A personal journal recording and reflecting on my walks around the world.
Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world, one of the seven summits and still an active volcano. Here is my journey to ‘The Roof of Africa’. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
Day 8 Millennium Huts (12,556ft) to Mweka Gate (5,358ft) – The end
Unsurprisingly I slept like a log, helped no doubt by the fact that I was absolutely shattered after summiting Kilimanjaro. We walked for thirteen hours yesterday, and we are now back in the land of trees and warmth and I was sleeping on soft flat dry soil as opposed to dusty gravel at a 45 degree angle and minus 5c. Having gone to bed at 6.30pm last night I was wide awake at 6am this morning for the final day of our magnificent Kilimanjaro adventure. Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Eight Millennium Huts to Mweka Gate – The End”
Day 7 (Part 2) Summit day – Uhuru Peak 19,341ft to Millennium Huts (12,556ft)
Why men climb mountains is a question that has been asked for as long as men and women have been climbing mountains. I guess the answer is as individual as the person who is asked. I’m sure Alex Honnold and Chris Bonington would give different, but not maybe too different answers. For me, walking satisfies a deep need. A need, not to achieve, or conquer but to find peace with myself. It gives me time to think and reflect, time to pray and settle my mind, time to consider and make decisions. Life and experience change us but the Mountains remain reassuringly the same. They provide a constancy in our lives and the mountains are always bigger than our own personal circumstances. So here I am on top of a Mount Kilimanjaro, filled with that immense sense of satisfaction that comes from doing something that is not easy, that takes something out of you but gives you so much more back in return.
Day 7 (Part 1) Summit day – Barafu Huts Camp (15,295ft) to Uhuru Peak 19,341ft
It’s two minutes past midnight and we are ‘pulling the trigger’ on our summit bid as Joshua put it in his briefing. Another phrase that struck me in his pre-summit briefing was “give me the next six hours of your life and I’ll get you to the Roof of Africa”. I’ve dreamed of climbing Kili for years, I’ve planned and prepared for this trip for nearly seven months, I’ve walked for six days to get to this point and now, all that remains is six hours, six hours to fulfil a dream.
Day 6 Karanga Valley Camp (13,235ft) to Barafu Huts Camp (15,295ft)
Unzipping the tent after the 6.30am wake up call reveals a cold, damp and misty Karanga camp. Despite the dark weather however, my spirits are high and I am starting to allow myself to believe that I am going to get this job done. My head is OK with no nausea, I seem to be acclimatising well and the last couple of days I have felt good. Today we will reach base camp and at midnight tonight we will ‘pull the trigger’ as Joshua likes to say on our summit bid. All I’ve got to do is keep well, keep hydrated and keep putting one foot in front of the other. ‘Pole Pole’ is the Swahili catchphrase on this mountain and ‘slowly slowly’ is certainly the way to do it. We will see.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Six Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp”
Day 5 Barranco camp (13,077ft) to Karanga camp (13,235ft)
Day five dawns bright and cold in the Barranco valley and my tiredness and somewhat melancholic mood of yesterday has lifted along with the early morning mist. Barranco camp is big and busy, unlike the others we have stayed at up to now. It also looks very different, it’s very rocky and almost pushed up against the Barranco wall which dominates the camp like some huge Giant standing over us. The ‘Senicio Kilimanjari’ trees are also dotted all about the valley and I keep thinking about ‘the day of the triffids’ and wondering if they are going to come alive.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Five Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp”
Day 4 Shira 2/Shira Huts camp (12,779ft) to Barranco Camp (13,077ft) via The Lava Tower (15,180ft)
Since the start of the trek we have been approaching the mountain from the West. Today we start to walk around the South of the mountain heading towards Base Camp in preparation for our summit day. There is a growing feeling, that we are approaching the ‘business’ end of this walk. The mountain is getting closer every day now and the trail itself is getting rougher, steeper, more volcanic and less defined. Our altitude is slowly creeping up which means less oxygen to breathe and the nights are colder. We have now crossed the Shira plateau and today we will say goodbye to it before heading up to the ‘Lava Tower’ for acclimatisation and then down to Barranco Camp to sleep.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Four Shira Huts Camp to Barranco Camp”
Day 3 Shira 1 camp (11,496ft) to Shira 2/Shira Huts camp (12,779ft) via Shira Cathedral (12,671ft)
We wake up to a freezing Shira 1 campsite with the ground frozen solid and ice frosting the tents. After two days of walking I am starting to get into the rhythm of this walk now and the developing daily routine that consists of walk, eat, sleep, repeat.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Three Shira 1 Camp to Shira Huts Camp”
Day 2 Big Tree (Mount Mkubwa) Camp (9,137ft) to Shira 1 camp (11,496ft)
Night one in the tent was a pretty restless one. We’re still relatively low and it’s warm so I didn’t sleep too well. Dinner last night was something to behold, soup and bread followed by potatoes and fish with a fruit pudding. All this, prepared in a tent by Milton, our dedicated chef who will be looking after us over the next eight days and cooking on gas stoves that will have to be carried up and down the mountain. We certainly won’t be going hungry.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Two Big Tree Camp to Shira 1 Camp”
Day 1 Lemosho Glades (7,838ft) to Big Tree (Mount Mkubwa) Camp (9,137ft)
I’m sitting writing this at the end of day one sitting under one of the ‘Big Trees’ of Big Tree camp with Colobus monkeys playing in the trees above me. Backtracking- Yesterday I landed at Kilimanjaro international airport and was by met Joshua our Exodus/Africa Walking Company team leader and lead guide for the next eight days. A baking hot journey in a Land Cruiser (no air con) to the hotel followed and when we arrived we were greeted with hot towels to freshen up and wipe off the red soil that had been kicked up and deposited itself on our hands and faces on the journey, like we were being welcomed by the Red Earth of Africa itself.
Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day One Lemosho Glades to Big Tree Camp”