Successfully Climbing to the Highest Point in Africa!!

Pictures: (top) Me, Ryan, Fred, and Chops with the view from the top of the breakfast wall; (middle) view of Mawenzi, Kili's second peak, on the way down after the summit; (bottom) me at Uhuru Peak!!

Before I go into any details or anything, my climb on Kilimanjaro was one of the best things I’ve ever done… it was worth every penny and was absolutely worth skipping a week of classes for! Both Ryan and I made it successfully to the top without even the least bit of altitude sickness and loved the trip on the whole; although, trust me, it had its painful moments. We planned to hike the Machame Trail in a total of seven days, which leaves more time to acclimatize and therefore increases your chances of making it to the top, but ended up finishing it in six days with no problem. On the mountain everyone is assumed to be complete tourists (which most people are), so I also had some fun surprising the porters and other guides by actually knowing Swahili. Our guides were wonderful, the food was surprisingly good, the weather was generally agreeable… it honestly couldn’t have been better. So, with that said, here’s the not-so-short description of my week on Kili:

DAY ONE: Moshi to Machame Camp

After picking up and trying on all of the cold weather gear we still needed from EcoTours (the company we hiked with), we left Moshi in a rented daladala to head to the Machame gate. Our group included: Me, Ryan, Fred (head guide), Dixon aka “Chops” (assistant guide), six porters to carry all of our stuff (clothes, food, tents, etc.) up the mountain, and a cook… that’s nine other people in total just to help the two of us make it up the mountain. It seems pretty ridiculous to think that that many people were needed for us two, but if you saw how much stuff there is to go up and how much each porter actually carried, you would be astonished. After signing in at the gate and filling out all the paperwork/paying fees, we finally started our hike at around 11am. We hiked for about 5 hours total the first day, starting out on a road (which was about as terribly maintained as you could imagine) and then continuing on a well kept up trail through the rainforest. The hiking was pretty easy and we made it to Machame camp by around 4pm. The tents were already all set up when we got to camp (as they were every day after that as well) and we were served hot tea and dinner in our tent soon after we got there (which would also be the case every day after); pretty high class service in my opinion.

DAY TWO: Machame Camp to Shira Camp

We had a fairly short hike, but it was pretty continuously steep uphill for the whole 4 ½ hours of it. We left Machame Camp at around 9am and walked through the climate zone that is called the “Moorland.” We could have done the hike faster, but we took our time in order to let the porters get to camp before us and get set up. The trail started off in what was kind of like a normal forest, and then went to an area with all these weird trees with moss hanging off of them and some weird cactus-type plants. I can’t really explain it well without pictures, but it was a pretty bizarre area.

We got to Shira Camp fairly soon after lunch time, which was right before the rains started. Basically every day it was clear and nice during the morning and then rainy come late afternoon/early evening. The weather on the whole mountain, however, can change drastically in a matter of minutes… which gets rather irritating when you start taking off and re-putting on the same layers for the fourteenth time in an hour. We were supposed to do a short acclimatization hike from Shira Camp up to what is called the Shira Caves (they tell you to hike high during the day then sleep low to help you acclimatize best), but we didn’t end up doing the hike because the weather was bad. Shira Camp itself was pretty crazy; it had a great view out over these cliffs that were part of the base of Kili, and we could also see Mt. Meru (another big mountain which is near Arusha) in the distance. Shira Camp also had the first clear view of the top of the mountain that I had seen, which looked so much larger and more intimidating from there than it ever had from down in Moshi. In the middle of the night when I stumbled out of the tent to go to the bathroom (by far the worst part of camping on the mountain because you had to put on ten layers just to leave the tent to pee), I literally thought I was on the moon or something. The whole camp was dirt and rocks and there was the outline of the top of the mountain silhouetted by the full moon… very eerie.

DAY THREE: Shira Camp to Barranco Camp

The hike this day was a lot longer than the previous day, about 7 hours, but more of a gradual uphill. Most of the hike was through what I would describe as a miniature boulder-field. It was just a huge uphill slope covered in rocks that we had to make our way through… but the best part was that almost the entire hike through that section sported a fantastic and clear view of the top part of the mountain (when I say the top part I mean the snow-capped section that we would climb on summit day). Mid-morning, the trail splits in two: the trail for the porters, which stays low on the mountain and is shorter, and the trail we took, which goes up to the “Lava Tower” and is a fair amount longer. The Lava Tower is a huge rock area that was somehow a result of past volcanic activity, but is now just a high altitude point which is used on the hike as an early test of altitude sickness since it is at about the same altitude as the final base camp before the summit. According to Fred and Chops (our guides), the Lava Tower is usually one of the coldest points on the mountain and if people show signs of minor altitude sickness there, that’s a bad sign for the rest of the trip. Fortunately, we were lucky on both accounts considering that neither Ryan nor I got sick at all, and the weather was surprisingly warm when we got up there. We had our packed lunches there and then started off back down to Barranco Camp, the first real downhill section of our trip. Although altitude sickness wasn’t seemingly an issue, I could tell after less than a half hour that coming down the mountain would not be good on my knees at all. The hour and a half down to Barranco from the Lava Tower was pretty bad, but I was just trying not to think of anything past the summit… I figured I would just deal with my knees when the time came.

