Kilimanjaro

After 7 weeks volunteering and 4 weeks of travelling around Tanzania it was time for that mountain.. the 5895m tallest point in Africa was waiting!

Climbing with 5 from volunteering, 3 others and a whole backup team including hired guides, porters and chefs we elected for the 6 day Machame route, giving a decent amount of time to acclimatise to the altitude.

The first couple of days were pretty wet – I was drenched through by the time we got to our camp and I don’t think anywone was really dry that night. The walking itself wasn’t too hard going though – I’d compare each of the day walks to walking a significant peak in the UK.

However the final climb, made at night starting around 11pm to reach the summit around dawn was significantly harder. With altitude sickness affecting everyone to some degree it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done both mentally and physically.

Well worth it though – the summit and sense of achievement were incredible.

Here are few tips if you are thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro:

Don’t underestimate the usefulness of lots of decent quality gear (waterproofs, thermals, your own boots that are tried and tested and waterproof).
Not a big fan of walking poles myself, I didn’t use them for the final trek to the summit but was glad of them for the descent to take some load off the knees.
Reaching the summit is as much about mental strength as anything – just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll get there!
If (as for almost everyone) you use a tour company for guides and porters ask them what the conditions are like for the porters – how many will be coming, do they get decent food provided etc. It’s a pretty tough job and I’ve heard some horror stories.

Aside from that I’ll let the photos speak for themselves..