And we did it!

Jambo!  Here's the Kilimanjaro wrap-up everyone!

Air travel

No probs with our flight from Melbourne - Bangkok on the 18th, however when we arrived at Bangkok we were told our Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi was not happening.  So the airline put us up in the Novotel for the night, which in the end wasn't too bad.  Me and Anton tootled off for a foot massage the next day but we had to fly to Delhi and then Nairobi.  This whole fiasco added about 16 hours to our travel time.  This meant when we finally arrived at Kilimanjaro airport it was a day later than we had planned and we were rather tired!  However it did mean we had had ample opportunity to get to know everyone on team Amnesty!

Day One

We were bussed from Kilimanjaro airport to a hotel in Moshi where we had an hour to shower, and scoff down some lunch before boarding the bus again to take us to the start of our trek up the mountain via the Rongai route.  Thankfully this first day walk was only 3 - 4 hours.  It would have been great to have a night's sleep in a hotel as per our original plans but them's the breaks!

Crew effortlessly packing our gear onto the roof of the bus at Kilimanjaro airport

Kiddies on the track!

We walked through pine forest and a bit of rainforest, encountering some cute kids on the way.  Saw the tail end of a Colobus monkey too (just the tai end mind you)  Got into camp just as it was getting dark.  The amazing porters had run ahead with our gear and tents and everything was set up ready to go for dinner.  Amazing!

Day Two

This was the view from our campsite the next morning, Kilimanjaro rising out of the background somewhat forebodingly!  Every morning the weather was picture perfect like this.

One the the tents, a couple of crew members and Kili in the background

Breakfast table, yes someone bought Vegemite (I'm a Marmite girl though)

Today was a 7-9 our trek out of the rainforest into a more scrubby / alpine environment.  We had lunch in this cave:  

Near the end of the day I was beginning to feel the effects of altitude sickness.  My vision started to cloud over, and I found myself trying to tear off my hot layers of merino and jackets while dry reaching by the side of the track.  It all came on quite quickly and scared me quite a bit as my general fitness level felt fine and I had no control over how my body was reacting to the altitude.  I had a bit of a breakdown but one of our amazing guides DJ took my pack and jacket for me and told me 'Hakuna Matata' and I made it to camp a couple of hours later.  I spoke to our Tanzanian doctor (Dr Jeffet who was to become known as 'Jazzy Jeff') who was to come with us all the way to the summit and he suggested I start on the Diamox for altitude sickness the next morning at breakfast.  I forced down my dinner that night but it was very very hard as I was feeling so sick I didn't want to eat a thing.  I had been warned this might happen though so I ate as much as I could force down.

Day Three

Started on the Diamox this morning.  Half a pill at morning and half at evening.  Today was a 5-7 hour trek to Mawenzi peak.  I was feeling a lot better today and had my appetite back, and it was great to get to know the others in the group a bit better.  On arriving in to camp at Mawenzi I was blown away by the amazing sight of both the peak and the green 'tarn' beside which we camped.  It was noticeably colder up at this height.

Mawenzi Tarn

It was so cold in fact, that when I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, the bucket of water we use to flush it with had frozen solid.  This was a LARGE bucket and so it took me a few minutes to work out what was going on when I picked it up and tipped it and nothing came out!  haha

Mawenzi Peak

Our camp at Mawenzi Peak

Day Four 

We stayed at Mawenzi Peak Camp for 2 nights.  This is so we could acclimatize before our summit attempt.  We went on a walk up a ridge beside the peak for an acclimatization walk.  This also afforded us an unimpeded view of Kilimanjaro's Kibo peak, and boy it looked high!!

The team hanging on the ridge

On our acclimatization walk, Kibo peak in the background looking foreboding!

Day Five

We set off early for Kibo camp which is where we would base ourselves before our summit attempt.  This was a 6- 7 hour walk directly towards Kili across a lunar-esque landscape.  We also passed the wreckage of a small plane which had crashed about 2 years ago carrying some Italian tourists.  Quite a sobering sight.

