Wilderness Wandering

Tim and I love National Parks!  We decided to take a long hike in a National Park in Tanzania! 

Welcome to our journey to The Roof of Africa – Mount Kilimanjaro!

The Route

There are different paths to take to summit Kilimanjaro. The longer routes give your body more time to adjust to the extremely high elevation. We decided on the 30 mile over 8 days Lemosho route because it has a success rate over 90%. Some routes have a success rate of less than 70%! 

The Operator

I did an extensive amount of research on companies that lead Mt. Kilimanjaro treks and chose Climbkili for a variety of reasons. Some of the reasons are- They have awesome reviews and their Marketing Manager Tiffany was extremely responsive, generally answering questions within hours.  They claim a 90+% summit success rate. They summit from Kosovo camp which is at a higher elevation and saves us an hour of hiking time on summit night. They also include a private toilet for all our camps in the base price. And finally, they belong to KPAP, Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project. These  licensed operators ensure ethical, safe, and sustainable treks by guaranteeing fair wages, proper treatment, and adequate gear for porters.

Day by Day

Feb 3 

We flew from Chicago O’Hare to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We left at 5 PM Tuesday 2/03 and arrived in Kilimanjaro 2/05 1:15 AM. We were delayed about 15 minutes after the pilot aborted our landing due to high winds. Yikes!

We spent 2/05 seeing a bit of Arusha, Tanzania – a city of 617,000 people.  Then we returned to the hotel to meet the people we will take on Kilimanjaro with. 

There were 6 of us with our guide Veda. Two men from MN, Mike and Mark, and a wonderful couple from CO, David and Heather.

Mike and Mark are extremely accomplished hikers having summited Mt. Rainer and completed more than a dozen Fourteeners!

Dave and Heather are adventurous world travelers. Dave is an avid cyclist, and Dave and Tim spent many hours on the trail discussing cycling. Heather and I really hit it off as well. We couldn’t have asked for a better group for this journey. 

We were told to start taking our altitude medicine, Diamox that evening. It improves our chances of summiting. 

After the meeting, we went and packed our duffle bags and backpacks and figured out what to leave behind at the hotel. We each have a porter  and the porter is limited to carrying 44 pounds. If we bring more, we have to carry it.  Then we went to bed to try to get a good night’s rest. That was a joke. We both laid awake so much of the night.  

Feb 6 Day 1 Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkwuba Camp 8694’ 4 miles

The alarm went off at 6:00 AM. We got up and showered and went up to the roof top restaurant for breakfast. We bought lots of water to fill our backpack bladders and Nalgenes for the mountain.  Then we took our valuables up to the front desk for them to put in the safe and our suitcases in storage. 

We all met in the lobby at 7:30 AM.  We took a group photo and boarded the bus to begin our 3 hour drive to Kilimanjaro National Park.  We saw zebra and giraffes in the distance from our bus.

We arrived at the starting point, The Londerossi Gate.  Our guides had some paperwork to do, so we ate the box lunches they brought us. I had fries, a hard boiled egg, a piece of fruit and some cookies. 

We put on our backpacks and started on the trail at 12:30 PM. We headed up a dirt trail into the rain forest.  The trees were big and there were some very unique ones. 

It began to mist about an hour and a half in. Most of us put our rain jackets on and put rain covers on our backpacks.  The mist made the trail very muddy.

We felt good climbing. We went very slowly by design. The guides were leading us and telling us to go “pole pole” (slowly, slowly) and to drink water very frequently. It all helps with acclimatization.  We gained about 1000 feet up to 8694 feet.  At 3:09, we arrived at our camp for the night.  Our porters had our tents up and had hot water for tea, coffee and hot chocolate for us and popcorn! For dinner, we had potatoes and spaghetti with a stew over it.  The food was was really good. 

It got dark by 6:30 PM. We went to our tents to get organized before it got too dark. We were in bed by 7:30 PM.

Our day 1 hike was a great start. I would rate it a 5, sort of a typical moderately strenuous hike. 

Feb 7 Day 2 Mkwuba Camp to Shira I Camp 11,500’ 5 miles

Tim said he didn’t sleep more than an hour last night. He was up early organizing his things.  I slept very well until 12:30 AM. After that, I maybe got an hour or two of sleep. I had to get up once to use the bathroom. It  sure was nice to have the private toilet tent! The public toilets were a good distance away and very disgusting. I got up at 6:00. I organized my back pack and took some things out to lighten the load. We gathered for breakfast at 6:30. 

We had an oatmeal dish followed by  eggs and crepes and delicious mango. We were ready to hit the road before 7:30. The trail was steadily climbing.  We began at 8694’. We gained 2806’ ending  at Shira Camp I at 11,500’. We went from rainforest through the montane forest ending in the heath and moorland zone. There were many beautiful flowers along our route today. We hiked straight through to the camp, which took us about 6 hours. It is very humbling for the porters to be flying by us while they’re carrying 40 pounds of our stuff on their heads and up to another 40 pounds of equipment for camp on their backs! Most of the porters have hiking boots, but we have seen a few porters hiking in gym shoes and crocs. We have seen a few female porters. We saw one team with three female leaders.  

