Hello from Tanzania!

Day 8: Karanga Camp to Barafu Camp

Updated: October 4, 2024

We hit the daily-double again — a satisfying night’s sleep and amazing morning weather! Sleeping on the ground for seven nights in a row was a top concern prior to the trip, but hasn’t been a problem at all. Perhaps the lack of oxygen at ~13,000 ft makes your body to prioritize things differently? Sore back? Suck it up! No really, go suck up some oxygen first. (Note: I am not a doctor)

On the topic of restful sleep, we can confirm for anybody out there considering a Kilimanjaro climb, that bringing an extra canteen to send a “WiFi tent” message from the comfort of your own tent at night is very helpful. We don’t mind the cold, but crawling in your tent once at night and crawling out once in the morning is plenty! Speaking of getting out in the morning, thank you James for always rising the earliest and catching the best photos at dawn.

Dawn at Karanga Camp

Our row of tents

Rise and shine!

The plan for today is to depart Karanga Camp and climb ~1,800 ft northeast toward Barafu Camp on a steady but relentless upwards path. Barafu Camp is often referred to as Base Camp, because it is the camp where many hikers (including us) launch their final nighttime push for the Summit, and return the following afternoon. Because of this, turnover for the camping “sites” at Barafu is not as early, and the urgency to pack up our Karanga Camp aas early as previous days is not as strong.

Day 6 hike map

Day 6 hike (detail)

Don’t get the wrong impression… this ain’t Moshi Time! The porters can chill out for a while, but mere mortals like us still need to start hiking by 8am in order to reach Barafu Camp by noon (it’s a four-hour trek). The sooner we get to Barafu, the sooner we can start eating and napping — and eating and napping again — in order to adjust our body clocks for TONIGHT’S (!!!) Summit push.

Of course, we didn’t break camp without our daily dose of porridge. Today’s additional breakfast offerings featured French toast minis, bacon, and fruit. On the topic of porridge, here is a very subjective ranking of the top items you can use to modify/augment your porridge and enhance your culinary experience — or just make it edible… 1. Butter (for those who want to play it straight), 2. Fruit (hit or miss, depending on the fruit), 3. Drinking Chocolate (popular choice), 4. Milo (a worse version of Drinking Chocolate, don’t do it), 5. Peanut Butter (pretty good, better when cold), and finally, 6. Nutella (splitting the difference between 3 & 5 but not really as good as either according to eyewitness reports). Not sure anybody gave the Mazoon Chilli sauce a go, but it was bound to happen eventually.

Tarp time preparations

Guide James leads us up and out

Kilimanjaro-approved sunnies

It’s all uphill from here

The hike was “easier” than yesterday’s scramble to Karanga in some ways, but harder in others. The challenge today was the ever-increasing elevation, ultimately landing us back at 15,000 ft at Barafu Camp. Another challenge was the knowledge that our impending doom (Summit Night) was growing ever-closer (just kidding…OR… were those rings getting heavier???).

The combination of these factors meant we all hiked a bit more focused and quiet. Hats off to Ari and Aaron for continuing to shoot a ton of great photos. As a group, we took it “Pole, Pole”, made a couple well-timed breaks, and stayed on top of our hydration and snack needs (headlined by Corn Nuts, Cheez-Its, Skittles, Peanut M&Ms, and unwrapped Jolly Ranchers).

In the last paragraph, if you are wondering why the Jolly Ranchers were unwrapped, that’s because in preparing for the trip, we followed some sage internet advice to eliminate having to deal with the empty wrappers. Before you leave, unwrap a bunch of ’em, toss in a bag with some cornstarch, and boom… instant Kilimanjaro life hack to avoid being “that person” who just tosses their trash all over Kilimanjaro.

And yet, one of the infuriating things we saw during our hike… was the remnants of “that person”! Large quantities of fairly new-looking blue and gold Ivori-brand candy wrappers littered along the trail. Like, WTF people!?! We all imagined spotting the person in the act of tossing these wrappers on the trail, and reading them the riot act. In the meantime, we engaged in Legolas/Gimli-style competition to pick up as many of these Ivori wrappers as we could along the way. Sigh, some people.