That's the badger!

A porter and some of the team on the way to Kibo camp

We arrived at Kibo campsite and had some lunch.  Kibo is a really busy campsite as it's where almost everyone starts their summit attempt from (including people hiking other routes rather than our Rongai route)  So a few routes converge here.  We had a sleep after lunch and then got up for dinner.  Back to sleep after dinner and then up at 11.00pm.  Put all of our clothes on ready for the summit.  My list of clothing and other gear was as follows:

-light merino singlet

-long sleeve 100 weight merino top

-short sleeve heavier weight merino top

-long sleeve hooded 320 weight merino top

-500 weight duck down jacket with hood

-gore-tex jacket (borrowed from my friend Saki)

-merino liner gloves

-fleece gloves

-ski gloves

-100 weight merino long-johns

-250 weight merino long-johns
-polar fleece pants (very cool - found in an op shop with skull prints all over them!)

-waterproof pants

-gaiters (borrowed from my friend Saki)

-merino hat

-wool hat

-polar fleece hat (in the shape of a leopard's head with ear flaps for extra warmth!)

-wicking socks

-merino liner socks

-heavy weight merino trekking socks
-cotton tiger print scarf
-woolen rainbow scarf

-3 litre camel pack filled with electrolytes

-Protein bars

-1 litre Sigg bottle filled with electrolytes

-camera

-headlamp

-torch

And the nerdy but essential walking poles.  We filled up our camel packs with electrolytes and I also filled up my 1litre Sigg bottle, insulated with two pairs of merino socks to stop it from freezing.  Apparently using electrolytes instead of pure water slows down the freezing process too.

After a cup of tea, we started our long slow trek to the summit at 11.30pm.  We all walked single file in the dark up the scree switchback track with our headlamps illuminating the person's shoes in front of us.  The track was very very busy so we could only walk single file.  Looking up and below, all you could see was lines of headlamps.  After about 2 hours of walking, we stopped in a cave for a heavenly cup of tea (perhaps the best cup of tea I have ever had)  By this stage my fingers and toes were freezing.  My polar-fleece gloves wouldn't fit between my merino and my ski gloves even though back in Melbourne when I tried them on, they all fit.  I was also wishing I had worn another pair of merino socks.  Our team leader from Inspired Nadia, spent a good 10 mins helping me cycle my legs while lying on my back to try to warm my toes up.  It did help a bit.  Then Anton popped up with some hand-warmers for my gloves that had generously been donated by another member of our team Katie.  Before we knew it we were back on the slow going trail to the top.  There was a time of about an hour where I had to stop about every 2 or 3 steps because it was single file.  That was quite frustrating at the time, not because I was rearing with energy but more because I wanted to keep moving so that I would stay warm.  

Day Six

After what seemed like hours, an orange light slowly seeped into the night sky on the horizon.  By this time, my electrolytes in my camel pack had long since frozen.  We knew we must be near the top at this stage and our breathing was becoming increasingly rapid and difficult.  Near the top the walking turned into clambering over enormous boulders which made it much harder.  We could hear our guides whistle and the nattering of Nadia as we reached Gilman's Point just as we thought our lungs would burst.  The dawn was quickly overshadowed by cloud, so no amazing dawn views were to be had.  The joy at reaching Gilman's was soon tempered the realisation that we had another 2 hours to walk to get to the summit at Uhuru peak.  

After not much deliberation, we set off again.  I didn't climb Kili to only get to Gilman's, it's all about Uhuru.

