Kilimanjaro, Rongai Route, Day 7

Leaving Horombo hut

Horombo Hut to Marangu gate - and we are almost done!  Up earlier this morning as we have a 6 hour hike ahead of us, we are still quite tired from the previous day so 6 hours seems to take a looooong time. The vegetation has changed and most of the hike is in the rain forest which is really pretty except that is raining luckily not all the time. The path is nice and wide and so three of us can walk together and we have some good chats about future, work etc. Finally we arrive at Marangu gate, our final destination!!! We have completed our trek. Liston runs up and gives me a hug and drinks for us all. We have a packed lunch and all the porters are there to greet us, so lovely.

In the rain forest getting drenched :)

Dad sporting his lovely gaitors!

  

Clemence, Dad, Sue & Chris

Having a tea break on our way to Marangu camp

Kilimanjaro, Rongai route, Day 6 - SUMMIT NIGHT!

Our porter Liston woke us up at 11.30pm - had a cuppa tea, dressed in as much as I could get on and starting walking at 12.15am!

This is what I had on:

• Underwear
• Normal pair of stockings
• Black long leggings
• Knitted tights
• Thermal pants
• Thermal top
• Brown Kway paints
• Normal vest
• tshirt
• fleece
• Jacket with additional fleece inside
• 2 pairs of thick socks
• Gloves
• Beanie
• Balaclava

I was warmish most of the time except when we stopped for longer than 5 mins! Nobody can really prepare you for this night but somehow it passes by in a blink of an eye!  Its dark and you can only really see as far as your headlamp shines. Leaving Kibo hut you follow a zig zag path straight up the side of the mountain to Gilman's peak. When you are walking you are focusing on your breathing and the person in front of you, the path is loose stone but not bad. I looked up every now and then to see peoples head lamps way up above me which indicated how far we still had to go. I think if you saw what was ahead you probably wouldn't do it, so it maybe a good thing that you do it in the dark. It took us 4.10hrs of constant up hill slog to get to Gilman's but its a huge milestone. Interestingly enough lot's of people only make it this far. Its quite tough but perseverance and pole pole makes all the difference. Once you have had a 5 minute break you are off heading for Uhuru peak, the highest point in Africa!!! This is another 2 hours of slogging but not that steep just a constant climb and the higher you go the thinner the air! I felt a little queasy as we neared the top but just slowed down to accommodate this.

Last push up to Uhuru peak about 6am with sunrise

Glaciers close to Uhuru peak

At the top and its freezing!

AND WE HAVE MADE IT!!! 7.10am on the 7th October 2011 - 07.07.11
Chris Bramhall, Freddy, Sue Bramhall, Paul Bramhall, Clemence

The top is busy with loads of people wanting to have the very photograph you see above, so you have a couple of minutes to take a pic, stand around and admire the scenery with many glaciers and then you start your decent. Its very cold at the top so you don't want to hang around too long.

What a feeling!

And so the decent, it took us 1.5hours from Uhuru peak back down to Gilman's and then from Gilman's to Kibo camp another 2hours. You feel so exhilarated that time just flies and obviously the lower you go the more air you can gulp!

We arrived back at Kibo starving and knackered! We got a great welcome from the porters and then we had a meal as we were starving! We then lay down for an hour's rest and back up again to proceed to the next camp - Horombo!

Having broken camp at Kibo we are now heading for Horombo camp, another 3-4hours walking, sigh. The day is long but so worth it! Arriving at Hirombo camp we were so exhausted, we had basically been going since mid night. Eat and early to bed.

Kilimanjaro - Rongai Route - day 5

Mawenzi to Kibo Hut
Its really cold here, slept with a hot water bottle and hot water in my water bladder! We set off this morning for Kibo round 9am, we are walking across a lava plain which is very barren. We were lucky that the sun was out for most of the day so it wasn't too cold. On the way to Kibo we came across remnants of a plane crash that had happened a couple of years ago and the people were killed, eery.

Kibo hut is at 4703m so we are quite high and the air is thin, as we were getting near to Kibo camp we found one of our porters by the side of the track not well, he was suffering from altitude sickness and apparently had a respiratory problem as well. I gave him some tea and anti nausea tablets and I believe he was sent back down, we only saw him again at the end of the trip when we were at the Keys Hotel.

Kibo camps' terrain is rough, very stony and is the starting point for us to summit! Quite exciting but nerve wrecking at the same time, not knowing what to expect. We did our final acclimatisation walk in the late afternoon and then an early supper. Clemence took our readings with the Oxymeter and we are all good to go! Filled up on water, half a sleeping tab as its so early and we are off to bed. 7pm - ish! Later tonight is the last big push!!!

Kilimanjaro - Rongai Route - day 4

We are going from Kikelewa Cave (3600m) to Mawenzi Tarn camp (4330m) - its getting much
 colder.

