The Adventure Begins

Climbing Kilimanjaro has always been an ambition of mine. I’m not sure when I first promised myself that one day I would climb it, I just know that for as long as I can remember I was sure that I would one day make it to the roof of Africa. Or in the very least attempt it. So, following a few (too many!) glasses of bubbly at our annual Christmas gathering my best friend and I decided 2015 was the year.

In all honestly I’m not sure we were 100% convinced we would get round to it, and our friends and family certainly thought it was just another one of our crazy ideas.

As the champagne wore off and the months flew by I think even Linzi and I were surprised when we actually booked this unique “Holiday” in June, giving ourselves just 3 months to train before attempting to summit the worlds highest free standing mountain.

Arriving in Tanzania

So that’s how we find ourselves in Tanzania, in September, at the foot of a 5,895 metre (19,341 ft) dormant volcano (not extinct! This was news to me!), with 8 days to climb through four climatic zones from equatorial rainforest, to heather and moorland, then highland desert before finally summiting in the glacial arctic zone. We also need to come back down again but somehow this never really featured in any of our plans!!

We chose to climb the Lemosho Route which is lesser walked than other routes but is widely considered to be the best route on Mount Kilimanjaro due to its beauty and remoteness.

Lemosho Route

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Day 1: LONDOROSSI GATE to MTI MKUBWA

Altitiutde: 2,360m (7,742ft) - 2,895m (9,498ft)

Checking in at Londorossi

After a restful night at the hotel, and a quick briefing where we meet our head guide, Sera and the others in the group, Megan, Maren and Jitu we check in at the Londorossi gate. 

We are all in high spirits and are excited by the sights of the Tanzanian countryside we’ve just passed. However Kilimanjaro remained hidden behind clouds and hasn’t made an appearance since we arrived in the country a day earlier, making me seriously question its actual existence!

The crew are waiting at the gate for us. It comes as a bit of a surprise how many porters there are–many more than I expected. For our group of 5, we have 21 porters, a head guide, and assistant guide. It seems rather indulgent. The logistics of getting even our small group up there is amazing. Everything has to go with us, that means not just the usual tents, sleeping bags, and climbing gear, but all our food for the entire 8 days. Fires are no longer allowed on the mountain, so we have to take cooking gear with us (including propane tanks, water filters, and carrying containers). I use the “royal we” here. These guys carried all but me up that mountain and all had to carry is my own day sack!

The weather changes drastically over the course of the climb, so we all need clothes suitable for both the equator and for the arctic-like conditions at the summit. There’s safety gear to take, and all of our trash needs to be carried with us, yep even the chemical toilet! When you add it all up, it makes sense. And more porters means that they’re not being loaded down with too much weight. Everything our porters carry is weighed before we set off and porters are not allowed to carry more that 20kgs. 

Our team of guides and porters

One of the reasons we chose the company we did is their dedication to treating their porters fairly. Our head guide Sera is responsible for picking our team and he is very selective about who gets to come with us. All of our porters are studying at the nearby technical or agricultural collage and our fee goes a long way towards their tuition. All of them affectionately refer to Sera as “Padre” and as our trip progresses we all become like one large slightly crazy family and I begin to understand the reason all these guys hold Sera in such high regard. He really does look after everyone and make sure we all have the best experience and despite the fact he’s summited Kilimanjaro well over 200 times (he stopped counting years ago!), he hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for this mountain. He loves his “office” and wants us to appreciate just how great it is too! 

Our Guides Sera and August

With the paperwork sorted, and after a quick, makeshift repair to the truck’s brake line–done “African style” with plastic wrap, electrician’s tape, and a bit of rubber belt–we drive another hour or so along eroded dirt tracks through the timber forests to the edge of the national park and the Lemosho Glades Trailhead.

The crew is waiting, and so is lunch. We’d just as soon get cracking and have a sandwich while we walk, but as we soon learn, that’s not how things are done. Our crew includes a dedicated cook, after all, and he’s going to make sure we do meals in style… Tartan tablecloth and all!!

