The air felt different in Tanzania. It was 8am and a hot 30 degrees Celsius, but the air was cooling and fresh, with a rich smell of nature. At Kilimanjaro International airport, we were met by Almighty Kilimanjaro (the company we chose for our trek) and dropped off at the cute Mountain Bike Hostel in Moshi (the jump-off point for Kili) to prep for one night before the trek.
After packing, we grabbed some local Tanzanian noms (pork makange and plantain) from Moshi’s No.1 Restaurant, Kuonana, which was conveniently our closest restaurant! Still exhausted from our jam packed Egypt adventure, we gave ourselves a pep talk and had an early night.
Today was the day! The start of our mighty Kilimanjaro Trek: one of the most unique climbs in the world. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It is a dormant volcano with three volcanic cones; Kibo, Mawenzi, Shira. Kibo is the tallest cone, with the summit named Uhuru Peak at 5,895m.
Kili has five distinct eco-systems before reaching the glacier peak; hot and dry Bushland, Rainforest, Moorland, Alpine Desert, and sub-zero Arctic. Each zone getting increasingly colder and drier as elevation increases.
- Route: Machame Route (we chose this due to the higher success rate of submitting). This would be camping in tents – there is an option to sleep in huts but only on the Lemosho route.
- Length: 7 days (though we completed it in 6)
- Price: 1,200 GBP (Aprox 3,700,000.00 Tanzanian Shillings)
- Our Team: 12 in total. 2 guides: Zachery (in orange) and William (far left), 7 porters, and 1 cook – and of course, myself and Leon!
Day One: Machame Gate (1800m) to Machame Camp (2835m)
Day one had us going through the misty tropical Rainforest Zone. Living up to it’s name, it absolutely HAMMERED it down for 2.5 hours. With the thunder, lightening, and torrential downpour, we scaled the flooded rainforest pathways, walking up streams, passing twisty mossy tall trees overhead.
Though we were prepped in waterproof jackets, waterproof trousers over our clothes, and plastic covers over our day bags – no amount of waterproofing could save us or our stuff. The only saving grace was that my feet were still dry, until, they weren’t… I sacrificed my right foot to the puddles and said a sad goodbye to everything in my day rucksack (including my poor phone, which sadly got wet and died within an hour).
Everything was totally drenched; even my underwear underneath all those layers! William said in his 6 years of being a guide, he’d never seen rain like it. So I guess we were pretty lucky! 😉 My fingers and lips were tingling – what was this? Altitude sickness?! Not had this symptom before…
My sopping wet clothes were clinging and sticking to my skin. It was a gruelling and uncomfortable 5 hours, but such a relief when we finally arrived at Machame Camp. Our fantastic porters had already set up our tent – we even had a table (and table cloth!), and chairs! Home sweet home!
Desperate to get out of these clinging wet clothes, and into my dry clothes from my rucksack, I delved into our tent sleeping area only to find a soaking wet backpack. Yup, all my clothes in my backpack were drenched too. Socks, underwear, thermals, toilet roll, towel, absolutely everything. Shit. Leon’s stuff was wet too, but not half as bad.
I tried to find and put on the least wet items I had, but it just made me so cold. I sat in my birthday suit and sobbed whilst thinking about summiting at a minus 10-25 degrees with wet clothes. There was no way our stuff would all dry in this damp weather. After 15 minutes, I told myself this was just one of those character building moments and got over it. Shit happens.
No camp fires are allowed on Kili – but Zac and William begged the ranger and attempted to dry a few important items we would need for the next day. I popped my dead phone in a bag of rice, but the rice itself was pretty damp and cold.. so my hopes weren’t high.
Despite wet foam mattresses, our sleeping bags were totally dry, thankfully! We snuggled down – exhausted – but of course, unable to sleep. The ascent from 300m (in Moshi) to 2835m in 8 hours had gifted us with insomnia. I was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Great. Though not feeling like we slept a wink, we both experienced weird dreams throughout the latter part of the night, indicating we properly got a tiny bit. I thought probably about an hour in total. Poor Leon was a victim of the Diamox (altitude sickness pills) diuretic side effect, which had him up all night peeing. Apparently tingling in hands and lips was also a side effect of Diamox, not altitude sickness! Which was a relief.