The days consist of washing in a bowl of water, having a great breakfast, packing up your personal belongings and being ready on time to get walking! Then eat, walk, eat, sleep.(Good life)

The porters are wonderful and work very hard, they basically get up really early, prepare food and then break camp and pack up our tents and carry our rucksacks! I felt for them every day as they zoomed past us walking at a pace much faster than ours and carrying up to 20kgs on their heads! I guess its one way to earn a living.

Dad taking a picture of Mawenzi mountain, spectacular!

Mwenzi camp, very cold, it actually snowed for a while but the ever faithful sun came out after to warm us up.

Kilimanjaro - Rongai Route - day 3

Dawn and what a wonderful sight when we emerged from our tents. Its about 6am and its still and peaceful. Of course not for long, the porters are soon up preparing breakfast and starting to break down camp - hive of activity.

Once the sun is up we have an excellent view of Kili, it really doesnt look too high at all, well, thats from this distance.  We walked for about 4 hours today and it really was not too hectic, some steep areas but nothing too strenous, we are of course walking at a snails pace which makes it easier.

There are loads of people hiking all the time, so if you imagine walking up Kili and it being quiet and serene you would be wrong, but it is quite nice to see other people as you go.  We were quite breathless on some of the steeper bits, but you are going so slowly you soon recover.  This evening our guides produced a gadget (I love gadgets) called an Oxymeter which measures the amount of oxygen in your blood as well as your heart rate we are all three at this point looking good!! I am totally loving this time with Dad and Chris!!!

Kilimanjaro - Rongai Route - day 2

After a meeting with our guides the night before Freddy and Clemence,  and a reasonable nights sleep we were up and good to go! Last shower for 5 days and a good breakfast - bags are organised and we are ready. This day there was lots of hanging about. We got our packed lunches (yum), mine was gluten free, that didn't last long and our bags are loaded into the taxi, that would be the taxi with no shocks! Note to self - don't sit right at the back of a taxi in Africa!

 

After stopping to pick up the chef and some of the porters, some groceries and stopping for lunch, we finally arrive at our starting point. Its pandemonium there are porters everywhere, not to mention some dispute between the park rangers and the porters themselves which got quite noisy. However, at this point the porters are given your "12kg" bag to carry as well as their own stuff and whatever else has been allocated to them. They are trained to apparently carry up to 20kg's however this didn't stop me always worrying about them, its a tough job. 

And so by mid afternoon we are off, our first leg! We start walking at what feels like a slow march, its almost a joke its so slow and it does take some time to adapt but by the time you summit you are well conditioned. I think this is where people go wrong as they walk much faster at this point which doesn't allow your body to acclimatise.

We walked for about 3.5 hours and arrived at our first camp. It was packed to capacity and took awhile to adapt to our environment.

Godrey and our beloved toilet, we paid extra for this but man was it worth it! Well others queued up for the long drop which could often be on the other side of the camp, our little chemical toilet was always close at hand. Makes a huge difference when you are freezing and need the loo in the middle of the night, which unfortunately is often the case as you drink up to 5 litres of water a day. And so after a nice dinner its off for an early night, its been along day. Tomorrow we start at 8am.....

 

Kilimanjaro - Rongai Route - October 2011...the beginning

After many months of planning, discussions, purchasing (shares in Cape Union Mart) the big day arrived! When one goes on holiday its usually with lots of excitement, when ones goes to climb Kili for the first time it is certainly with some trepidation. I mean after all,  this isn't just a normal holiday, this is climbing the highest mountain in Africa at 5895m, with two of the most special people in my life, my brother Chris and my Dad, Paul!!

Kilimanjaro is composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo 5,895 m (19,341 ft); Mawenzi 5,149 m (16,893 ft); and Shira 3,962 m (13,000 ft). Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim and we did them all!

Planning what you need to take is a major project in its own right! A list consisting of what to take spanning over 5 pages but then limited to 12kg's was the real challenge - however we managed it. The weather on Kili can change within 5 minutes and you really need to ensure that you have gear for every season from warm summer days to icy winter ones.

Surprising that although we live in South Africa, getting to Kilimanjaro is quite a journey. Living in Cape Town means a flight to Johannesburg, which is then followed by a midnight flight to Nairobi, a stop over of about four hours and then a quick 1 hour flip to Kilimanjaro international airport. So leaving on the Friday afternoon we finally arrived at Kilimanjaro mid morning the following day - similar really to what is would take to fly to Europe.

An hours drive from the airport to the Keys Hotel  and we are now at our starting point. Allot of the tour companies use Keys hotel as a base for their clients, so you may want to cut out the tour operator and book your trip up Kili direct with Keys hotel - its basic but not badly run.

Above outside the Keys hotel. Below hotel and walking round Moshi with a visit to Chrisburger for local bite to eat and so day 1 almost over, day 2 coming up....