- Wherever you are in life, it’s always a good idea to plan a new adventure. (But get yourself some good boots and take a few extra packs of wet wipes.)
- Everyone needs a mountain to scale
19 Lessons Learned from Climbing a Mountain
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Seven: Down, Down, Down, and Straight to the Bar
Distance: 12-13 km, 6-7 hours to Mweka Camp and 10 km, 3 hours to Machame Gate
Elevation: 1600 m descent from Barafu to Mweka Camp at 3000 m and 1200 m descent from Mweka Camp to Machame Gate at 1800 m.
Descending Kili: One minute you’re next to a glacier, and the next you’re in the rainforest. |
Technically, this diary entry begins on the morning of Day six. I had left off with having come ...
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Six: Lonely on the Roof of Africa
Excerpts from Eva Melusine Thieme's travel memoir "Kilimanjaro Diaries: Or, How I Spent a Week Dreaming of Toilets, Drinking Crappy Water, and Making Bad Jokes While Having the Time of My Life". Day Six: Lonely on the Roof of Africa.
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Five: A Tent with a View
Karanga to Barafu, Thursday Sep 6, 2012
Distance: 4 km, 3-4 hours
Elevation: 400 m net climb from 4200 m to 4600 m
One of my favorite Kilimanjaro pictures, the view of Kibo from Karanga Valley camp |
Going from Karanga to Barafu is a relatively easy hike. As I’ve said before, if you do the Machame Route in six days instead of seven, you’d go all the way from Barranco ...
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Four: Barranco Disco
Barranco to Karanga, Wednesday, Sep 5, 2012
Distance: 5 km, 4-5 hours
Elevation: 250 m net climb from 3950 m to 4200 m
Everybody seems well-rested this gorgeous morning, including myself. I feel like I’m reborn, even though sleep has been ...
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Three: The First Big Test
Shira Plateau to Barranco via Lava Tower, Tue Sept 4, 2012
Distance: 10 km, 7-8 hours
Elevation: 760 m climb to Lava Tower at 4600 m, then down again to 3950 m
Enroute again on Day Three going up to Lava Tower |
Today we make sure to pack all our warm stuff in our day packs, because it is bound to get cold at Lava Tower, one of the highest points ...
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day Two: Teetee the Toilet Tent
Machame Hut to Shira Plateau, Monday Sep 3, 2012
Distance: 10 km, 5-7 hours
Elevation: 840 m climb from 3000 m to 3840 m
The area around Shira Plateau is arguably one of the most beautiful landscapes on Kilimanjaro. Photo: Martin B. |
Wake-up time is 7:15, with the sun still hiding behind the mountain, and we are greeted with bowls of hot water to start the day. What luxury! We wash and file into the mess tent, ...
Kilimanjaro Diary, Day One: Pole Pole
Machame Gate to Machame Hut, Tanzania, Sunday Sep 2, 2012
Distance: 9-10 km, 5-7 hours
Elevation: 1200 m climb from 1800 m to 3000 m
Before you’ve even embarked on your flight to get to the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, you’ll have heard ...
Kilimanjaro – The Most Incredible Experience
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is both the hardest and most magnificent thing I’ve ever done in my life.
Or at least it was the hardest and most magnificent thing since giving birth. And just like most new mothers will tell you that ...
Kili Here we Come
My whole life for the next week in a nutshell. And in a whole lot of Ziploc bags. God bless the Ziploc bag |
This is it.
All is packed, and Zax and I are getting on a plane (at some ungodly hour – did I tell you we opted for the budget flights?) tomorrow to take us closer (but not really any closer) to our goal. First to Nairobi, then to the foot of the big mountain. To some nondescript hotel, ...