Blogs from Mount Kilimanjaro, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 16

You hear many reasons why you shouldn't climb Kilimanjaro. Likelihood of not making it to the summit due to insufficient time to acclimatize to the altitude, likelihood of getting sick due to insufficient time to acclimatize to the altitude, Africa has more beautiful mountains that you can climb for a fraction of the cost, there is no technical difficulty involved in the climb, there are hoards of ill-prepared tourists purely climbing for the glory of telling their friends back home that they have scaled Africa's highest peak, etc, etc. These reasons are probably all valid. But I did it anyway. And loved it. I have read somewhere that scientists are predicting that Kilimanjaro will be devoid of snow and ice by 2020. As well as becoming a less interesting trek, it will also be more dangerous. ... read more

Day One - Transit to the gate and climb to Mandara Huts Day Two - Climb to Horombo Huts Day Three - Acclimatisation Day - Climb to Zebra Rocks, Mawenzi Ridge and return Day Four - Climb to Kibo Hut Day Five - Gilman's Point then Uhuru Peak Reached Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa at 5895m at 0555hrs this morning. We left Kibo Hut at 0010 hrs, and reached Gilmans Point at 0445. Exhilerating! Day Five - Descend to Horombo Day Six - Descend to Marangu Gate, return to Moshe ... read more

Hi everybody!!!!!! Sorry for the long long radio silence. I've been away from computers and all things technological for quite awhile now. But I'm ready to write down the whole Kilimanjaro experience now. Yes, Tezza, I did take notes so you wouldn't miss a THING! :) As for Zanzibar, I'm going to save that as a seperate entry, so tune in again soon... KILIMANJARO Departure from Ghana: So I stayed in Ghana overnight with my friend and colleague and hit the road on Friday Sept 8th at 9pm. I caught the plane in Accra airport to Nairobi which is a few hours ahead and I landed early in the morning, around 6 or so. I got my "transit visa" to pass through the country to get to Tanzania by bus, and I waited outside for the ... read more

We did it! Kilimanjaro at 5,895m conquered by Merryn, Joe and Mike at 6:24am on Saturday 2 September 2006. And here are the details....... After I had been away from Australia for 4 months, Joe was finally able to join me in my world adventure, even if it was for only one week. But what a great week it was. Mike, Joe's best mate, also joined in for the challenge. As mentioned a little later, I know I would not have made it to the top without them. So, note to anyone contemplating this climb - take good friends with you. We met up in Nairobi, took a bus to Moshi, Tanzania and waited at our hotel to meet our guide and find out a little more about what we were in for over the next ... read more

Day 26 (June 16) - Kibo Hut Today was the hardest hike yet - 4.5hrs up to 4700m (15,000ft). We hiked another hour up the mountain to acclimatize, and I had a very bad headache. We ate around 6pm and went to bed at 7pm. Wake-up call at 11:30pm... Day 27 (June 17) - Horombo Hut We were woken up for coffee at 11:30pm, and we were on our way to the peak around 12:20am. Our goal was to make the 6.5hr hike to the summit in time for sunrise. It was rough. Very cold, and my head was killing me. But I was all there in the head, so no worries. Took some Advil and head was cured, but I felt terribly sick. Anyway, we made it! Day 28 (June 18) - Arusha Hiked down ... read more