As we started down the track to the summit, an icy blast hit us from the right.  We realised we were walking around the crater rim with a sheer galatial drop to our right.  The wind was intensely cold.  We had been warned it would be between -15 and -25 degrees at the top.  Hard to fathom when you've never been in those temperatures before, but I could now believe the wind chill alone made it that cold.  I tried to move my scarfs up to cover my nose and mouth, but my hands were clumsy with cold and hampered by my ski gloves and I didn't dare take them off for fear of freezing my fingers off.  The trek to the summit seemed to take an eternity.  We were breathing rapidly and every step was an immense effort.  We walked on into a bleaker and bleaker landscape, the icy wind now whipping at us from both sides, where 2 huge glaciers spread out around us.  I leaned on my poles and cried.   My whole body ached, I felt sick, I was absolutely freezing and I felt like my lungs were about to explode.  Anton urged me on.  I knew I couldn't give up, I had to make it to that god-damned sign!!  No way was I going to give up.  After a while, the snow and ice on either side of me started to bleed a bright intense pink colour.  I said to Anton 'the snow is turning pink'  The altitude was screwing with me.  I struggled and struggled, with Anton ahead of me, looking back and watching me blubbering like a baby, although I knew he was feeling it just as much as me.  Occasionally a person who looked like they'd just stepped out of a Mountain Designs catalogue would mosey on past us on their way back from the summit.  'Not long to go now' they'd say cheerily.  Why did they look so normal and happy when I was at the absolute end of my tether and having a breakdown?  Perhaps that was the altitude messing with me too.  Finally finally we heard voices, and saw 4 of our team ahead, at the sign!  Nadia, Bruno, Tracey and Anna.  When I saw them and our guides, I again broke down, it was amazing to see them.  Nadia was worried about me.  Apparently my lips were blue.  After Anton had wiped the frozen tears and snot from my face, I tried out the best smile I could fathom as we sat down in front of the sign for our photo.  We had done it.

Anton consoling me at the summit

Apparently the 'high' you get from reaching the summit should have you skipping back down the summit track feeling as light as air.  Not so.  The way back was struggle-town also, and especially when a slight hill or rock presented itself to be climbed over.  I had to stop and pysche myself up at those bits.  After reaching Gilman's, and clambering back down the large rocks, the scree slopes were fantastic, as you could sort of ski down them without too much effort.  It was all downhill from there (in a GOOD way)   The view back across the plateau to Mawenzi peak was amazing and now we saw everything in the light of day, we couldn't quite believe we'd actually climbed up that whole way.

Anton on his way back down the scree

We hit Kibo camp at around 11.15am.  Time for a short chelax in our tents, then lunch, then off we went on a 4-5 hour walk to Horombo camp.  No rest for the wicked!  It turned out that out of 18 of us, only 11 had summited, with a few suffering from pretty bad altitude sickness, and the rest unable to gather enough strength to make it higher than Gilman's Point.  Thankfully the walk to Hormobo was a leisurely downhill walk.  

Mawenzi with crazy tree

Day Seven 

I think we all slept like logs at Horombo.  Our tent was on a slight slope, so I woke up in the morning all bunched up in the foetal position at the bottom of my sleeping mat!  Up at 6am for breakfast as usual.  But before we set off on our final day of walking, we were treated to two songs and dances from the 70 strong crew of porters, guides, cooks and camp personnel that had helped to make our trip achievable.  It was amazing.

  

After watching that dance, we all joined in with the next song and dance which was the Hakuna Matata dance (not the song from the Lion King but Hakuna Matata nonetheless)  After 2 mins we were pooped out as we were still at 3000m + so it doesn't take long to get tired when you're jumping around!  We handed out our tips and said our goodbyes to the amazing crew.

Anton, one of our guides 'DJ' and me at Horombo

Our final day's walk took us through the rainforest, and rain it did.  We had our Gore-tex gear though so it was fine.  The rainforest was lovely and mossy and lush, with incredible light green lichen hanging from the trees.   

Lichen hanging from the trees

The end!!

After making it back, we stopped off at a shop by the side of the road and indulged in some well earned  cold Kilimanjaro beer, (mine and Anton's first drink in almost 2 months)  Delicious!  We have also shared this whole experience with a bunch of fabulous people and I want to thank Inspired Adventures and Rift Valley Tours for making it magical.