Summit Day: February 24, 2017 (Friday)
Background Info
My friend Marcia had previously done Everest Base Camp. When she planned to climb Kilimanjaro and invited her friends, including me, to join I got super excited! I had no idea what I was going to feel like being in that altitude for the first time in my life. But going with friends is always a good way to explore unknowns. So, I decided to join her and invited a few of my other friends, and Michelle, Michael, and Chrislyn joined. Marcia had one other friend from Brooklyn and two other friends from Las Vegas joining the team!
February 18, 2017 (Saturday)
Me and Michelle arrived together at Moshi in the evening. Marcia had arrived earlier in the day and Mike arrived the day before. Chrislyn was arriving the next day. I flew in with Swiss Airlines, so had a stop over at Zurich, Switzerland followed by a stop in Nairobi, Kenya onto another connecting flight to Moshi, Tanzania via Kenya Airlines. My flight had some issues; they apparently overbooked my flight and asked if I would be okay with taking a later flight. My response was No. I was able to fly according to my booking.
Getting on the flight from Nairobi to Moshi
Michelle was flying with Emirates Airlines and had no issues. She and I met at Nairobi Airport and joined on the same flight to Moshi via Kenya Airlines. Custom was easy. We got our visas at the airport. We were then picked up by our guides at the airport and arrived at our hotel after a 45 mins ride. It was pretty late by then, so we went to bed after a shower. Michelle and I shared a room together.
February 19, 2017 (Sunday)
After a buffet breakfast, our guides came to our room to check our gear and to see if we needed any additional gear. I did not bring my hiking poles; I was planning to just rent it there for $10. Our guides were kind enough to let me use a set for free.
After gear check, we went out on our guide’s van to explore some of the attractions in Moshi. We were taken to learn about some history and culture from an older gentleman. Our guides then took us to see a waterfall which was a short hike to get to. After that we went to see a cave followed by chatting with some local villagers who grinned coffee using manual handmade tools (I already knew these tools, thanks to my upbringing in Bangladeshi suburb). The coffee we were given were extremely strong! None of us were able to finish that coffee.
The day ended with a dinner at a local restaurant, then back at the hotel to relax and get ready to start the hike the next day!
Waterfall
Coffee Processing
Day 1: February 20, 2017 (Monday)
This was the day we started our trek to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro via Machame Route. After a big breakfast at the hotel, we all rode in a single van to the starting point where we waited for our guides to pickup permits from the National Park Office. It took a while, and we were provided with a huge lunch while we waited. Some people in our group of 14 were getting impatient. I was playing with the cats who were hanging around us and was observing the monkeys on the trees. We did not start the hike until 2:30 PM!
Today we hiked from Machame Gate to Machame Camp from 5,400′ to 9,400′ gaining 4,000′ of elevation in 7 miles through Rain Forest. It started raining (and it did every single day in the afternoon throughout our trip!). I brought a rain poncho with me along with a rain jacket and a rain pants. Everyone envied my poncho and wish they had one too.
Almost at the camp
I started to have some problem as we were about an hour away from the camp. I stomach felt sick and I started throwing up. I had been to up to 14,500′ of altitude before and never got altitude sickness. At that point we were only at about 8,000′. Once we got to camp, Michelle and I shared one tent. Mike came to visit us at the tent and asked me how I was feeling. I replied him by throwing up once again, yak!
As a result, I skipped dinner. Michelle was nice to let me share the tent with her despite me constantly throwing up. That’s true friendship 🙂 .
Day 2: February 21, 2017 (Tuesday)
I woke up feeling better and was able to eat breakfast. Today we only had to hike 6.2 miles with 3,100′ of EG. We moved from Machame Camp at 9,400′ to Shira Camp at 12,500′ through Moorland. The view throughout the trek was amazing. The porters were moving fast. The trail was very crowded, which I did not like. I decided to take my time to enjoy the view and let the crowd pass.
Michelle and our tent at the camp
View during trek
Taking a break
We hiked to 13,000′ where we stopped to take a rest and to acclimate before hiking down to the camp at 12,500′.
Once I reached the camp, I learned that one of our group member from Brooklyn, Simon Chan, took my sleeping pad from my tent before I got there because he wanted to have two pads. I asked our guides to give me another sleeping pad. Luckily they had extras. Obviously I confronted Simon, and he declined it. Yeah, middle school behavior in his 30s. Some people never grow up!