Finally ready to set off

So halfway through day one and we’ve yet to set one foot in front of the other, but we are certainly well fed! 

We still can’t actually see the mountain. All we can see a path going up through thick forest, with clouds above that. It’s fairly steep in places, but manageable and the lush rainforest is a wonderful backdrop. Not too long ago, it was standard practice for groups to be accompanied through this section by armed rangers just in case an elephant or buffalo caused problems. We are assured there is no chance of a run in with any big predators or wild cats and instead our afternoon is accompanied by a cacophony of chirping birds and chattering Columbus Monkeys, of which we manage to spy a few.

Lush Rainforest

It’s dry and warm without being too hot and the trail gently ascends through the rain forest until we are welcomed into Mti Mkubwa camp (which in Swahili means Big Tree), where our tents are already set up for us. I’m beginning to get the impression this camping malarkey is going to be fairly easy and Glamping might be a more accurate description. 

We have survived day one! 

Day 2: MTI MKUBWA to SHIRA CAMP

Altitude: 2,895m (9,498ft) - 3,505m (11,500ft)

After a surprisingly chilly night camping in the rainforest and a hearty porridge, bacon and egg breakfast, we continue on the trail leading out of the forest and into a savannah of tall grasses, heather, and volcanic rock draped with lichen beards. Its amazing the point at which the forest changes to moorland, its almost like someone drew a line round the mountain, the trees stop and the heath begins. 

Rainforest giving way to heath

Chilling in the sunshine

The morning isn’t a straight climb up–we spend most of our time dipping down into valleys and back up again. Our overall altitude gain was about 760m (2,500 ft) for the day, but to get there involved a lot of up and down. 

Getting steep

We are reward however with some spectacular views. Some of which remind me of the hills in Scotland, probably due to the fluffy white heather extending as far as the eye can see.

Giant Heather and views

This could be Scotland

They even have Thistles

This is the first time I appreciate how truly amazing our porters actually are. While we attempt the steep inclines “Pole! Pole!” (Swahili for slowly, slowly!), they race past us at lightning speed, loaded with rucksacks and all manner of things on their heads; ranging from the obvious tents ect.to the less obvious, ie. garden furniture. God forbid we get caught short at 15,000ft without our comfy plastic garden chairs! 

The bare necessities

While these guys leap from rock to rock like elegant gazelles we proceed slowly but determined and I’m sure someone mentions elephants at some point during day two! Can they mean us!? So begins our mantra which will follow us in the coming days …. Slow like an elephant! Strong like a lion!

After lunch, we round a bend and get our first view of the summit. Finally! It’s still a long way away and we still have to cross the Shira Plateau, the vast high altitude desert plateau where these first views of Mt Kilimanjaro open on the horizon and the landscape is a magnificent contrast from the departed rain forest. There’s no mistaking Kibo summit with its permanent snow capped glaciers, a very rare sight in the heart of Africa. 

Our first views of the summit

Shira 1 Camp is very different from Big Tree Camp–there are no trees here. It’s in an exposed area with no protection and nowhere to hide if the weather turns bad or the cold wind comes up, but, the view makes up for it. It’s still a ways away–we still haven’t finished crossing the Shira Plateau–but we have a clear view of Kibo Summit from our tents.

The view from camp

And being above the clouds and in an exposed area far away from any major light source also means that we get our first taste of the spectacular night skies up here. Literally stars, beyond stars, beyond stars! Its also the first night we realise standing out in the cold too long after dark is likely to induce frost bite, so our stargazing is short lived! 

Stargazing

To fend of the cold night, one of our porters, Ernest, suggests he fill us each a water bottle with hot water and tuck it inside our sleeping bags!! We love Ernest .. he fast becomes our favourite porter! 

Another day down ...

