The building of a cable car on Mount Kilimanjaro, as a way to improve access to the mountain.

Mount Kilimanjaro, standing at 5885 metres above sea level is the highest mountain in Africa, the worlds highest free standing peak, and as part of the Kilimanjaro National Park generates around $50 million in revenue for Tanzania each year and provides wages to thousands of unskilled porters and a lifeline to their families.  The introduction of a cable car on the mountain, that would no longer require the assistance of porters, would destroy this source of income, estimates expect the funds that would come to the park would reduce to around $5 million, and make the lives of those who rely on this source even harder than it is today.

It has been said that the cable car will allow physically challenged and aged tourists ( over 50 years old ) to experience the thrill of climbing mount Kilimanjaro, however the is not true.  I climbed last month at 53 years old and it was an amazing experience putting one foot in front of the other and living on the mountain, there is no thrill in taking a taxi to the top of a mountain.  The oldest person to hike Mount Kilimanjaro was 86 years 267 days, the youngest just 7 years old, and there has been many physically challenged hikers who have succeeded in reaching the summit.

Some 16,000 people hike to the summit each year, taking routes from 5 to 8 days, spending time in tented camps to acclamatise to the altitude, each with their own reason, but each ending with a sense of achievement, awe, and respect.  Take this away and it will no longer hold the same meaning.

Please sign this petition to try and put an end to this idea.  My apologies for the way this is written, it was done with feeling for the Mountain rather than feeling for grammar and structure.