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Published: July 18th 2008
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I was not looking forward to my Kili climb at all feeling my training for it had been woefully inadequate! It then started badly with a 6 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Arusha along probably the worst roads I had ever travelled, feeling thoroughly sorry for myself arrived in Arusha to find no one there to pick me up as arranged. Having no Tanzanian Shillings I was a bit upset at this and ended up calling the hotel who very sweetly paid for my taxi on arrival. My tour guides arrived at the hotel shortly later after having waited at the wrong shuttle station for me so all was right although I must admit to secretly almost hoping they wouldnt show!
Briefing (where they nicely told me 50% people dont make it to the top - I now know this is wrong!) preceeded a very early night where I couldnt sleep at all. The next morning it was early on the road to travel to Moshi (2 and half hours from Arusha), the Tanzanian roads were a lot better but at this point I was feeling pretty sick anyway. My first glimpse of Kili was a couple of hours into
the journey - wow! It is absolutely stunning (as you can see from the pic) I must admit to also looking at it and thinking Oh Shit!!
Met my guide Aloyce at the gate, and briefly said hi to my (2)porters and cook and then it was off. I was really lucky to see a small black monkey almost immediately.
The trail soon started climbing up through the rain forest with its stunning scenery with lots of photo stops (mainly cos I was already knackered and didnt want to tell Aloyce! :-) ) We got to our first camp - Mandara Huts (2720m) just after lunch absolutely exhausted but exhilerated, 1st leg over. Met up with a few other guys staying there and watched the gorgeous Colorbus monkeys putting on an impromptu show by jumping from tree to tree and running past our dining hut before hiking to a crater where we could see a village in Kenya! In the evening the clouds descended on us and it was pitch black by 19:30, into bed by 20:00 wondering if I stood a chance of making it!
Day 2 started early after a very cold nights sleep listening to monkeys screaming.
The climb was very steep but passing beautiful flowers and butterflies. The clouds were below us when we started off but soon melted for some gorgeous views. Finally saw Kibo peak about halfway through the day , absolutely gorgeous but such a long way still! Clouds rolled in at lunch for a really eerie feel. Made it to the second camp - Horombo Huts (3720m) at about 15:00 in absolute agony but again with such a sense of achievement! Horombo was stunning after dinner the clouds rolled away to reveal a stunning sunset and fabulous colours.
Day 3 was an acclimatisation day thankfully. We climbed up to 4100m and saw the Zebra rocks. I was sick all day, shaking and weak having eaten barely any food due to the altitude. The evening was freezing and ended with me and Aloyce discussing the option of me going back down. It was decided (by me) to see how I went, getting this far I really didnt want to give up!
Feeling slightly better on Day 4 we headed off early to Kibo Huts. It was a long hard 7 hours through the Alpine Dessert to the huts (4750m). Everyone staying there pretty
much headed straight to bed in the huge dorm room before it was back to climbing again at 23:20. I was first to leave being the sickest and slowest at this point. I was bundled in all the clothes I had (3 t-shirts, jumper, fleece, coat and 4 pairs of trousers) and resembled the Michelin woman. It was pitch black and even with my head torch all I could do was follow Aloyce's feet. The mountain was too steep to climb straight so we were forced to zig zag back and forth on the gravel sliding back with every step. The was very little air to breathe and I was immediately exhausted. To say it was the hardest thing I have ever done does not even come close to describing it! I could think nothing other than each individual step and only sheer stubborness and determination carried me on. I took a lot of breaks to try to breathe and used these to gaze at the stars which seemed so close. I was so excited to see my first shooting star and the Southern Cross, the sky was amazing, so clear. I also saw another 4 shooting stars throughout the
night absolutely awesome, what better place to see them?! Reaching the ice that can be constantly seen I knew I was getting there and determined to carry on.
I finally made it to Gillimans Point (5681m) at 06:30 in time to see the sunrise. I was so happy I burst into tears. Making it to there was incredible especially since a lot of people never thought I would get anywhere near it! My first proper view was of this enormous stunningly beautiful ice-field bathed in the golden light. We stopped for a minute before carrying on past 6foot icicles and the amazing glacier. I was so exhausted so Aloyce took my camera off me and snapped away, I was just slowly plodding until I reached Uhuru (5895m) oh my God the feeling of being on top of the world is one I'll never forget! At this point I knew it had been the worst and the best night of my life!
We happily made our way back down over the next 2 days with aching muscles, blisters and twisted ankles. Stopping to get all the photos I had missed over the climb up. Aloyce confirmed total distance hiked as 75km
(oh my God!) over 6 days. We passed a load of black monkeys playing in the rain forest and eating the ants (I was happy about this since one of the nasty buggers bit me!) It was strange to hit civilisation again (ie shower and toilet) but it was so nice to get clean and sleep in a bed! The whole expreience was awesome one I would recommend anyone to do!
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Dave TAYLOR
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Nice One Ranulph!
Wow! Look at you. How fantastic are the pics. Mega jealous. Looks like your having a fantastic time. Keep it up. See you in Oz hopefully. We are off in 4 weeks on our amazing adventure. See you soon TED! Regards, Dave x