Day 1: Machame Gate to Machame Hut
The climb started from machame gate (1830m), we walked through the lush lower slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Slowly gaining altitude while enjoying the diverse flora and fauna of the rain forest, we arrived to the first Machame Hut, situated at 3000m above sea level
We got our first closer look at the glaciated dome of Kibo.
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| Day 1 at Machame Gate |
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| Day 1: Omar (Alexis' twin brother), Alexis and Jon |
Day 2: Machame Camp to Shira Camp
This was a shorter day climbing up a steep ridge to reach a small semicircular cliff known as Picnic site, and continued up a gentler ascent through the lower alpine moorland, which is known for beautiful wild alpine flowers. The most spectacular views of Kibo peak can be seen from Shira Camp.
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| Elevation is at 11,300 feet and there's frost in the early morning. The summit is in sight. |
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| Shira is one of the three peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro and on clear days, the view of the summit is spectacular. |
Day 3: Shira Camp to Barranco Valley
On day 3 we walked for about 6 hours on a gentle ascent with panoramic views. We traversed the southwest side of Kilimanjaro, passing underneath the Lava Tower and the final section of the Western Breach and after hot lunch the bottom of the Lava Tower (4,600 m.) we descend to the bottom of the Great Barranco valley (3,900 m.).
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| This was the fanciest toilette facility we had while ascending Kili |
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| The views were unbelievable |
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| Barranco campground |
Day 4: Barranco Camp to Karanga Camp
A steep climb up the eastern wall lead us just below the Heim Glacier, where we had spectacular views of Kilimanjaro. We then took a steep exit up the Great Barranco Wall, which divided us from the southeastern slopes of Kibo, the trail continued down into the alpine desert of the Karanga Valley, finally we had a steep climb up to Karanga Camp.
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| Literally above the clouds |
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| Pole Pole |
Day 5: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp
We had a steep climb out of Karanga, and an easy path on compacted scree with wide views through this empty and dry landscape up to Barafu Camp. The two peaks Kibo and Mawenzi can been seen from Barafu Camp. After lunch at the Camp, we spent the remainder of the day resting since we need to prepare and gain energy for the final ascent before an early night summit walk.
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| Alexis. Exhausted. |
Day 6: Barafu Camp to Summit
We woke up at 11:30PM on day 5 to start the ascending to the summit. We started walking around 11:45 and it was pitch black and freezing cold.
We arrived at Stella Point at 6am. We began a steep climb over loose volcanic scree has some well-graded zig-zags and a slow but steady pace took us to rim of the main crater,
Stella Point, at 5,735m. We rested there for few minutes to enjoy the sunrise over
Mawenzi. It was freezing, I didn't feel my toes or fingers and was not able to take all the pictures I intended to. But we made it!!!!!!! Everyone in our group made it. We had tears of joy, tears of exhaustion and tears of pride.
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| It was cold, can you tell? |
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| At the summit with our group and guides. Proudly waving the Puerto Rican flag. |
Day 7: Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate to Arusha
And we made it. After we spent the night at Mweka and were well rested without a single piece of clean underwear or cloth. With dust in places I never imagined I had in my body. We made it to the gate where the bus was waiting for us to take us to the hotel where we finally were able to shower after 7 days.
The End.
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| Kids wait at Mweka Gate and ask the "Wazungus" (white people) "Pipi" (candy) |
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| Celebrating the victory with our guides! |
A note about the porters
Those who have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro know that the porters are the heart and soul of your trek. Without their hard work and strength we would not be able to fully experience the magnificence of Kili. But the truth is porters are often impoverished Tanzanians who depend on this labor-intensive employment in order to feed themselves and their families.
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| The Porters |
Most of the time, Porters often eat just one meal at the end of each day, primarily a local corn-porridge called "Ugali".
THANK YOU TO OUR PORTERS!