Other than those darn blue and gold wrappers, the Alpine Desert zone featured a rocky moon-scape terrain with a palette of blacks, browns, and some deep reds. Almost no vegetation was visible (save for infrequent appearances of couple small “weed-like” plants and yellow flowers). The trail itself was well-travelled, so that was not a problem. And despite some slight slipperiness due to a high level of dust, nobody had any problems with trips or falls. Good footwork, team!!!

Barafu Camp is just over that ridge in the distance

Getting good at the group shots

Looking back on the army of Porters heading our direction

The angle is only SLIGHTLY exaggerated here

Upon our arrival at Barafu Camp, the primary observation (compared to previous camps) is the elongated layout of the camp, and the drastic change in elevation from the tents at the front of the camp to the tents in the back. Our tents were higher up near the back, so we probably climbed another couple hundred feed AFTER passing the Barafu Camp welcome sign. On the bright side, that’s a couple hundred feet less to reach the summit!

Barafu sign!

The lack of “flat” space on the side of mountain at 15,000 ft is not surprising (duh), but it definitely presented a greater challenge for us to navigate the rocky terrain at this camp — even walking from our tent to the dining tent required caution — especially as darkness rolled in with the cloud cover and sunset. In retrospect, it’s basically a miracle none of us ended up rolling or twisting an ankle on this trip.

Ari earned the “tent in a hole” special! Actually fairly flat!

Quick pit stop in our tent before lunch

At lunch, James (our cook) and Nelson (our server) pulled out all the stops for a perfect meal to fuel us into the evening. The menu featured vegetable salad, fruit, french fries, kabobs, and potato soup. The kabobs didn’t last longer than 10 minutes. But in a surprising twist — despite the Soup Bros (Ari and Matt) combining to eat six bowls between themselves — there was still some soup that didn’t get eaten. Come on team!!!

Speaking of which, one aspect of the Ultimate Kilimanjaro dining experience we noticed after every meal is that food is never thrown out. If there are a few bowls of soup left, or if the nine of us left any amount of uneaten food on the serving trays, Nelson and the porters take care to collect it, divide it up, and whisk it away to the porter’s dining tent. A+ Ultimate Kilimanjaro Clean Plate Club service. Some of those porters are definitely Soup Bros.

All smiles for lunchtime

Party People! Yeah! Soup, there it is! Soup, there it is! That K-A-B-Oh-B, Oh my! Soup, there it is! I’m done

At the conclusion of lunch (about 2pm), August and Baraka filled us in on the schedule for the rest of the day, culminating with our departure for the summit later tonight (we now qualified as “need to know”). Step 1: Rest immediately. Step 2: Health check and dinner at 5pm. Step 3: Rest some more. Step 4: 10:45pm wake up call with hot drinks and snacks. And Step 5: Profit! Just kidding, Step 5 is an 8-hour hike in freezing temperatures up the side of 27% gradient mountain. ARE YOU READY!?!? They did mention it was important to be very punctual on the 11pm start time for Step 5 because many other groups are heading out before and after we do.

As recommended, we departed the dining tent immediately and attempted to nap/rest until 5pm. Some of us are better nappers than others, but we each managed to get a small amount of sleep. We saved most of our gear prep and clothing changes for after dinner.

Go to sleep!

At 5pm, we shook off the daze of our pseudo-naps, and carefully walked over to the dining tent for health checks in the twilight of dusk. Mt. Mawenzi was poking thru the clouds to the east. We all passed our final health checks and were given the green light to start the hike later tonight. To be honest, I wonder what the guides would have to see or hear in order to prevent somebody from continuing (especially if that person wanted to continue).

In our group, despite some “not feeling great” answers and the fact that James often registered as clinically frozen according to the finger oxygen meter, they seemed pretty confident we were all fit as a fiddle. Everybody besides Matt chose to take Diamox pills for the previous week to help treat potential mountain sickness symptoms. And that worked out well because UK said everybody — including Matt — was doing fine in the AMS department.