Day 3: SHIRA CAMP to MOIR CAMP

Altitude: 3,505m (11,500ft) - 4,200m (13,800ft)

Shira Plateau

It’s a cold night in camp despite Ernest’s make shift hot water bottles and this is the first time I decide that my night time tactics from here on in will be to wear as many layers to bed as possible. I’ve already began to realise I’m going to smell really bad regardless by the time I get back to civilisation! 

Today we have a full day exploration of the Shira plateau. We trek east toward Kibo's glaciated peak and we have spectacular views of the ancient collapsed Shira cone, the oldest of Kilimanjaro's three volcanoes. 

Shira Cathedral

The landscape is still very much heath zone, with rocky ground and low grasses and shrubs. There are still lots of Everlastings and some of the equally distinctive and quite beautiful Giant Lobelias with their concentric rings of leaves. These amazing plants hide tiny flowers underneath their leaves to protect them from Kilimanjaro’s harsh climate. 

Giant Lobelias

The morning is fairly flat but we still take a slow pace, which is the best way to prevent the effects of altitude sickness. Luckily none of us are experiencing any serious effects, other than a sore head but our guides the keep the group spirits up by singing us songs in Swahili.

Flat and easy accross the plateau

Dormant lava flow

We don’t really start climbing seriously until after lunch, but the scenery distracts us as we are now walking through a gorge, which was created by dormant lava flow. It begins to feel like we are on another planet.

Lava flow gorge

Much to our surprise we arrive at Moir camp in the early after noon. Most people on this route stay at Shira 2 campsite on day 3, but Sera prefers to stay here and I can understand why. There is only our group and one other small group camping here for the evening and the feeling of remoteness in this strange landscape makes it feel even more special. 


Our excitement at reaching camp early is short lived however when Sera explains that we still have an acclimatisation climb to do. The idea is that if you climb to a higher altitude then sleep back down at a lower altitude you give your body a much better chance to acclimatise. He also tells us that the terrain is similar to the terrain and incline of the summit night climb and it will give him an idea of how we will all fair on the final big push. He also then tells us this is optional!! 

High spirits

We came here to make it all the way and Sera tell us this is for our own good, so for once in my life I decide to do what I’m told. 

It is a very steep climb on, loose scree slopes and is very similar to a lot of climbing I’ve done in Scotland. We also get chatting to the other guys who are staying in our campsite, Ed and Tom, who are going the opposite way from us in the morning to tackle the summit from the other direction. Their porters are good fun too and we end up singing Swahili songs and have climbed the whole 300m before we even realise. None of us have any adverse effects to the altitude and our decent back to camp is high-spirited……..

Moir Camp (note the toilet tent on the right)

Jambo, Jambo bwana,
Habari gani,
Mzuri sana.

Wageni, Wakaribishwa,
Yetu Hakuna Matata …………We sing all the way back down! 

Moir Hut Camp is a bit more protected than Shira 1 Camp, but it’s still pretty exposed. To the east, we have a drop off where we can look down the lava flow gorge and over the tops of the clouds. 

In this valley we are treated to the most spectacular sunset, reflecting off the clouds and dipping over what feels like the edge of the universe not just our tiny little planet. 

Sunset

To the west we have a much better view of Kibo Summit, by now towering above us, and tinged pink and orange in the fading light.
Its cold again at night, as the light wind at dusk turns to freezing gale by dark. Snuggled in your tent cosy at night it really becomes as struggle to get up and go to the loo when you can hear the raging wind outside. However you waste precious energy and sleep by hanging on so the best thing is just to bite the bullet and make the 30m dash to the safety of our chemical toilet tent. 

Or so I thought …..  I find myself at 3800m clinging for dear life to the upright pole of our toilet tent, while the rest of it blows over in gale force winds and I’m left squatting on the toilet with nothing but a tent pole for privacy ….. This is a definite low point! 



Ah well tomorrow is another day!

