Trekking to the Top of Africa

Doug, Mike, and I all met up in Moshi, Tanzania to trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. I took a bus from Nairobi to Moshi which far exceeded my expectations for Africa. It was certainly better than any bus ride I took in Nepal. We booked our tour through Monkey Adventures and did the 7 day Lemosho route. The Kilimanjaro trek has a lot of controversy surrounding it because of companies trying to do it for cheap and cutting corners, such as not paying the porters and guides properly or not abiding to proper acclimatization rules. The longer the trek the better for acclimatization. You start around 1,200m elevation in Moshi and end at 5,895m at Uhuru Peak at the summit of the volcano. We met our guide and the other three people that were in our group the night before taking off for the trek. Derrick was our head guide for the week. Kelcey and Pat were both from California, and Mareike was from Germany.

The Crew

Starting Gate

The first day was a few hours of bussing to the National Park gate and then a couple hours of hiking through the rainforest and spitting rain. We arrived at the Big Trees camp (2,650m) in the evening and had awesome views of the stars that night. On Day 2, we hiked out of the rainforest and into the Moorland Zone. We had a bit more rain on this day, but nothing bad. At our Shira 2 campsite that evening, the sky cleared up and we got some glimpses of Kilimanjaro, though not the top of it, as well as awesome views out over the lower lands we came from. Shira 2 camp was at 3,850m. Next up was Barranco Camp (3,995m) via Lava Tower (4,600m). We managed to hike through rain, snow, and hail this day. The surroundings were much more bare and lava rock was all over the place. When we woke up the following morning there were awesome views of the mountain and surrounding areas above the clouds. We made our way up the Barranco Wall, having to do some scrambling, or "monkey business" as our guides called it. Eventually we arrived at Karanga Camp (4,050m). The next day was a short morning hike to our highest camp, Barafu Camp (4,673m).

After arriving and getting settled at Barafu, we attempted to take naps before setting out for the summit at midnight. It was a beautiful, clear night which made for a good promise for sunrise, but also meant that it was freaking cold. My fingers and toes were perpetually frozen. Once we got close to Stella Point, we were exposed to the wind as well which made matters even worse. Eventually we made it to Uhuru Peak around 5:45am, the highest point in Africa! We were all so cold that we didn't stay there for very long, just got our pictures and then headed back down to Stella Point where we met up with Pat and Derrick who were a bit behind us. The sunrise from the top was by far the best sunrise I have ever seen. The crater and clouds below created an incredible scenery. The way down back to camp was a bit sketchy. We started sliding down on the snow on our butts but it was very easy to lose control so our guides said no more of that. Once we made it back to camp we were each greeted by the porters doing a song and dance for us, then we attempted to take a nap before continuing another 3 hours and 1 mile in elevation down the mountain to Mweka Camp (3,090m). We were all so exhausted by the end of that day. I got the most sound sleep that I have had in the past 5 years. On the last day we hiked through rain for 3 hours to the Mweka Gate to complete the journey.

Overall, Monkey Adventures and our guides, Derrick, Alfred, and John, were awesome. Our group of 6 was even more awesome, we were joking and laughing pretty much the entire time - maybe aside from 5am on the summit day. The trek itself was not that challenging - we went "pole pole" pace (which means slow in Swahili) the whole way because of the large gains in elevation each day. But it worked because none of us experienced anything more than a light headache for AMS symptoms the entire trek. The hard part was the summit day. The summit trek itself was not that difficult, but add in the cold, high altitude, and the lack of sleep and it made for quite a challenge - one that was well worth it. Doug, Mike, and I celebrated our journey with Kilimanjaro beers at our hostel that night. It only took a couple to get us feeling it. Then the next day Mike and I headed to South Africa while Doug stayed in Tanzania for a week-long safari.