July 12

07.30

Springlands Hotel, Moshi. A haven in the dust. This morning begins what we've all been waiting for. We prepare to leave -- all but Ian, who is driven around the town to Zara offices, then to Devanu Bus Station, looking for duffel bag lost by Sabena Airlines and reportedly in Moshi. Discovered that it was in the hotel all the time!

09:15

All 9 of us, with backpacks and mountain duffels, pile into a Zara bus for the trip to Lemosho to start the hike. Dawson, our No. 2 guide, introduces himself. First to Zara offices, where Zaineb Ansell, two (!) cellphones in hand, sends us on our way with the head guide, Michael, and assorted porters and cook (henceforth known as Mr Cooker)

10.30

Off we go, to the mountain, the guides and porters chattering away in their Chagga language, (all from Marangu, a Chagga village at the base of the mountain). Several stops to buy supplies and pay off the road police. An hour’s stop in a northern village to observe the local scene while the porters get lunch. Charming, neatly dressed, small school children throng warily about us, fascinated by our appearance and giggling at our attempts to communicate. Onward. Bad roads, as usual, getting worse. The plains give way to the hill country, and then we are into a pine forest.

13:30

Londorossi at last – situated on the far west side of the huge mass that’s Kili. We sign in, adding our names and half-remembered passport numbers to the ranger’s ledger in the Tanzanian Parks office. We open our lunch bags and eat; then back on the bus, we retrace our route for a mile or so, and branch off on a deeply rutted road through Lemosho village, climbing until the track becomes impassable. Everybody out! We’re on foot from here. In the picture: Ian, Irwin, Mike, Gregg, Jenny, Anja, Jacqui, Roger.

15:00
2100m
6890ft

The hike begins. Into the Lemosho Glades rainforest, we wend our way through a green wonderland of lianas and ferns and tropical flowers. Michael, the head guide, leads, inducting us into the measured pace of high-altitude hiking: “pole pole” (slowly). (This will become a constant refrain). Lin and Jacqui and Jenny constantly exclaim their botanical discoveries, failing, alas, to discern the stinging nettle before it claims its victims. Fresh elephant dung gives Francis, the armed ranger pause, and quickens Jenny’s pulse, but we see and hear nothing but birds high up in the forest canopy. The potato porter struggles with his load, and we anticipate a meal featuring mashed potatoes as the main course.

18:00
2750m
9022ft

Camp at Mti Mkubwa, a jungle clearing surrounding a huge sheltering tree. The porters pitch the tents and tea is served in the large central tent; dinner follows. Tonight, as every night, Dawson and Michael squeeze into the tent with us after dinner for a briefing and discussion of the next day’s hike.

19:30

We roll out our mats and sleeping bags for a good night’s sleep, interrupted only by the chatter of colobus monkeys and nighttime groping around with flashlights to find a suitable bush.

July 13

06:00

Reveille.

06:30

Pack our bags and daypacks, refill our water bottles

07:00

Breakfast in the communal tent. Today. like most days, we have a choice of pancakes, peanut butter & honey & toast, porridge, scrambled eggs or omelette, sausage, and tea, coffee and Milo. The uninitiated learned to love Milo.

08:00

The day’s hike begins. At first, up and up and up through the rain forest; misty vistas gradually reveal themselves

09:30

Forest turns to scrubland; we trudge uphill and further uphill. Some chafe at the deliberate pace. Anja bounds up an extra hill to flex her legs, and I forge ahead at one point to find a lunch spot on the rocky hillside. We discover the merit of “pole pole” – it allows one to hike indefinitely at increasing altitudes. A faster pace can quickly exhaust one. We are now ascending the Shira Ridge. Proteas abound. The day is clear, and by lunch time we are already above the clouds. We should be able to see the central Kilimanjaro peak, but each ridge yields to another ridge beyond.

14:00
3600m
11811ft

We round a crest, and Gregg calls “Look !” He’s spotted the huge, distant, snow-capped peak of Kilimanjaro. It is a breathtaking sight, and we are in awe. We are on the western edge of the Shira Ridge, and before us spreads the vast Shira Plateau.

14.30
3500m
11483ft

We reach the Shira I campsite. Again, we are the only hikers there – we’ve chosen a little-traveled route, partly for its ecological variety and partly as it presents an opportunity for gradual altitude acclimatization. We explore the surroundings, and discover that our bodies are feeling the effects of the long day’s ascent and the altitude. Anja feels ill, with a severe migraine, and Roger suffers severe leg cramps. Sunset. As will happen throughout the hike, we’re repelled by the squat-and-drop toilet huts and seek solace elsewhere.