Day 3: February 22, 2017 (Wednesday)
Today was a relatively longer trekking day. We hiked from Shira Camp at 12,500′ to Lava Tower Camp at 16,000′ to acclimate. We had our lunch there. We then hiked down to our camp for the night at Barranco Camp at 13,000′. Till this day, Lava Tower Camp was the highest elevation I’d ever been to. During lunch at Lava Tower, I did not have any appetite and felt a bit nauseous. My pace was pretty good that day and I really enjoyed the trek. But I was not very happy that I felt sick at 16,000′. It made me a bit concerned whether I was going to be able to make it all the way to the summit at 19,341′.
The scenery once again was breathtaking. We trekked through semi-desert.
Our group at break during trek
Our group arriving at Lava Tower
Group shot after arriving at Lava Tower camp for lunch break
The entire group past Lava Tower
Day 4: February 23, 2017 (Thursday)
Our guide discussed with us the option of combining Day 4 and Day 5 of our itinerary into Day 4 since all of us were in good spirit and were doing pretty well. Even though I had shown some altitude symptoms, but the guides were confident about my ability to reach the summit.
Marcia and I at camp, posing in front of Barranco Wall
Our only main “technical” part of the trek was going through Barranco Wall, which can be intimidating to some who are not comfortable with rock scrambling with exposure, especially on high altitude. Our team did well on this section. This was probably the most interesting part for me thus far. In fact I was enjoying it so much that one of our guides took me to the side of the wall where he and I did some Class 3+ scrambles.
Taking a break on top of Barranco Wall
On top of Barranco Wall, we took a break to eat and acclimate. Then we went down to Karanga Camp at 13,100′. We had lunch at the camp.
Selfie inside the dining tent
Instead of staying at Karanga Camp that night as originally scheduled, we pressed on to reach our Base Camp at Barafu Camp at 15,300′. I again got a bit nervous about getting sick once passing 15,000′ mark, and I did get sick. I could not eat much at dinner. We went to bed early.
Day 5: February 24, 2017 (Friday) SUMMIT DAY
Our lead guide Side offered us an option to start our trek to go up at 6 AM instead of midnight. Most of the people in the group stack to the original midnight summit push plan. Michelle, Michael, and I decided to take the 6 AM option. I always prefer to be able to see my surrounding while hiking and admiring the views and scenery.
We got up at 5:30 AM, had breakfast, got ready and was on the trail by 7 AM. I watched sunrise from my tent 😉 .
Full Moon and Sunrise
Looking back at our camp on our way up
View!!!
More View!!!
The trail to Stella Point, which is the rim of the crater of Mt. Kilimanjaro, was steep with lose rocks. We took our time and went Pole Pole (slowly, slowly). We reached Stella Point at around 12:45 PM, and we reached the true summit at around 1:45 PM. I was once again the happiest gal in the world once I reached the summit.
At Stella Point
On SUMMIT
We spent about 15 mins on the summit taking pictures. We stopped again at the Stella Point for a break. From there, it was one single push to get back to Barafu Camp. The midnight summit group had already left the camp and went back down to Mweka Camp. Our subgroup stayed at Barafu Camp that night since it was late in the day. I skipped dinner again and went to sleep instead.
Day 6: Barafu Camp to Mweka Camp to Moshi
We made one single push to go from Barafu Camp at 15,300′ to all the way to the trailhead. We stopped at Mweka Camp and took some break there to eat, change layers (it was getting warmer as we were losing elevation and sun was getting higher).
On the way to Mweka Camp
Once we started to see trees, I knew we were going to get lots and lots of oxygen, something that was heavily missing at the high altitude. It started with small, short desert trees, then longer trees, then onto Rain Forest towards the end.
Michelle and our guide
At the trailhead, our guides served us lunch. They took us to a gift shop on the way to our hotel to buy souvenir. We met up with the rest of the group at the hotel. Michelle and I decided to take our own rooms (we shared a room at the beginning of the trip and shared a tent throughout the trek). But both of us could not wait to take shower. So we opted for having our own room for the night.
Receiving my certificate from our guides
Our full group with our certificates
We received our certificates after dinner from our guides that night.
After the Trip:
The next day, our guides took us to see Kilimanjaro Marathon and explore the town. Michelle and I got a massage in our rooms in the afternoon. Next up was our Four-Day Safari Trip followed by a visit to Zanzibar before returning back to NYC.
Kilimanjaro Marathon 2017
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