DAY 90 - Kili 5
The night was very cold again, it's tough to get out of bed. The sea of clouds is back this morning. The Kilimanjaro is basking in the morning sun and Mount Meru is a huge black mass like an island clearly visible in the sea of clouds. One could get use to such grandiose sights in the morning ;) We leave camp at 9am. It's a very short hike today which is fine since we'll leave around midnight for the summit. We're walking in a rocky desert. It's monotonous and a bit boring to be honest. Snow is falling when we arrive at Barafu camp. It took us 2h15 to cover the 4km (7180 steps). As suspected, this camp is at the advertised altitude (4670m) so we'll gain twice as much as what's recommended :/ Some people are coming down from the summit, it must have taken them about 12 hours for the round trip but they look okay.
After lunch we go for a walk on tomorrow's trail up to 4870m. The first part is tough but it gets much easier after the initial 15min. On the way up we pass by several tourists on their way down, most of them extremely exhausted... Scary sight. The weather worsen as we reach our altitude goal. We go back down with a slight haze and are back in the camp we left an hour ago. We finally do as we're told and hide in our tents to relax and wait for the early dinner. I exit the tent to propose a little game of Lobo77 to the gang when a stretcher arrives carrying a guy visibly in awful shape. It's scarier than anything else we saw today. He can barely stand... The game of Lobo77 reveals that some of us are more affected than others and struggle a bit to count. I won't give names but it's such a shame for an accountant to struggle with basic math!
After the early lunch we have our customary briefing about the next day. This time though, they don't want to take our oxygen saturation to avoid scarring us. We all want to know though so we insist to get it later. Mar and I have been taking Diamox during the whole time and our oxygen saturation has remained around 90 (at sea level it's 95-100). The others were 10 to 20% lower. Is it the effect of the medicine, our time in Ethiopia that prepared us? No clue. No one is feeling too tired or has any of the altitude symptoms though. However, today, at almost 4700m we're down to 80%. Out of curiosity I ask them to bring the device to have a measurement at the summit (geek forever). We get in bed at 7:30pm hoping to get a few hours of sleep before the big day. It won't be easy with the mix of apprehension and anticipation we feel.
DAY 91 - Kili 6
2 hours of sleep, That's all we could get. We get up under a cloudless sky with the milky way clearly visible. Warmed up by a cup of tea with some biscuits we start the climb, it's a quarter past midnight. The first section, right outside of camp is a wall and it's crowded with luminous ants. We're blocked by traffic jam but overtake the big group blocking us right after the wall. The moon rises to cheer us, a crescent, orange-red at first, slowly going up in the sky to devour the stars like a hungry Pacman. It then turns orange and finally yellow. There's nothing to see so we're left with trying to stay awake, trying not to trip over the many stones and control our breathing. The wall before Stella point is endless, boring and super tough. It alternates between steep and very steep. To keep us going, the guides sing and cheer but it's hard. We're finally getting close to Stella point and the sun starts rising. First it's a deep burgundy then rays of red and orange through the clouds... gorgeous. We arrive at Stella point (5757m) at 6am. It's cold and windy there but we watch the end of the sunrise with a cup of tea to warm us up.
The rest of the way to Uhuru peak is an easy 1h walk along the crater rim. There's nothing special about the crater but the glaciers on the outside slope of Kili are amazingly beautiful. They shrunk a lot in recent years though due to climate change though. We reach the top of Africa (5915m) at 7:10am. It feels very special to get there hand in hand after such a grueling night.
We can't stay too long here, just enough to take the mandatory pictures and my oxygen saturation of course ;) I'm down to 73%... I was expecting worse. The way down after Stella point is as boring as the way up. Or even worse since we now see how grim it is. Gravels everywhere and one has to learn how to “ski” on them; not great for the knees :/ We are very tired so it takes us a long time to come down. Mar is not feeling well at all and the guides are not very helpful but we make it back to camp at 10:35am. After many discussions we change plans. Mar in no state for a 6h hike this afternoon so we cut it in half to stay at another camp. We'll have more to cover tomorrow but after a night of sleep it'll be a different story. We leave Barafu at 2:30pm. Shortly after leaving camp, we come cross the infamous stretcher they were talking about and they propose it to mar again. She refuses and is cheered wildly by all the porters. It's a beautiful and genuine mix of admiration and encouragement. Nice guys and very emotional moment. They were saying it takes 3-4 hours to get to Millennium camp (3800m) but we get there in 2 without rushing. Andreas is still with us but the Brits decided to rush it all the way to the exit to have one night in real bed before taking their flight. At camp, we once again receive a royal welcome with singing and dancing. Mar of course receives a lot of attention. Very nice guys definitely!
We only did 14km today but the step meter of my phone went crazy with a whopping 31,200 steps, new PB ;) We eat early and go to bed right away, it's only 7:30pm but we've been up for 20 hours!
DAY 92 - Kili 7
Yet another cold night but it's the last in a tent in the mountain. We wish it would be the last in a tent for a while but we'll be sleeping in tents during the safari. At least it'll be warmer. It's also our last breakfast with porridge, sausage and toasts even though we could have the exact same thing during the safari since Tanzania is absolutely not renowned for its cuisine. I suspect it has to do with the fact it's a former German and English colony... We're blessed with one last song by the crew and we're back on the trail for the last 10 or so kilometers. For once we leave on time (at 8am) and quickly enter the forest. It's good to have some life around us again. Even Andreas who loves the rocky deserts agrees on that ;)
After hearing them sing for some time, we get a glimpse of the famous and beautiful Turako bird but they escape my camera. The monkeys (black and white colobus again) are not so shy however. Nor is the Kilimanjaro. After staying hidden during most of the journey, it's now shamelessly sunbathing! The trail is very similar to the one we had the first day unsurprisingly. But I prefer going up than down on steps. My old knees are not happy with the treatment but it eventually ends. We arrive at Mweka gate (1660m) at 12:40pm after almost 14km downhill (25400 steps).
The bus is ready and loaded. We sign off at the gate office, leave a scathing comment about the park (The crew was great but with the amount of money the park is charging us - $120/day – you could expect much more like decent bathroom, running water, access roads, etc. like everyone else we wonder where the money is going...). Once in the bus, we just collapse. The realization that we don't have to walk anymore is heaven :D They have a beer, a Kilimanjaro of course, and lunch on the way back to Moshi. The first shower after 7 days is also a moment of pure bliss and we finish the day with Andreas; dinner with some Celine Dion to keep us on the insane side ;)