It was interesting however, that August advised us to “think positive” as a legitimate psychosomatic solution to the potential for any problems that could arise on the hike. Like “Hey, if you feel like you have to throw up, then just go ahead and do that. You’ll feel better. It will be fun!” This did not sound like actual useful advice at the time (as in, “um… what will “thinking positive” do for actual Acute Mountain Sickness??”). However, during the hike, it actually seemed plausible. Good call, August.

Mt. Mawenzi peaking through

Not possible to walk your way to the top of Mawanzi

Dinner was noticeably full of stomach-settling foods like ginger carrot soup, as well as central-casting carbs like pasta and potatoes. As mentioned before, Ultimate Kilimanjaro is extremely proficient at knowing how to feed us for success.

Unfortunately, Matt’s tongue/throat was not doing to well — probably from sucking an excessive amount of unwrapped Jolly Ranchers, thus tipping the sugar balance in his mouth (or something), leading to difficulty swallowing. (Reminder Note: I am not a doctor) Earlier attempts to self-medicate with salt and alum (thanks Ari!) did not help much. A bite of pasta would go great until the tongue was needed shortly thereafter — and it turns out your tongue is surprisingly heavily involved with everything thereafter! Thankfully, the ginger carrot soup was a lifesaver… #SoupBroSavesLives. And next time, remember to give away even MORE unwrapped Jolly Ranchers to the porters and guides who pass you by on the trail!

Time to carbo-load

After dinner (around 6pm), we returned to to our tents. We made final preparations for the upcoming summit hike, including putting on all the gear and layers we planned on wearing, even if it was too early (such as knee braces under base layers four hours ahead of time). Jo got about three-and-a-half hours of sleep and Matt clocked in at maybe two. Thankfully, we took care of all preparations before we fell asleep. There was literally NO time to think after our alarms went off at 10:45pm. TIME TO GET UP and start the summit hike!

Day 7: Baranco Camp to Karanga Camp

by Joanna

Updated: August 13, 2024

2 Comments

Happy 4th of July! As advertised, today we will tackle the Baranco Wall… and we are ready to light it up like a fireworks display! Most of us got a pretty good night’s sleep following yesterday’s 2,000 ft drop from Lava Tower to the “lowly” elevation of Baranco Camp at 13,100 ft. Rolling out of our sleeping bags and tents, we were greeted by the crisp chill of another perfect cloudless morning (unless you count the clouds below us).

Dawn at Baranco (looking south)

First things first, we gathered for breakfast featuring crepes, toast, beans, watermelon, and you guessed it… porridge — the breakfast food of Kilimanjaro Champions. Some of us still had 30 minutes of internet remaining which was used, in part, to learn that Mark Cavendish won his record-breaking 35th stage at the Tour de France. Woo! Let’s gooooo! Tarp time!!!

The plan for today — starting with an 850 ft climb up the Baranco Wall — is to reach a maximum elevation of about 13,900 ft, then continue hiking to the southeast, traversing several hills and valleys along the way until we reach Karanga camp at 13,200 ft.

Day 5 hike map

Day 5 hike (detail)

Our guides suggested it would be wise to leave about 20 minutes earlier than usual today in order to get a head start on the Baranco Wall and avoid the traffic back up. The sun hadn’t quite crested the mountain yet, so an extra layer was a good idea. Also, put on your gloves and stash your hiking poles… it’s time to go scrambling!

Strong Stairs of Cirith Ungol vibes

Passing the “Kissing Rock”

“Very soon he will ask you for It! You will see!”

The trail was relatively narrow. Carefully planning of your steps and handholds was important to navigate certain areas, and a helpful hand from the guides was welcome once or twice. While the photos look scary (why would be post the non-scary ones?!), there were really only one or two key parts where you could have *actually* fallen off the wall. In case you weren’t feeling “Hakuna Matata” about it, Ari asked August if there was a Swahili phrase that means “SOME worries, for the rest of your days”. Yes, in fact… that would be just “Matata”.

Most of the trail was full of big rocks that simply had to be climbed, crawled, and clambered over. For inspiration, you could watch the amazing porters fly up the hill at double speed carrying gigantic loads of gear and supplies. In the end, we made it, and everybody said the challenge gave them quite a thrill. Including James, who said it gave him the thrill… of vertigo.