18:00

Dinner and briefing. Some of us feel the toe and finger tingles that are side effects of Diamox, which most of our group are taking to combat altitude sickness.

19.30

A rowdy card game in Mike and Irwin’s tent ends the evening. Mike is a bottomless well of humor.

July 14

08:20

We set off in a south easterly direction for a gentle ascent across the Shira Plateau. We pass a string of erratics, great boulders dropped here by the receding glaciers. The sharp outlines of Kilimanjaro occupy an increasingly dominant share of the horizon. Roger’s legs have recovered, and Anja stays with the group. Irwin chafes at the pace. He wants to walk faster, and while less interested than others in the giant heather (Erica arborea and Philippia exselsa) and other plants unique to Kilimanjaro, records everything each evening. The day’s botanical highlights were our first sightings of the huge aloe-like Senecio Kilimanjari and the verdant symmetry of Lobelia decksenii.

13:30
3840m
12598ft

Hot lunch

16:30

An exploratory side hike that some of us take further up the ridge leads us past great amoeba-like lava rock protrusions.

18:00

Dinner and briefing. We’re all in good condition, though Gregg’s appetite is diminished. 

July 15

08:15

Pole pole, we embark on a long day’s hike. We head directly up the steepening lower slope of the peak towards the Lava Tower.

12:15

The vegetation has become sparse. We have a picnic lunch beside a volcanic cone.

13:15
4590m
15059ft

Michael, our head guide leads Irwin, Anja, Lin and Ian on a side trip to the Lava Tower which they decide to climb. That's Lin ascending the tower in the picture above; Ian in the one below. It’s at 4600 meters. Thence down into the spectacular Great Barranco Valley and camp. Dawson accompanies the remaining five, (Jacqui and Roger, Jenny, Mike and Gregg), being particularly solicitous of Jenny, the least-experienced of the hikers, helping her down steep and slippery slopes in a sort of old-fashioned hand-holding dance which brings to mind the song “Shall we Dance” from The King and I. Gregg suffers from a brief bout of vomiting, but recovers. The path is long, winding up and down in a southerly direction. The pace of the amateur botanists is so slow that the adventurous group catches up with them, meeting on the lush southern slope of the western branch of the Barranco Valley, from which one can see stunning glacial edges and a great stone archway. The abundance of lobelias and senecios fills a page in Lin’s photographic catalog of our close encounters of the floral kind. Jenny spies a brilliant deep blue sunbird.

16:00
3860m
12664ft

Barranco camp. The campsite seems tiny in relation to the immensity of the cliffs above us and the valley that falls away into the distance, swallowed by a sea of clouds below. Nobody is complaining, but the next day’s hike will be long and arduous, and will conclude with a midnight start for the summit attempt. We’re apprehensive.

July 16

O8:00

Michael has told us that the day’s hike will be broken into two stages : Barranco-Karanga Valley, then a hot brunch, then Karanga-Barafu. We are now on the Southern Circuit route, winding around the mountain to reach the steep Mweka trail which will take us to Barafu. There are several valleys to ascend and descend. The hike starts with a zigzag ascent of a near-vertical wall. Not difficult, but I avert my eyes from the valley below. We marvel at the porters’ capacity and agility – they must balance great loads on their heads while maneuvering the rocky climb. Another valley looms, and the trail winds into the distance. The group dissolves into an extended straggle.

12:00

Progress this morning is slow and brunch becomes lunch when we eventually clamber down into the Karanga Valley. Even the cook’s propane stove has trouble with the altitude, we’re told. Gregg does not eat much.

13:15

Fed, we hike up the eastern slope of the Karanga Valley. Another encampment is at the top. Irwin takes a wrong turn but soon catches up. A long, rolling high hike among increasingly sparse vegetation eventually brings us to the junction of the Southern Circuit with the Mweka trail. Now it’s just a long slog up a steep ridge that seems to extend into the sky. It is arduous.

16:00
4600m
15091ft

Reaching Barafu, Irwin and Ian find it to be a desolate pile of broken shale atop a ridge. A great grey valley falls off to the east, and a precipice to the left. This inhospitable spot is the last stop before the summit attempt, scheduled for midnight tonight. Panting lungs and headaches speak of the thin air. Mike arrives and promptly falls asleep; exposed to the cold, he starts shivering until Irwin urges him into their tent. A williwaw rips Ian’s and Jenny’s tent from its moorings and flings Ian’s mat into the sky; it’s rescued before it’s able to reach cliff’s edge. Michael warns me, “Tell everyone to stay away from that side.” (We’ve all heard about the woman who recently got up in the night to take a pee and plunged to her death over the edge.) Jenny copes with the dust by making a little crazy paving patio at the entrance of their tent.