We arrived about 1:30 PM and then had a wonderful hot lunch. We started with carrot soup, followed by pasta with another type of beef stew with more of a tomato sauce base. We had a delicious fruit platter as well. The food is plentiful and great! We tried to take a nap. Tim slept for an hour and I read my book on my Kindle. 

We had dinner and got ready for bed. 

I would rate today as a 6. It was a moderately strenuous hike with some good elevation gain. 

Feb. 8 Day 3 Shira Camp to Moir Camp 13,650’ 6 miles

Tim slept well! Finally!! 

Breakfast was a chocolate porridge. This was a pretty hike. Some of it was across a plateau, so it wasn’t too steep. The porters had several big metal tables set up at a rest stop. We sat in the sun and had tea, coffee or hot chocolate and ginger cookies. Tim was given the nickname “Gingersnap” because he liked the cookies we were served.

There’s some trash along the trail (mainly candy wrappers and tissues). Tanzania has banned single use water bottles in the park though. Our cook purified water the porters got from local sources for us. When there are large rocks along the trail, and you go behind them to pee, there is tons of toilet paper left behind.

Lunch was soup and samosas and fritters. 

After lunch, several of us sat in the tent talking. Then we took an acclimatization hike and had popcorn and hot drinks. We had a meet and greet with the entire team. Everyone introduced themselves and told us what their job was and then we did the same. There are 20 people for the six of us. We have  a main leader and two assistant leaders,  a cook and a waiter,  a toilet tent guy, a campsite manager who makes sure the tents get put up and belongings delivered to each tent,  a dish washer, and a lot of porters to carry everything. They are all so friendly, sweet and kind.  Then they sang a few traditional songs and we danced! I had no breath to dance and thought I was going to die.  Dinner was stew, and passion fruit. We ate and then the guides did a health check on us. The test our oxygen levels and our heart rate daily. We got ready for bed. We were in bed at 7:45. 

Today was another level 6 hike- the altitude is the main thing that makes it strenuous. 

Feb 9 Day 4 Moir Camp to Barranco Camp 12,950’ 7 miles

Woke up nice and warm, but outside the temp was freezing! We dressed warm and ate breakfast. Today was porridge, fried eggs, and toast, plus coffee, tea and hot chocolate. 

We set out for our morning hike at 7:30 AM. It was a strenuous climb to Lava Tower at 15,190’. This was the highest elevation any of us had ever been on a hike.  The sun was out, but was behind the rocks, so our hands were cold until the sun rose high enough to show over the rocks. Then it warmed up, and we had to take a layer off. We arrived at Lava Tower at 11:45. 

Heather and I were happy to see the toilet tent was there. We had leek soup, chicken, and french fries, cooked veggies, and delicious fresh pineapple. 

After lunch we began our descent into a valley with some very cool vegetation.

There were many loose rocks on the trail so we had to watch our footing. Near the end we stopped to look at The Barranco Wall. That is what we start climbing in the morning.  We have several sweet porters who came out to greet us the last 1/2 mile to camp! We had a little time to clean up before our popcorn, some warm peanuts and tea time at 3:30. Then we had a few hours to ourselves. 

We are sleeping at a lower elevation tonight. This is the acclimatization technique the outfitters use to get us ready. We climb high during the day and descend so we can sleep low as we progress towards the summit. I would rate today’s hike as a 7. The steepness right at the start of the morning hike and the loose rock coming down as we were getting tired made it a little treacherous. Many of the team members are struggling to get good sleep. A side effect of the Diamox is frequent urination. It isn’t fun getting out of our warm sleeping bags and going outside to the toilet tent four to six times per night. I have started not drinking anything after 4 PM.  Also elevation can make it tough to sleep.

Dinner tonight was butternut soup, and pizza. As usual, absolutely delicious! We all passed our health checks with flying colors. Tim is trying melatonin and ibuprofen to help him sleep tonight. Hoping it works. 

Feb 10 Day 5 Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp 13,200’ 3 miles

We woke up to a sunny blue sky and about 25 F today. Tim slept great!!!!! We had to climb the Barranco Wall today. It’s a strenuous climb up a rock face. Three trails converge at this camp, so there were a lot of people who needed to climb the wall today. We left a 1/2 hour later in hopes we wouldn’t have much standing wait time in the cold. Breakfast was porridge, omelets, crepes and toast. We didn’t have any wait to climb. It was challenging, but also thrilling and fun! There was one spot on the wall where you have to hug the rock wall in front of you and scooch your feet around the protruding rock.  We had an amazing view from the top. After a bathroom and snack break, we descended into a valley. Then up again and down and a fairly steep up to Kosovo Camp. There were some beautiful views and cool plants after the wall.  Our sweet waiter George met us outside the camp again and walked in with us. Tim and I agree this was possibly the most difficult three mile hike of our lives.