In case you’re interested – the toilets here are super stinky holes in the ground, but mostly they are inside a small building (so you are sheltered from the elements). This one though was inside a knackered old shed, full of spiders and spiderwebs, and of course, no lock on the door. It had a wooden base around the hole which felt like it could collapse at any moment and you’d be plunged into the stench pit of human waste. Yum.
Day Two: Machame Camp (2835m) to Shira Cave Camp (3750m)
We sorted our clothes into large black plastic bags – a “dry” bag, and a wet bag. Interestingly, Tanzania banned plastic bags in 2019. No joke, you get fined if you have them. But luckily, William and Zachery had a sneaky stash. Ssshhh!
Cold and tired we reluctantly put on our cold, damp clothes (which stunk of fire and were covered in smoky black marks) and sopping wet shoes and began the steep trek at 8am. Day 2 had us passing through the Moorland zone – trekking up rocky pathways and scrambling with our hands over big boulders.
It was tiring, BUT, no rain. HORRAY! We even had some sunshine. It was perfect trekking weather – slightly warm with a fresh breeze.
We were now high up in the clouds, and could hear the thunderstorm roaring down below us (feeling sorry for today’s trekkers which started today!). Getting to Shira Cave Camp felt like such an achievement – day two done!
We unpacked everything and hung up our stuff to dry, enjoying a coffee and some chocolate. Lunch today: A delicious creamy potato and beef stew, with mango slices for pud. Snacks: Popcorn and peanuts. Noms!
We did an acclimatising trek at 4pm – “trek high, camp low” – hopefully this will help give us some shut eye later.
We were happier, slightly drier, however my phone was not.. it had been trying to dry out in Leon’s back pocket all day, but neon green flicked across the black screen. Seeing as I didn’t bring a camera – we had to use Leon’s phone for photos.
Dinner: Cucumber soup for starter, then rice, green beans, fried fish, with a bangin mixed salad – 10/10!
Day Three: Shira Cave Camp (3750m) to Lava Tower (4600m) to Baranco Camp (3900m)
Having slept a little more last night, thanks to some sleeping pills we eventually gave in to at midnight. Day three vegetation zones consisted of moorland, alpine desert, then back to moorland; it was acclimatisation day. The wind was bitterly cold, it was stinging my face and ears giving my ear ache.
Despite the very little sun the day before & applying our amazing suncream, I had some painful sunburn on my shoulders. Leon kindly gave me his balaclava (boyfriend brownie points right there). Wow – what a difference… no more ear ache, protection from the wind & sun, and it also stopped my nose from dripping like a tap. Balaclava, you won me over.
The altitude was a killer – but we went “pole pole” (slowly, slowly in Swahili). Half way up (2 hours) I was struck with awful period cramps (I know right, the perfect time for it). The pain made me feel so weak; I just wanted to curl up but I pushed through it.
I wasn’t interested in the scenery or have any photos taken (as you can see from my fake smile above!). My blood 02 level was at 81%, which was a little concerning… though William said anything above 60% was fine – Jesus!
It was a sheer struggle, but omg we finally made it to Lava Tower. Hardest bit done and dusted for me (I find descending easier, unlike Leon!). Whilst we acclimatised for 1 hour, we feasted on hot potato soup, spaghetti omelette (sounds weird but it was so tasty), fried bread, and chocolate. Leon went on a hunt and found some iron tablets from some french trekkers (more boyfriend brownie points) to help give me a boost.
The 1.5 hr descent to camp was a breeze for me; Leon even asked me to slow down!
Once at Baranco Camp, Leon developed a painful headache from altitude sickness. We topped him up to the brim with painkillers and put on all our layers (it was freezing cold and damp with all these clouds around!)
Day Four: Baranco Camp (3900m) to Karanga Camp (3995m)
We left at 7am, it was freezing and frosty underfoot. We layered up. William produced my hired balaclava; hilariously, it was one of those full faced ones. I was ready to rob a bank!