Ready for the Aggro-Crag!

Once we crested the Baranco Wall, we reached the day’s top elevation of nearly 13,900 ft., and found ourselves with a glorious viewpoint of Kilimanjaro to the north, and cloud-covered foothills to the south in the direction of Moshi. We paused for a snack break and tuned up a series of epic photos.

I Bless the (Absence of) Rains Down in Africa

(We’ll) Be Coming Around the Mountain When (We) Come

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Ain’t No Valley Low Enough

Misty Mountain Hop

The day’s hike was about two hours old, but only covered a little over a half mile, leaving us with roughly three more hours of hiking to cover the remaining two miles to Karanga Camp. Audio entertainment for the dusty and rocky path that followed was provided by The Move podcast (downloaded earlier in the morning). One bad-intentioned rock tripped up Matt, but he emerged mostly unscathed (couple bruises with a broken gaiter clasp). He was moreso irritated for the temporary lapse in focus. Gotta watch your step at all times around here!

Onward to Karanga

The terrain approaching Karanga Camp was a series of valleys, featuring downhill and uphill segments. Karanga Valley was the last dip before camp, and also the trickiest. It really sneaks up on you out of nowhere, especially after you look ahead, see Karanga Camp in the distance and think “Oh, good… our camp is right over there!” It also rivals the Baranco Wall portion of the hike in steepness on both sides of the valley. Thankfully, we all survived the slippery silt terrain on the way down with only a few minor slips/falls. We caught our breath, and then scrambled back up the other side of the valley with no problems.

Oh look, Karanga camp is so close!

Just kidding!

Official sign you made it to Karanga Camp

We made pretty good time and arrived at camp around 12:30pm with a hearty lunch awaiting us in the dining tent. Vegetable soup for starters, followed by pasta w/eggs/cashews/peppers, chicken (best described in “lollipop” form), green vegetables (quite bitter), and ugali — a traditional Tanzanian dish made from cornmeal that you roll/squish into little balls with your hands before eating. Forget last night’s mashed potatoes… this thicker starch dish is even better-suited to carve a 3D model of our hiking path on Kilimanjaro! Also very filling.

After lunch, we had the rest of the afternoon to relax and take it easy for additional acclimatization. We took the opportunity to hold the first official “BIG 5” SAFARI ANIMAL Fantasy Draft. If you’re not measuring on the basis of size alone, what African animals should be in the “Big 5”? Does Water Buffalo really deserve a spot over Giraffe or Hippo? Better yet, what if we started a five-team league with absolutely no scoring criteria and each drafted a squad? Done. You have something better to do for the next two hours at 13,000 ft on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro?? James, Matt, Jo, Lily and Ari did not.

Key takeaways… Best pick of the draft was made by Lily who swooped in to grab Zebra with the 22nd pick. This is probably more of an indictment of the rest of the group, who completely forgot about this ubiquitous African equine, unless you count the fact that Matt said the words “African Horse” out loud about 60 seconds earlier when mulling his choices for the 21st pick. Worst pick of the draft was when James reached for Okapi with the 8th pick ahead of a clear blue-chipper like Leopard, or even a solid starter like Baboon or Hyena. To summarize both moves — and to paraphrase Mike from Breaking Bad — never go Half Zebra.

However, in James’ defense, he did draft the best vibes team, putting together the most complete cast of Disney’s The Lion King — featuring Lion, Warthog, and Meerkat. Only later on the Safari would Cordwood learn to his dismay that there are ZERO meerkats in Tanzania. Sorry, Timon. Upon completion of this project we retired to our tents for intermittent napping in advance of happy hour.

Big Rock (Cotton) Candy Mountain

Still a few days before Cordwood learns about the meerkats

After happy hour, the sun set quickly, so we bundled up as usual. A moment of drama occurred when a guide from a nearby group approached August and Baraka to find out if we had anything to help a member of his group that was non-stop puking. That doesn’t sound fun, and Ari offered up the best option which was some Zofran he brought. Bonus points to Ari for offering the disclaimer that it was a prescription-only drug, but I suspect that other hiker was more than willing to take his chances.

