Charity trekking – a different view of the world – answers and notes
1 Europeans.
2 The speaker says she is very torn about it, slightly hesitant about saying she’s uneasy about it, and has a reservation / has reservations about it, is not quite happy about it.
3 No, the sort of exploitation that used to exist ended about 20 years ago.
4 In 2008.
5 No. It is too demanding (at the moment…..).
6 Because it is the highest peak in Africa, and the highest mountain that can be climbed without ropes or technical mountaineering skills.
7 About 25,000. About twenty-five thousand.
8 About 20. About 150 guides are registered with the Kilimanjaro National Park.
9 Altitude sickness hypothermia, pneumonia, much of it brought on by inadequate equipment and the relentless pressure to keep on working.
10 32.
If something is not a walk in the park – it is something easy or pleasant, especially by comparison to something – eg Life looking after a young child was a walk in the park compared to looking after two elderly people.
11 8 to 10, of / because of / as a result of altitude / altitude sickness.
12 60%
13 No, most are self-employed.
At the present time travel companies employ doctors to care for the trekkers, but not for the guides or porters. This means locals are paid local rates for doing the job, and have to pay for any medical care they might need out of these low wages, even though they incur these injuries or conditions by accompanying tourists. Perhaps you can understand why the speaker is uneasy about it all?
Cut-throat – adj – ruthlessly competitive, eg cut-throat rates / pay
14 Fund – the guides and porters have to fund their own equipment.
15 They might wear wellington boots and flimsy anoraks – probably second-hand – but no gloves, hats or sunglasses on.
Flimsy – adjective – 1) weak and insubstantial eg a flimsy wall 2) light and thin – eg a flimsy dress 3) weak and unconvincing – eg a flimsy excuse / argument.
16 Abject.
17 Tourists’ leftover food. Tourists’ leftovers.
18 No they might sleep five to / in a bed, for example.
19 Casual labour, viable wages and exploitation and the plundering of the earth’s resources.
20 No. She thinks there must be some better way of organising / to organise it.
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