Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro - Tanzania, Africa

Tldr;#

6 Days Ascending and Descending Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

This Was via the Marangu Route - Ascent 4016m (1879 to 5896m)

Prologue#

The Plan was to do fly to Africa and do Kilimanjaro as a group of 4. It and had been suggested to me by a friend that Mount Meru was a good warmup for doing Kili and that this would also help in terms of altitude acclimatisation.

So I flew to Tanzania a bit earlier than the rest of the group, did Meru had a day off and then joined them for the 6 day Kilimanjaro hike.

In terms of training and conditioning, We had done a number of fairly lengthy hikes including Mt Kosciuszko, GNW and parts of these had some fairly decent ascent. and I had just completed the Meru hike 2 days earlier

We also did an number of weeks acclimatisation training at Peak Fitness as part of the preperation for these hikes

Cost and Gear#

Around 1600USD PP plus the 180USD in tips for the guides, chef and porters(2/1/10)

Getting There#

Flew from Sydney to Tanzania via Abu Dhabi and Kenya. Picked up by Kilisa tours and taken to the accomodation in Moshi (ParkView Inn)

The next day we drove from Moshi to the Marangu Gate which was about an hour away plus the stop to get gear, then the return back to the hotel 6 days later

An introduction to some of the local wildlife prior to getting to the gate

The Entrance awaits

Day1 : Marangu Gate to Mandara Huts (1879m -> 2720m)#

There was 4 of us in the group (Alex, Oleg, Andre and myself) doing the 6 day hike (4 up and 2 back)

After they had completed the weight in (food, water and our main packs) we started the climb up to the Mandara huts.

Note

As with Meru, the porters took our main packs and we carried just the day packs

Moss rock and sign (lunch stop)	Bikari heading up the trail

Slowly 'polepole' going up through the rainforest vegetation

Next minute we arrive at the Manadara huts where we are going to park up for the first night

We got to the first set of huts around 4pm, after getting the accomodation sorted we did the acclimatisation walk which consisted of going up about 300m meters in elevation before coming back down to stay the night.

Day2 : Mandara Hut to Horombo Hut (2720m -> 3720m)#

We left the rainforest area and started to head up into the Moorland, slow walking and loads of rocks to catch you out. Still doing pretty good with the altitude at this stage

It was quite the setup when we arrived at Horombo, the bathroom facilities were decent and the hall where we have the meals was quite well positioned

Some modern offerings, there was also a 4x4 access track to here in case of emergencies!

Day3 : Horombo Hut to Kibo Hut (3720m -> 4720m)#

The breathing was starting to get more difficult at this altitude and struggled with the sleep the night before. The food wasnt helping either though as it was a lot wheat and gluten, neither of which I do very well with.

First glimpses of the peak. Good idea in this area would have been dust masks as this place was as dusty as hell

We got up to Kibo hut around 3pm, so around 6 hours hiking, dusty and windy but otherwise the weather was good and not so many other hikers on the trail

The walking had slowed down immensily by this stage, and it was difficult to breath. We were all in good spirits though.

Day 4 : Kibo Hut to Summit (4720m -> 5895m -> 4720m)#

The plan was to get to the summit in the mid afternoon so that we would miss the crowds during the midnight rush (sunrise at the summit).

I was pretty keen to see the sunrise so worked out with one of the tour guides to go a bit later just before lunch to try and get up there in time for the sunset.

But as it turns out after a couple hours we caught up to the rest of the group and we ended up walking with them

Just happy to be taking in the view

	Stella Point

Getting close to the summit now!

There was loads of low cloud so we didnt end up seeing a hell of a whole lot

However we all made it to the top!

After about 20 mins in the wind at the top we had enough and it was time to start the trip down

Shortly after leaving the top it became apparent just how cold it was up there!

Running down on the dusty trails was awesome!, We noticed that some hikers had mountain bikes and rode down from the summit.

Wish that we would have found this out earlier as I would have been made keen on that

We got back to Kibo around 5pm, we would stay another night here before heading back down to Horombo the next day

Day5 : Kibo Hut to Horombo Hut (4720m -> 3720m)#

A bit of a lie in and a decent breakfast we got away about 9am. Having completed the task we set out to we were all in good spirits and enjoy the walk back down to Horombo

A chance to enjoy the scenery as the breathing got easier again

Then a couple of evening shots from Horombo

The heavens opened on the way down so I ended up running with the porters down the hill. Partly to keep warm and partly given the fact I could actually run again!

And suddenly it was all over

After getting cleaned up and a few beers down we went into 'town' in Moshi and hit the 'club' (Redstone)