17:00

Gregg arrives with Dawson; he’s suffering, and needs nutrition and sleep. Jenny is cheerful; she got a second wind this afternoon, and has long ago announced that this would be her final stop. The rest of us are apprehensive. The summit hovers to the north, seeming far away and unapproachable. We have a nervous early dinner of pasta goulash (“special climbing food” from our versatile cook). Then a somber briefing from Michael and Dawson, who introduce us to the Milton and Joseph, the two assistant guides who will accompany our group in its summit attempt. Again Gregg eats little. Huddled in the communal tent, we hold hands while Jenny leads us in a quiet song.

19:30

We retreat to our tents and try to gather our gear. Most of us dress for the climb and then try to snatch a few hours of rest, if not sleep. The porters and guides take over the big tent and Chagga-chatter into the night.

23:00

Clattering around on the broken stone, Michael rouses everyone. We engage in final preparations. Ian can’t find his balaclava; Mike has a spare. Jacqui’s headlamp fails.

23:30

Pre-climb tea and biscuits in the tent. We learn that Gregg has been up most of the night nursing leg cramps; he’s elected not to hamper the group by attempting the summit with us. He’s the most experienced climber by far, and we respect his decision. We are seven. The mood is subdued.

July 17

00:15

We set off. Michael leads. The sky is clear. A full moon lights our path and casts dark shadows of angular stone. Ahead and behind are the moving twinkles of hikers’ headlamps. Above and far removed, is a distant snowcap. We try not to think about what lies between us and it.

01:00

We stop for a rest. The thin air is taking its toll. Michael splits the group: Anja and Irwin proceed with one assistant guide, Lin with another. Michael and Dawson stay with the main group, now reduced to four: Ian, Mike, Roger and Jacqui. Roger, emerging from behind a boulder, says “Ahh, now I feel better!” and we proceed.

03:30

Progress in the main group is hard and slow. Jacqui has been suffering from shortness of breath and dizziness. Roger offers encouragement but stops are becoming more frequent. There are still hours of hard climbing ahead. Eventually common sense prevails and Jacqui turns back, accompanied by Michael. Dawson now leads Ian, Roger and Mike. The endless slog resumes. “How much further?” elicits wildly conflicting replies. “The horror! The horror!” Ian thinks.

05:45
5895m
19340ft 

Anja and Irwin reach Uhuru Peak. They’ve taken only 5 ½ hours. Later the guides will remark, “That’s not pole-pole!”

06:05

Returning, Irwin and Anja meet Lin who’s just passed Stella Point and is headed for Uhuru Peak. Anja chooses to accompany Lin back to Uhuru Peak.

06:15

The moon is setting in the west and a great rosy light signals sunrise over Kibo eastern crater rim. Ian, Roger and Mike, nearing the end of the horrendous shale slope leading to Stella Point, encounter Irwin on his descent. “Don’t you want to see sunrise at the top of Kilimanjaro?” “Hell, no, I just want to get back.” Irwin’s back in Barafu Camp by 8:00 a.m.

06:20

Ian, Mike and Roger reach Stella Point. Roger is nearing his limit. Mike tries to vomit. Ian is giddy. We gather ourselves for the final hour’s hike to Uhuru Peak. Soon we encounter Lin and Anja. The glaciers are magnificent but we are beyond caring. Roger suffers cramps and almost gives up. But the goal is near, and we will make it. We must.

07:25
5895m
19340ft

Ian, Mike and Roger reach Uhuru Peak, take the obligatory photos, and head back. The descent is not difficult but Mike’s feet suffer. Later he’ll take off his socks to reveal the biggest blister any of us have seen.

11:00
4600m
15091ft

By now everyone’s back in Barafu. Some rest; others exchange anecdotes on the worst parts, and the humorous incidents. We gather for a frugal lunch: the day’s hike is not over.

13:25

Taking the Mweka trail down a long, long ridge, we begin the second leg of our descent: a four-hour hike to the Mweka campsite. By the end of the day we will have ascended about 4,500 feet and descended over 9,000 feet. The group quickly separates.

16:00
3100m
10171ft

The last of our party arrives at Mweka. It’s a lush setting replete with tropical flowers and ferns. The mood is light. The campsite is filled with tents and we meet up again with groups we encountered at higher levels.

July 18

08:15-
12:15
1828m
5997ft

Four hours on the muddiest, ruttiest path imaginable brings us to the conclusion of our hike: the Kilimanjaro Park office near Mweka village. We’re accosted by the now-familiar purveyors of carvings and necklaces, and board a bus headed to Moshi, the Springlands Hotel, and blessed showers.