You are herePlanning a Kili Trek / You don't need a fancy pack
You don't need a fancy pack
Kilimanjaro porters on Barranco wall
If you're using porters to carry your gear on Kilimanjaro (which is the standard practice), you don't need to pack your stuff in a hiking pack with a fancy suspension system... Your porter will more than likely put your pack full of gear inside another larger pack or basket, along with a little of his own stuff and some more group gear. Often he will choose to carry this enormous load on his head rather than his back. We've seen porters walking by with a client's expensive hiking pack balanced on their head, hip belts and shoulder straps dangling down unused.
Many companies recommend packing your gear in a lightweight duffel bag. This kind of bag is more convenient for air travel too, as it doesn't have as many dangling straps to get caught in a luggage conveyor.
You should bring along a comfortable day pack that you will use to carry water, rain clothes, camera, etc. during the day.
Turtle says "pole pole"
- Add new comment
- 549 reads
A friend recommend the North Face Basecamp duffel as a great bag for the porters to carry. Item description can be found here here, on the North Face's website. It is very durable and is completely waterproof, plus it can be worn like a "backpack" if desired.
Has anyone used these on kili? If so, which size, the Large or Extra Large? The Large bag is 5600 cu in, which is 90 liters. The Extra Large is 9070 cu in, which is 140 liters. The bags have compression straps which allow the user to reduce full sacks in size or reduce unused space in the pack.
If anybody is looking for the North Face Base Camp Duffle bag, you can find it in our KiliTrekker gear store. Check out our list of discount coupon codes too.
Turtle says "pole pole"
I returned from Kili last week (Sept 19) and used the Mountain Equipment equivalent to the North Face Duffle. It is identical, apart from the name!, mine is the large, 90 litre, which was totally adequate for all my gear. Excellent bag, recommended.
Leachy