Tanzania Day 19 - Kilimanjaro Day 3

Another good night's sleep and no altitude sickness so we slept quite well at Horombo (although noticed the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees from last night).

We set off at around 8am towards Kibo or base camp. The moorland shrubbery soon began to disappear and a more barren landscape materialised with almost moon like qualities! We also began to see clear views of the peak of Kili. It seemed hard to imagine that we had to get to the top of it!

The first 4 hours of the hike were enjoyable and we were making good time. We stopped for lunch about an hour away from Kibo - we could actually see it in the distance. After lunch I began to feel really exhausted and had a head ache. I think the altitude was finally beginning to take its toll (understandably, we were nearly at 4,700m altitude). Luckily Craig was feeling completely fine so was providing all the moral support needed.

William insisted on carrying my day pack for the last 30 minutes and assured me that I wouldn't believe what a difference a little less weight would make... and he was right! We reached Kibo, and the lovely porters and chefs bought all our food to our hut so we didn't have to use any energy unnecessarily!

After dinner we had a briefing from William about the summit which would start at around midnight that very night...Read more