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Cable Cars To Be Introduced On Slopes Of Mt. Kilimanjaro Soon

Africa | Tanzania December 4, 2021


(Photo: A Cable Car On Table Mountain, South Africa)


Earlier in 2020, the Government of Tanzania endorsed a plan for introduction of cable cars on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The plan entails installing cable cars that will run from the mountain’s base up to 3 700 meters above sea level hence 2 195 meters below the mountain’s summit that stands at 5 895 meter above sea level.


The main goal of the plan is reportedly to capture more tourists to the iconic mountain above its current 50 000 tourists per year, through catering for tourists who would like to enjoy the spectacular scenic views of the mountain’s glaciers and snow-capped peak, but without making the gruesome trekking necessary to reach the appropriate heights for such views. It takes almost a week of trekking to reach the summit alias Uhuru Peak.


(Photo: Spectacular View Of Mt. Kilimanjaro Glaciers From Height Where Planned Cable Cars Will Culminate)


There could be numerous reasons why some tourists would like to ditch trekking the mountain, some of which could be age, health issues, shortage of time, or simply personal choice related to distaste of trekking. This sort of tourists who are currently excluded from the mountain’s only trekking services, may be numerous, implying that cable cars when installed may lead to explosion of number of tourists to the mountain.


Looked at in the above way, cable cars on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro may not affect number of tourists interested in trekking the mountain as some people may fear. That is because we are talking about different categories of mountain tourists here, in terms of interests and needs. And at the moment, only trekking interests and needs are catered by services offered at Mt. Kilimanjaro. Most trekking tourists are not therefore going to ditch trekking when cable cars are installed because they enjoy trekking. More specifically, most of the trekking tourists are interested in the physical challenge of trekking the mountain, with scenic views probably just a bonus!


Now, the Government of Tanzania probably reiterating the economic significance of cable cars on Mt. Kilimanjaro, reportedly gave an update a few days ago, about its plan for introducing cable cars on the slopes of the mountain, saying that the plan is on track and will be implemented soon.

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