Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Kilimanjaro National Park (KINAPA) is mulling over plans of establishing a new route that will see Mountain enthusiasts scale Africa’s rooftop.
In an interview with ‘Daily News’ on Thursday, KINAPA Assistant Conservation Commissioner Angela Nyaki revealed that her office was currently designing plans of opening the new Kidia route.
“This is a potential route for mountain lovers as it hosts very few climbers, who would wish to make the most of nature,” she said.
According to Ms Nyaki, Kidia was special route that was worth being opened. KINAPA’s follows a Nepalese climber, Dawa Steven Sherpa pioneered a new route to the summit of 5,895metres, from Kidia village.
The route starts at Kidia village, and then follows a different line all the way to Stella Point which stands at 5,756meters.
“While 200 people may set off from Marangu and Machame every day, the idea is to limit this Kidia route to a maximum of 20 a day,” said Mr Sherpa, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of an Asian Trekking company.
The move will allow locals to manage the route in a sustainable way, according to the mountaineer.
“The plan is to make it profitable as well since the permit will be more expensive. It then becomes a sort of premium option for those wanting to stay away from the crowds,” he added, in his interview published on explorersweb.com.
According to a 2017 post on the blog ClimbingKilimanjaro.com, some people had summited Kili from Kidia in the 1980s.
The area was also used as a way down in 2000 because of construction work on the Mweka trail.
There are seven established routes to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. They include Marangu, Machame, Lemosho and Shira. Others are Rongai, Northern Circuit and Umbwe.
Kidia village is located on the southern, Tanzanian side of the massive peak, between the starting points for the popular Marangu and Machame routes. These are dubbed the Coca-Cola route and the Fanta route.
