep an eye on the Summits Africa Blog.

Becoming Carbon Neutral in 2009

In our ecotourism efforts, we have taken on the challenge of becoming Carbon neutral in 2009 by donating small proceeds of itinerary packages to a local seed planting project. By making small donations towards tree-planting, we hope to help our immediate environment and help to minimize the impact of our traveling guests. For info about a great conference taking place in Arusha, please visit The Travelers Philanthropy Conference.

Kilimanjaro FAQ Page added

Lots of questions answered and remember that on booking all guests receive a full information and preparation pack as well. See our Kilimanjaro FAQ page.