Day 4: MOIR CAMP to BARRANCO CAMP via LAVA TOWER

Views of the summit

Altitude: 4,200M (15,190ft) - 3,976m (13,044ft) via altitude climb to Lava Tower at 4,630m (15,331ft)

 Today we head for Lava Tower at 4,600m which will be the highest we will climb until we make the final push to summit. 

We awoke to frost covering our tents. And because we’re on the Western side of the mountain and in the shade, the morning sun takes a while to warm things up.

 On the way, we cross from the heath zone to the alpine desert, which means a pretty dramatic change in scenery and temperature.
 

Getting cold and cloudy

There are no more plants or trees or any other signs of life. Although apparently it’s not unheard of for solo buffalo or other animals to wander all the way up here to get the mineral nutrients in the alkaline soil. We learn this because we spy tiny little hoof prints in the ash and dust, which Sera informs us they are the hoof prints of a teeny, little, lonely Dik Dik. Which had all four girls in hysterical, stomach crunching laughter, which lasted way longer than it should have! I blame our poor sense of humour on the altitude, naturally, and not our immaturity. If anyone is wondering a Dik Dik is a very small gazelle .. we didn’t care either! We were starting to get very very cold!

Lava Tower

Soon we’re walking through a harsh, rocky, grey landscape that could pass for the surface of Mars. Everything around us has, at some point in the distance past, been spewed out of the volcano. Oh and did I mention the cold, the spine chilling body numbing cold!

We reach Lava Tower cold, grumpy and all with sore heads. It’s the first time any of us feels the effects of altitude sickness. Lava tower itself, is a large column of rock jutting up conspicuously on the edge of a small level area, which is where we stop for lunch. We huddle in the mess tent out of the cold cloud and snow flurries, which have started up. Even Ernest cant cheer us up today … lunch is a subdued affair.




 

Shortly after the tower, we come to a second junction which brings us up to the Arrow Glacier and the point where our route meets the Machame route and our path gets a whole lot busier, we no longer feel like the only people on the mountain but our spirits are lifted chatting to other groups and exchanging battle stories .. my toilet incident the night before proving a particular favourite. 

Lava rock and the trail ahead

Decending from Lava Tower

 


 

Sentico Forest

The summit above us with the Barranco Wall on the right

It’s at this point we descend upon the enormous Senecio forest, which is like nothing else on earth. These trees are the strangest things I’ve ever seen and are unique to Kilimanjaro. It’s a strange eerie place with stunning waterfalls and a constant ebbing and flow of misty clouds.
Enroute, we also got our first view of the summit of Mt. Meru, Tanzanias second highest peak off to the right–about 70 miles way–its summit poking through the thick layer of clouds below us.
 

Clouds below us

It’s cold and windy when we arrive at Barranco Camp but the cold doesn’t take away from the spectacular view. The eerily clear skies with no light pollution to speak of mean that the night sky is dazzling. The Milky Way is easily visible in a thick band dividing the sky. If it wasn’t so cold and we weren’t so exhausted, we could sit out here for hours just stargazing. The only rival to the stars above is the tiniest twinkling of lights below us mirroring the stars above. Initially our altitude-addled brains are confused, it feels as though we are on the edge of a still lake, until we realise the stars we see reflected in the calm water are the lights of towns and villages below us. A small bedtime reminder of just how far away civilisation is and how high we’ve already climbed.

Tomorrow we have to tackle the mighty Barranco wall … its definitely bed time.

ERNIE ….eeeeeee…..eeeeee! Hot water bottles please!!! Oohhhhh kaaay! And Goodnight!
One more day closer to the summit .....

Day 5: BARRANCO to KARANGA CAMP

Altitude: 3,976m (13,044ft) to 3,995m (13,106ft)

Porters setting off to Barranco wall with Summit ahead

Today the group conquers the great Barranco Valley and up the Barranco wall, this stretch of the route is often called the Breakfast Wall on account of the fact it’s the first thing you do after a hearty breakfast. Our breakfast this morning consist of big bowls of African millet .. not my favourite meal up here by a long shot and today I definitely don’t eat enough food, despite Sera’s encouragement that this stuff is good for us. 

