Blogs from Mount Kilimanjaro, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 6

Long hike across the desert of the saddle with the target now getting closer with each step. Amazingly, we arrive at Kibo (base camp - 15,419ft) with everyone complaining about how hard this supposedely easy day is. I find it difficult to say nothing but somehow manage it - I haven't noticed legs or lungs issue a single complaint of any magnitude - the day was too easy. Man-mountain is waiting for me outside the mess tent where he's just delivered the summit day briefing. We talk honestly about the summit day - I tell him I need to go much faster, he's ok with that but issues the usual cautionary warnings. While the primates rest, I skip away for a scamper up the craggy volcanic ridges running down the crater wall of Kilimanjaro (I have ... read more

Long march across to Mawenzi Tarn (14,206ft). Beautiful spot - tarn beneath the crumbling, rocky faces of Mawenzi. More rock-surfing keeps me from drifting off but I keep telling myself I must take this time - must be patient to allow for success on summit day. We head up to the ridge at 14,763ft for an acclimitisation walk. Many of the primates who are hiking with me are beginning to feel the strain - headaches, light-headedness, shortness of breath. The wanderer is blissfully unaware of any such inhibitions - the shoulders are feeling lighter by the day and air is getting thinner and fresher, the temperature dropping. This makes this goat feel alive. Spend ages talking to the man-mountain chief guide about mountains, famous mountaineers he's hiked up here with who have gone on to achieve ... read more

I stood at the foot of the mountain preparing to ascend to its summit. Over the past two days - since I had left the western world behind - my shoulders had slowly been lifting as the weights of life began to fall away. And now here I was, on the gentle slopes of the highest mountain in Africa. I've read and dreamt about Kilimanjaro for many a moon - long before I began to think I might ever visit. And now I was on it. I stood beside six smiling guides, impatiently leaning on my hiking stick while we all waited for the rest of the group to prepare themselves. Their confused scurrying and fretful preening brought to mind a troop of idle baboons. My mind wandered away from the people around me, away from ... read more

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last updated this blog. It’s not helped that I’ve been without my laptop, for what seems like an entire lifetime (but in reality it’s only been a couple of weeks) since it’s been getting repaired due to an ‘accidental fall’ – I do hope that is the only ‘accidental fall’ that I’m going to mention here. Time has flown by and it’s now exactly ONE WEEK till I meet up with my walking friends at Heathrow Terminal 4 to start this long awaited adventure. Apprehensive – Absolutely, Nervous – Undeniably, Excited – Occasionally Confident – Not particularly (if I’m being totally honest). Should/Could I have done more training – For sure. It is all too late now to do anything that’s going to make any kind of ... read more

I have signed up to do a 10-day expedition to climb Africa's highest mountain (5,895 metres or 19,341 ft), which will consist of 5½ days climbing up, 1½ days coming down, 1 day recovery, and 2 days travelling to and from the UK. We are taking the Rongai Route up Kilimanjaro, which, while not technically being considered the most easiest of routes, it is the one which our hiking company has the highest success rate with – which I suppose is the ultimate goal at the end of the day. The bit from the brochure Rongai Route: The Rongai Route approaches Kilimanjaro from the north and retains a sense of untouched wilderness which has been lost on the crowded Marangu and Machame trails. This route up has a relatively gentle gradient and short daily stages as ... read more