Karanga Camp sunset

Golden hour is Fleece pants hour

Heath check and dinner time! On the menu tonight was another traditional Tanzanian dish — from the Chagga tribe — called Ndizi Nyama (I think), which is a stew of green bananas, meat (veal, in this case), and vegetables served with rice and cabbage. For desert, we got iced ginger cookies (call ’em Tanzanian oreos).

August and Baraka stopped by for their typical post-dinner chat. We started asking questions about tomorrow night (Summit Night) so they told us to relax and save all those questions for tomorrow (we are on a need-to-know-basis!). As Baraka said multiple times, “Don’t think about the mountain, the mountain does not think about you.” Ok then!

Meanwhile, August had more helpful advice, such as don’t save your Summit Night clothes for Summit Night if you need to stay warm now. Makes sense. In fact, Matt started wearing his “summit” puffy jacket to sleep three nights ago. Way ahead of ya, August! Also, if you need another way to stay warm, use those hot-water bladder teddy bears they gave us back at Shria 1 Camp! To quote Cordwood, “The teddy bears are amazing.”

Lily figured out how to stay warm

With dinner and UK advice fully digested, we brushed our teeth, removed our contacts, and shuffled out into the darkness toward our tents. The night sky was perfectly clear and offered an amazing amphitheater view of the southern hemisphere night sky. Being above the clouds really makes for a spectacular show, and we enjoyed the view for a while before going to sleep. Tomorrow we hike to Barafu Camp!

Night sky

Day 6: Moir Hut to Baranco Camp

by Joanna

Updated: August 13, 2024

3 Comments

After our third night tenting under the stars on Kilimanjaro, we are doing great. The temperatures dropped below freezing again, but we are well-prepared with plenty of layers and our rental Mountain Hardwear Lamina -30F sleeping bags are getting the job done. Because Moir Hut is in the alpine desert zone, we did not have any animal antagonists for the first time last night. The monkeys and jackals don’t like it much at 13,600 ft.

The only hiccup so far, is we confirmed one of our air mattresses is faulty. At Shira 1 camp, there was a debate if the problem involved the valve (August’s vote) or the seam (Cordwood’s vote). Assuming valve, we jerry-rigged a solution with tenacious tape and a plastic bag, but no dice (Cordwood wins, probably). Silver lining is that whatever is leaking, it is a very slow — maybe 60-90 minutes before you are on the ground. Matt determined he can fall asleep on the mattress before that happens. When awoken later, he can restore some cushion with a few deep breaths of air into the valve — rinse and repeat! Not perfect, but it worked last night.

After emerging from our tents to another bright sunny morning, we passed our health checks and enjoyed a breakfast of peanut butter & banana sandwiches, porridge (of course), eggs (surprisingly salty!), and sausages (going full sausage-fest with Ari & Aaron to finish the entire plate). Making final preparations by the tarp, it was cold and windy enough to warrant an extra layer or two to start the hike. Even Lily put on a jacket.

Warming up and heading out

Today’s hike departs from Moir Hut at 13,600 ft, rises to 15,200 ft at Lava Tower — where we will eat lunch — and then drops back down to 13,000 ft at Baranco Camp, which is back on the border of the moorland and the alpine desert zones. You could say, “today will certainly have it’s ups and downs.” And then Adam will probably say it again as one of the terrible dad jokes he’s been dispensing along the trail for our amusement/horror.

Day 4 hike map

Day 4 hike (detail)

The very first section was about a 500 ft incline, almost exactly like our acclimatization hike yesterday. If practice makes perfect, that explains why we crushed it. Plus, we warmed up very quickly.

The Fellowship of the Temu Rings

After the steep section, we continued to climb gradually through the Alpine zone for the next three miles. The terrain was rocky and mostly barren except for the “everlasting flower” which looks like a bush of daisies with spikes.

Hiking through the alpine zone

While our path yesterday took us to a less-travelled section near Moir Hut, today’s route merged back with the main thoroughfare that takes all travelers from the Shira Plateau to the Lava Tower. There were plenty of other hikers — and porters by the hundreds — sharing the trail with us heading east. Some appeared less beholden to the “Pole, Pole” concept than others. Florence and the Machine was the musical motivation in the earbuds today.

