As I lay panting on the floor in the dawn light with my friend Owen, heaving last nights food into the crater rim, I realised that our crack at the summit of Kilimanjaro was over as hoards of excited trekkers skipped over our boots on their way to the peak, only a km away. A decade later, I returned with my wife Fran for trek 2, opting this time for the Machame route, as it gave us the option of isolation, another night on the mountain to acclimatise and the possibility to camp rather than stay in the designated cabins I had used ten years earlier on the Marangu route. Both climbs were memorable, but very different. The Marangu route seemed to be a short sharp ascent, with the crowds to suit, but was a fun
... read more