When we got to Barranco, the camp was beautiful and right in between all of these huge cliffs. At this point we had gotten into the area called the “Alpine Desert,” so there were all sorts of bizarre cactus-like plants around the camp. The weirdest of these types is called the Giant Groundsel and resembles a really short and fat combo of a palm tree and a cactus which has multiple tops. Anyways, while admiring the view around us at dinner, Chops came over to tell us two interesting little surprises. The first of the two was that they suggested a slight change of plans. Instead of cutting the 4th day into two different days (like we would have done for a 7 day hike), they suggested that we go all the way to Barafu Camp (the base for the summit) the next day because we had no problems with altitude at the Lava Tower. Also, the only thing, other than altitude sickness of course, that would stop people from making it to the top is bad weather on summit day. Therefore, if we got to Barafu Camp a day earlier than expected and the weather happened to be bad the first night, we would have another shot at the summit the next night. Both Ryan and I agreed that that sounded like a good plan… so in other words we were basically shortening the trip to 6 days instead of 7, but the seventh day would still be an option if necessary. The second little surprise was that the “Breakfast Wall,” which I had vaguely heard of from a friend who had climbed the mountain before, was not the 50 or so foot wall that we had been previously imagining. Instead, it was actually the 450ft cliff that we were staring at out of our tent! We didn’t believe Chops the first few times he said it, until he actually pointed out where the trail went along the cliff. I think if most of you could have seen that wall in person it might have made you want to cry… it basically had that affect on me haha.

DAY FOUR: Barranco Camp to Barafu Camp

We started off the day with the infamous Breakfast Wall, which was fairly painful but honestly not as bad as it looked from afar. After over an hour so of hiking straight up/rock climbing a bit, we finally reached the top of the wall and were rewarded with yet another amazing view of the summit. The walk the rest of the way to Karanga Camp (where we had originally planned to stay the night) was pretty easy, light hiking… although when I did finally spot the camp in the distance at eye level, I was a little too excited and failed to notice the large valley in between us and the camp. If only that could have been a straight shot to the camp it would have been a lot nicer, but why would Kili ever be easy on you?

At Karanga, we had a hot lunch cooked for us before we started off on the second half of the day. Unfortunately, right after we finished eating and began hiking again, it started raining. The hike the rest of the way to Barafu Base Camp (Barafu means snow is Kiswahili) was pretty easy and only about 2 ½ hours long, but a bit on the miserable side nonetheless because of the cold rain. When we got close to the base camp, there were pieces of small rock debris all over the place; it looked almost like a rock quarry of some sort. When we actually arrived at the camp it was around 4:30 in the afternoon and there was a beautiful view looking out over Moshi and Machame in the distance. We basically went to sleep right when we got there, were woken up for dinner from 6-7, and then went immediately back to sleep. We had a rough night ahead of us up to Uhuru Peak…

DAY FIVE: Summit Day

After only a few hours of rest/sleep, we were woken up at 11:30pm and then began our hike to the summit at a little after midnight. When we woke up it was snowing fairly hard outside, which I took as a bad sign, but I was soon corrected because apparently snow means it will be warmer at the summit. Uhuru means “Freedom” in Kiswahili, and the top of the mountain was renamed that after independence when Tanzanians brought the new flag and the “flame of independence” up to the summit to celebrate (it had previously been named after the first white guy to climb the mountain… big surprise). The hike to Uhuru Peak is supposed to take about 6 ½ hours, so generally you get to the top a little after sunrise. Out of complete luck, this past week ended up being almost a full moon which meant that it was fairly light out for the entire hike up, a nice edition to our headlamps. The majority of the hike was basically the same as walking back and forth in zig-zags up a black diamond ski slope, or (for you non-skiers) the steepest snowy hill you can think of. At around 2:30am I remember stopping for a quick break and I looked at my watch only to find out that it was much, much earlier than I had thought it was. I couldn’t believe that we weren’t even halfway through the hike but I already couldn’t feel my toes and was half dying!

It is supposed to take around 6 hours or a little less to make it up to Stella Point, the final destination before you get to before Uhuru. Stella point is only about a 45 minute walk from Uhuru and the last section between the two is much less steep, so if you make it to Stella Point you have basically made it to the top. We started off as one of the last groups to leave Barafu Camp (out of around 10 or so groups), but we booked it up the mountain and ended up making it to Stella Point at the front of the pack. I honestly think that we stopped maybe four times in the whole first 5 hours up. We both just wanted it to get to the top and get the whole thing over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible. When we finally did make it to Stella Point, I was ecstatic because I thought it would be smooth sailing from then on… oh boy was I wrong. The last 45 minutes were by far the worst part for me of the whole summit hike. We were so close and yet so far away at the same time, and the mountain/fog just kept getting my hopes up over nothing. Every time I saw a new peak I’d be like “Oh thank God, that has to be Uhuru,” but it wasn’t. And neither were the next twenty or so peaks I said that about haha. When Chops said that we had less than 15 minutes to go, I honestly didn’t know if I had 15 minutes left in my body. Soon after, he also pointed out the gorgeousss view out over the glaciers to our side and the lights of Moshi in the distance beyond the glacier (since it was still dark at that time). It was amazing, but I barely even stopped to take it in because I was afraid that if I stopped at all I’d probably collapse haha.