Today was four hours of pretty twisty and up and down trekking – which I kinda liked. You were able to catch your breath on the downhill bits and attempt to breath through your nose for once, unlike the usual constant gasping for air mouth-breathing.
We scaled Baranco Wall for 1.5 hours – scrambling with our hands and pulling ourselves up the sheer cliff. Luckily, we aren’t scared of heights 🙂
We were also now able to see the ridge you walk along to get to the peak – which was a lot less scary than the steep side we had seen up until now, but still pretty damn scary. Also – the views were getting pretty magnificent up here!
Woohoo, we arrived at the cloudy Karanga Camp at midday! I collapsed into our tent (btw, the porters are just amazing – they leave camp after you, pack everything up, overtake you on the trek, then set your tent up for your arrival including a tray of warm fresh popcorn & nuts, hot water for drinks, and a bowl to wash your grubby paws in).
We had two options –
- 1) We camp here tonight and complete the 6-7 days as normal.
- 2) In 30 minutes, we climb another 600m in 4 hours to the next camp (4600m) BUT it’s pretty damn cold up there, and you won’t be able to acclimatise (remember – “trek high, camp low”) so sleeping is off the cards – so if you do this, then you gotta commit to do the challenging 7 hours trek to the summit at midnight.
Leon was keen for Option 2. He hated the camping aspect (his poor old 36 year old back wasn’t happy on these foam mattress). We only had mild headaches (1/10 pain)… but I was worried these would only get worse..
I was keen to avoid the extremely painful head-popping-altitude-headaches that I have experienced in the past (if you know, you know!!) – I voted for Option 1. The thought of doing 15 hours of high altitude trekking in such close succession was not appealing..
Leon checked his Apple Watch – the UV index was 11/11 “Extreme”. The weather constantly went from blazing skin burning hot when the sun was out, to freezing cold dampness. Minute by minute. Misty clouds were rapidly swirling all around us, hiding the scenery a little at a time. Everything felt very damp indeed.
The headaches only got worse, going from a 1/10 to a 6/10 – I guzzled down both paracetamol and ibuprofen. I caught view of myself in the small mirror in the toilet – sunburnt, tired, and blue-lipped.
Phone update: despite cuddling it trying to keep in warm, it was still dead. Sad face.
Day Five: Karanga Camp (3995m) to (Barafu Camp 4600m)
This was a relatively easy day, just a short 3-4 hour hike from Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp (makes a change!) in the Alpine Desert zone. We arrived at midday and had the afternoon to chill.
We had an early dinner at 5pm and the plan was to go to bed at 6pm with all our summit layers on (bar the Down jacket and waterproof). Our wake up call would be 11pm for hot tea and biscuits – before the eagerly awaited summit trek starting at midnight.
Of course I wasn’t going to get any sleep between 6pm-11pm; we hadn’t acclimatised. I was very excited and nervous. I just laid there for 5 hours and tried not to think about the lack of oxygen, whilst listening to the powerful wind hammering our tent.
Day Six: Barafu Camp (4673m) to THE SUMMIT (5,895m) – URUHU PEAK
At the stroke of midnight, we loaded up on Diamox, biscuits, and tea.
We donned our layers. On top, I had:
- One base layer
- One thick thermal
- A thinner thermal
- A fleece
- My trusty north face down jacket
- Waterproof coat
And on the bottom:
- Leggings
- Thermal tights
- Trekking trousers
- Waterproof trousers
As well as my head torch, 2 pairs of gloves, and poles… and of course, my beloved thermal bank-robbing-balaclava. (I was still cold btw). It was minus 10 degrees with some cold face-stinging winds.
For the next long, painful 6 hours, we made our final long push to the 5,985m Uhuru Peak summit, climbing up very steep volcanic rocks and boulders and through icy snow. It was pitch black and the air was freezing, and we looked down to see trails of head torches behind us.
The sky was full of beautiful bright shining stars, a sliver of red moon, and a glowing red Venus. We could see Moshi below us, the lights twinkling so far away in the distance. It felt like we were so much closer to the stars than to Moshi.