He tells us African women eat it because it makes them big and fat …. At which point all four girls decide we’d rather not eat! Surely one of the benefits of climbing kili is that little black dress might just fit by the time we get back, right?!!! 

Looking up at the sheer wall over breakfast has us all feeling a little nervous! This imposing cliff is actually only 257 meters but it seems a lot higher standing at its base! Even the porters tackle this stretch slowly and that tells us something! 

These guys always amaze!

The route appears precarious and the only way to progress seems to be to clamber on all fours clinging to the rocks for dear life, without looking down! The porters joke about the part they call the kissing wall, where the only way to pass is to cling onto the rock and hug it, close enough to kiss it, the only other way is a long way down!!

The trick is to go slowly and make sure of each footing you take. Be deliberate and use all four limbs to scramble up the wall.

In reality it’s a LOT of fun and not nearly as scary or dangerous as we all anticipate and after an hour we’ve already reached the kissing wall where we all happily give the Barranco Wall a huge hug and plant a massive kiss on the rock as we pass. The drop isn’t nearly as bad as the porters would have us believe! Cheeky, pesky, windup merchants!

At the back of our minds I  think we had  all been conscious of the impending Barranco wall so by the time we reach the top we are all feeling pretty smug and kinda invincible! Come on Kilimanjaro is this all you got!!

Big Smiles

We stop for lunch knowing that we have a short afternoon before we reach Karanga Camp and by our calculations it’s not much of a climb either.. So far a great day!

We have now reached the arctic zone of Kilimanjaro and the landscape is dusty, lunar and very cold! Our excitement at lunch over an easy afternoon is curtailed when we realise that even though our next camp is not much higher than where we’ve just eaten lunch we have to climb deep down into a valley and back out again to get there. However our delight at surviving Barranco hasn’t quite worn off and the four girls in our group plough on. We are strong and resilient women! …. Another of our mantras!

Long way down

Our fifth group member and the only guy in the group, Jitu, has found the cold increasingly difficult to deal with and over the last few days has began to fall behind the main group. Despite our attempts to stick together over the last few days it becomes harder and harder, and the girls forge on in an attempt to stay both warm and sane. It would appear our sympathy for a whinging bloke is also waning!! Geez oh Man Up .. we’re cold too but standing round debating it sure doesn’t help! We’re also aware our constant mutterings of ….We are strong and resilient women! Slow like an elephant! Strong like a lion! Is probably getting on his nerves too!

Sheer Rocks

 Our climb down into the valley is also the last place our porters can collect water until the return back down the mountain.

 Bear in mind we still have two nights of camping to contend with, we need enough water to keep us hydrated for the summit night trek and for all our meals for the next two days as well as our all important hot water bottles to fill at night! It is at this point, as the terrain gets tough and the cold really starts to bite that we all realise just how important a lifeline our porters are to us in this barren landscape. There is no way conceivable we could have come this far and we certainly wouldn’t last the next 72 hours without them.

Pole! Pole!

This is the 1^st afternoon we are all quiet and reflective…. I certainly start to feel very small on this vast mountainside… and more than a little vulnerable! Making it to the summit is no longer about my own ambition but making it up there for all the great people we’ve met up here that are making our own dreams a reality. 

Weirdly I don’t remember much about Karanga Camp other than we arrived early afternoon and had time to rest, this was one of our shortest days. My excitement for this camp must have gotten side-lined by the fact it was the only evening my travelling companions allowed me to convince them to let me get out my magnetic scrabble board. The porters had carried it all this way after all; it would really be a shame to not have at least one game.

Besties .. Summit looking closer!

   
I was either too engrossed in scrabble or maybe just too exhausted to register the summit peak loomed so large over us that it seemed close enough to touch, I only know this after looking back at my photos.

 Day five is over and we all can’t quite believe that tomorrow night is the night we will be attempting to summit this hulking mountain. 

We just have to get through day 6…..