FINALLY, we made it to Uhuru Peak!! The top is fairly anti-climactic to say the least… not only does it not really seem like it’s any higher than the last five hills you passed, but all there really is there is a sign that says “CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW AT UHURU PEAK, TANZANIA 5895 M. – Africa’s Highest Point, The World’s Highest Free Standing Mountain.” Nonetheless, making it there and touching the sign was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I can’t even explain how quickly that moment rejuvenates all of your lost energy and gets rid of all the pain/cold. We actually were the very first people to make it to Uhuru at a few minutes before 6am; we got there (and got the hell out of there) before the sun even rose. We didn’t even stay at the summit for more than 10 minutes because, trust me, at that point all you can think is “get me off this freaking mountain right now!” Although my pictures at the summit are unfortunately all in the dark and arent too great, us getting there early was great because it meant that I actually got to see the glaciers (which will be gone in ten or so years because of global warming). When we passed the glaciers again on our descent, the sun had rose and the fog had gotten even worse so you could barely see them at all.
In the middle of our hike up I had asked Fred and Chops about why we do the summit hike in the middle of the night and if the weather was really that much better at the top at sunrise. They had said that part of the reason was better weather at the top and that sometimes the sunrise can be very beautiful if it is clear, but the main reason is for mental purposes. They said that if you saw what you were hiking up in the daytime, there is no way you would actually make it to the top. I didn’t believe them at the time, but when we started down after sunrise I realized just how right they were. What we climbed was sooo ridiculously steep and crazy that if I had ever been able to see what was ahead of me I would have quit hours ahead of time. I felt so bad for all of the people we passed on the way down who were still coming up and could see what they had ahead of them… they looked like they were in a lot more pain than we had ever been in. After that, we spent the next two and half hours walking/sliding/sledding down the mountain back to Barafu Camp. On the way down, we also managed to come at just the right time to catch a spectacular view of Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro’s second and smaller peak off to the east. The sun happened to be rising behind the peak and it was perfectly clear; it was pretty amazing. We finally made it back to camp at around 8:30am (long before most of the other groups), at which point my knees were already doing pretty terribly. We collapsed in the tent for a short 1 ½ hour nap, woke up for lunch, and then started right back downhill again.

After Barafu Camp you take a different route down, called the Mweka Route, which is steeper and is not allowed for uphill hikers. We hiked 1 ½ hours down to the first camp, Millennium Camp, which is usually for people who stay on the mountain 8 or 9 days and camp up even higher than Barafu Camp, but was where I had wanted to stay the night to spare my knees; however, while we were there everyone convinced me (aka peer pressured me) that we should just keep going the rest of the way to Mweka Camp like most people do. I reluctantly agreed, which was in retrospect a miserable and terrible decision, but what can I do about that now? Not only where my knees already in a lot of pain at that point, but it started raining almost immediately after we left Millennium Camp. The trail from Millenium to Mweka was literally a river that we were wading through, and by the time I got to Mweka Camp two hours later I was soaking wet, freezing, and could barely walk. Chops was extremely nice though and stayed back and waited for me the whole way while I slowly hobbled down the mountain. When I finally made it to Mweka camp though (quite a while after Ryan and Fred had), I did have dry clothes, some hot tea, and a nice Kilimanjaro beer waiting for me… so that made up for a lot of the pain haha. Following a mini-celebration, Ryan and I proceeded to pass out at around 7pm. Pretty pathetic.

DAY SIX: Mweka Camp back to Moshi

From Mweka Camp we only had another three hours downhill to the gate, but when I woke up I was honestly not sure I would be able to walk down that long because my knees were so bad. Fred and Chops called an “ambulance” to come meet us part way up the path (and by that I just mean a jeep that could actually make it up the road at the bottom of the mountain) so that I wouldn’t have to walk the last hour or so. Unfortunately, when we eventually made it to the road section at the base of the mountain, the ambulance was nowhere in sight. I kept on going (because I really had no other choice) and the car finally met up with us less than five minutes from the final gates. Glad I wasn’t really dying or anything, because that was by far the worst “ambulance” system I’ve ever seen!

After getting back to flat ground and back into Moshi, the whole thing felt like a crazy dream. We relaxed the rest of the day at Ibrah’s house and then went out with Ibrah, Fred, Chops, and some other friends to celebrate that night. Being back in Moshi and seeing Kili from afar, it was hard to believe that we were at the summit only a day before. The whole thing was such a crazy experience and, looking back on it, I think I’m crazy for ever wanting to do it… but it was wonderful nevertheless. I am so happy that I even attempted it to begin with, and even happier that everything worked out so well regardless of the absolute last minute planning. Even after the painful knee experience and the slightly miserable sections, I would absolutely suggest the trip to anyone else willing to make the effort. After my awesome trip in the Usambaras and my success on Kili, I think I officially have a new found obsession with hiking. Anyone want to join me on my next adventure??!