We had our standard delicious lunch of soup followed by some starch, veggies and fresh pineapple.  After lunch, we decided to take a nap and I finished the book I was reading. We had a nice little rain shower in the afternoon, as well. I had no appetite at dinner but forced myself to eat a little. It got quite cold. We crawled in our sleeping bags and went to sleep. I slept until midnight. Tim didn’t sleep that long. Then we tossed and turned. I got about 1 more hour of sleep in 15 minutes increments. The subjects of the dreams were all different like I was changing television channels. 

Feb 11 Day 6 Karanga Camp to Kosovo Camp 16,000’ 2.6 miles

We got up at 6, had breakfast at 7 and hit the trail at 8. We had mostly clear skies. Our hike was about 3000 feet straight up. The trail was nice and wide for the most part. We immediately felt the effects of the altitude. We went what seemed very slow. We had a few breaks and they made sure we ate something and kept drinking at every stop. We stopped at Barafu Camp to sign the Kilimanjaro National Park Registry book and then we had about another 45 minutes straight up. Veda, our lead guide told us tomorrow (summit day) isn’t any steeper than the last section we did. We will see about that.  It was kind of cool because we were seeing the people who had summited today on their way back to Barafu Camp for their rest before they continued down the mountain. They weren’t dressed super warmly, but maybe they already took a layer off. We reached Kosovo camp at 16,000 feet at 12:25. We had lunch at 1:00 PM then our health check. The plan for summiting is to have dinner at 5 then rest. They’ll wake us at 11:00. We will have tea and biscuits at 11:30 and start for the summit at midnight. We expect to summit close to sunrise at 6:30 AM. We have to go even slower due to the altitude. Above 16,000’ to have to fight for every breath. The plan is to walk an hour, then break. Then walk 45 minutes and take a break. Then 30 minutes, etc until we summit. Then we will take our photos and enjoy the summit and head down ASAP back to Kosovo Camp. We descend much more quickly. 

It feels weird to be going to bed at 6 PM. 

Feb 12 Day 7 Kosovo Camp to Summit to Mweka Camp 19,341’ 13 miles total 3 miles to Summit and then 10 miles back down the mountain. 

This is expected to be a 10 to 14 hour day at extremely high elevation and potentially bitter cold temperatures. 

What makes the summit so difficult is you climb 3000’ in only 3 miles at an elevation with half the oxygen there is at sea level as well as below freezing temps and strong winds in the dark with little or no sleep. This is a brutal hike. 

This 3 mile hike takes six hours.  Neither Tim nor I slept a minute. We listened all night to what sounded like a raging wind.  We were “woken” at 11 PM and had hot drinks, popcorn, and gingersnaps at 11:30. At midnight we started hiking to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It was very cold and windy and dark. It was fun to see all the headlamps guiding the hikers before and after us. We ascended quite steeply through the dark. We took breaks every half hour. About 1-1/2 hours in the mouth tubes of our water bladders froze complicating our hydration. About half way up, our porters served us hot tea. That lifted our spirits a bit.

The sun came up as we reached Stella Point and we arrived at Uhuru Peak 19,341’ at 6:30 AM.  All six of us summited to The Roof of Africa! After we looked around a bit and took our photos with the Kilimanjaro summit sign, it was time for the descent.

It is dangerous to stay at such a high elevation for long. To make our descent faster, we took a different route down the mountain. It was all scree (loose powdery rock) that was very slippery. I was extremely grateful one of the guides took my arm and ran down the mountain with me so I didn’t fall. We arrived back at our camp site around 10 AM and had brunch and then we had to pack up our tent and begin a 7.5 mile hike to our camp for our last night in the park.  We arrived at Mweka Camp around 4 PM. An extremely long but rewarding day! We slept walked through dinner and were in bed at 7:30. We all had sore bodies after such a long day! 51,355 steps today!

Feb 13 Day 8 Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate 5400’ 6 miles

We slept in until 6:15. We packed our bags and met for our last breakfast. Not only did we have the usual hot cereal, eggs, crepes and toast. We also had a congratulations cake! It was fabulous. After breakfast, we had the tipping ceremony with the crew. 

We set out on our final 6 mile hike to the Mweka Gate. We hiked through beautiful rain forest. 

When we arrived at Mweka Gate, we signed the registration book a final time and they gave us certificates for summiting Kilimanjaro!

It was a lively atmosphere at the gate. The was live music, a bar, and young men that would scrub our hiking boots for us to remove all the dirt on them.

We boarded the Climbkili bus and had a celebration lunch at a local restaurant and anticipated our arrival back at our hotel in Arusha for our first shower in 8 days!!!

We ended the day sharing dinner at the hotel restaurant sharing photos and favorite moments of a truly epic hike!