I was starting to really feel the altitude – it was making me feel dizzy and a little tripped out. I had heard about others having out of body experiences during summit night or weird things happening.. It all felt very surreal; I was very sleep deprived from almost a week of poor sleep. I started seeing faces in the snow and thinking I could see things that weren’t there. Despite my two pairs of gloves, for hours my fingers and hands were totally frozen and numb. I didn’t have a choice, half way up I sacrificed my walking poles to keep my hands inside my pockets (which didn’t really helped that much anyway!).
William and Zachery were chanting the famous Kili song loudly, and providing us with much needed words of encouragement and motivation. William had said this to me – “it’s like eating a whole cow until you get to Stella Point, then Stella Point to Uhuru Peak is like eating the tail”. Again, that thought went round in my mind for hours and hours.
We were both pushed to absolute limits, both mentally and physically. We had a bag of celebratory m&ms which we were saving for the peak. Screw that. I needed them now or I wasn’t going to make it to the peak!
During the very short breaks we had, we collapsed onto boulders gasping for breath. Shovelling m&ms, cashews, and ice cold water into our mouths. Zachery and William were amazing – doing up my shoe laces for me because I couldn’t move my hands, putting on my waterproof layer when the snow became thicker, and helping put back on my second layer of gloves after snack breaks.
But we kept on pushing – concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. Every single little step was progress, and that thought was going round and round in my mind….
Damn, I could see it in the distance. There she was.. Stella Point.. I was going to make it! THANK GOD, THE COW WAS DONE! Just the tail left now… I couldn’t wait to get this done. I felt so determined.
Stella to Uhuru peak was a piece of cake compared to what we had just done. We reached Uhuru in darkness, oh no, we’ve got here too early I thought. But I was wrong. We had made the absolute perfect two minute window, thanks to our expert guides!
And then the finish line was in sight…. A long-standing dream completed.
I was exhausted and my lips were very blue indeed. William took one look at me and said we better descend quickly. I was keen to leave ASAP; all I could think about was how painfully numb my hands were. As we walked down, we watched in awe at the most spectacular sunrise over Mawenzi peak.
The descent route was very steep and very slippery. It was two hours of skidding and sliding down the mountain back to our tent at Barafu Camp. Falling over a few times along the way. We collapsed in our tent, fell asleep immediately only to be woken up 10 minutes later for breakfast. We then had to descend the rest of Kili (the park makes you leave that camp), unbelievably, this took another long, painful 6 hours… Our poor knees took an absolute thrashing and were throbbing with every step.
The Aftermath
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was the most physically challenging experience of our lives. Having both done very high altitude treks before (Leon did Everest Base Camp in 2018 reaching 5,364m; and my highest before Kili was Annapurna Circuit in 2016 which reached 5,416m), but this was another level.
We were officially broken. I doubted my ability to summit almost every day. I had a sore throat and lips, blisters, bruises, and some serious DOMS in my legs which made walking for the next two days very difficult. Poor Leon’s knee was a 7/10 pain and it’s still giving him issues almost a week after.
Kilimanjaro is a challenging trek. Although it’s not technically difficult (no oxygen, crampons, or any special equipment needed), it is almost 6000 meters high. Meaning the effective oxygen available at that elevation is less than 50% of what it is at sea level. Any climbing above 6000m and you will need oxygen.
There is no surprise that summit success rates are highly correlated with the length of itinerary: the more time you spend on Kili, the higher the likelihood that you’ll be successful in your summit bid.
Overall summit rates (across all routes & climbers) are estimated to fall between 45% and 85%. We saw many people really struggling, turning back, and also one girl being held up by two porters.
Having not showered for a week, and had been wearing pretty much the same clothes (half of my clothes were STILL damp). We were very dirty and smelly. But all I cared about was sleep. Glorious sleep. I missed you so much.
The boss at Almighty booked us a night at the beautiful Changry Lodge – a quid pro quo right there, in light of the dramas from the wet clothes on Day 1. Well the Lodge was stunning. Fluffy towels, beautiful gardens, hot showers, air con! The feeling of incredible achievement started to sink in; we had a celebratory Kilimanjaro beer, pizza, and had the best sleep of our life.
I checked my Fitbit – 50,000 steps today, on no sleep.
Leon and Amy’s Big Adventures 