Bridge to the Lava Tower

We arrived at Lava Tower around lunch time and observed the controlled chaos of porters erecting and dismantling dining, kitchen, and WiFi tents all over the place. Technically, it’s a camp, but it seems most tour operators just plan a lunchtime/acclimatization visit for their clients (like us). With flat real estate at a premium, tent stakes are fair game to be placed nearly anywhere. It was like Ravinia — find a spot and claim it, even if it’s right next to somebody else’s tent. Ninja skills are required to avoid tripping over the maze of guy lines!

Welcome new members to the 15,000 ft club!

Lava Tower tent city changes fast… Yellow tent already gone!

Stopping for lunch at Lava Tower helps with acclimatization since we spend an hour or two at 15,000 ft before hiking down to Baranco camp. The primary concern is making sure your body is cool with the lower amount of oxygen in the air at this elevation. Our guides said we were all doing fine — despite some minor headaches. Another rapidly-changing environmental aspect of Lava Tower camp was the temperature, depending on if the sun was shining, or if cloud cover rolled in. Both dining tent flaps were put to good use — opened and closed.

Team Cordina ready for lunch (mostly)

Lunch started with a round of tomato soup — a popular selection that didn’t require any assistance from the Soup Bros to finish the pot (featuring founding members Ari & Matt, with honorary members Mel & Aaron pending the soup). Having observed the patterns of the Ultimate Kilimanjaro kitchen over the past few days, we thought we could start predicting the courses at meals. For example, a rice dish preceded a curry dish, and a noodle dish preceded a meat sauce/pasta option. Plus, Adam straight-up manifested pizza for dinner last night.

So we all determined the next course following tomato soup was going to be grilled cheese (right?). For a few minutes, we prepared ourselves to devour the most glorious grilled cheese sandwiches we’d ever seen, having worked up amazing appetites climbing 1,600 ft in the last four hours. And then… we were served a delicious lunch of grilled chicken, potato fries, and a garden pepper salad. Let this be a warning! The UK kitchen is NOT an imaginarium! 🙂

Two more random dining tent observations… First, the green thermos bottles filled with hot water for the table have handles that fold to the left or right thanks to hinges on the top and bottom of the handle. I suppose the idea is to save space when you pack the thermos, but it made grabbing, passing, or pouring the thermos an adventure every time. Lily simply “could not” with this design. Others agreed. Second, the plates used to serve meals in the UK dining tent are the heaviest metal plates I’ve ever seen — presumably to avoid losing your meal in a Category 5 hurricane. OR… perhaps to defend yourself in mortal combat. Because those plates, used in an aggressive manner, could kill a man.

After lunch, we grabbed our packs and started to hike down to Baranco Camp (both in altitude and cardinal direction). During lunch, clouds rolled in over Lava tower and remained present as we embarked on the trail down the mountain. Fog on this portion of the mountain is not uncommon, and while the temperatures were a bit cooler, it was nothing a extra layer or jacket couldn’t handle.

Strong Emyn Muil vibes

Everlasting flowers – life finds a way

Every now and then on the descent thru the alpine desert of black and brown volcanic rocks, if you turned around, you’d catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro between the clouds, putting on a dramatic show.

Still on target

Dropping nearly 2,000 ft in elevation, we returned to areas where vegetation grows. In particular, this was our first glimpse at the iconic-looking Giant Groudsel. Per the UK website, the Giant Groundsel (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari) is a species of the Senecio genus, found predominantly in the alpine zones of Mount Kilimanjaro. This prehistoric plant is unique for its otherworldly appearance and impressive adaptability. Some of the larger “trees” are over 100 years old. When the leaves die, new ones grow on top of them, leaving the dead leaves intact to protect the trunk. This adaptation gives the Groundsels the tools they need to survive at roughly 14,000 ft on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

Giant groundsels are beautiful and strange

New album cover for the band “They Might Be Giant Grounsels”

Is James… a Giant?

The trail was rocky because it used to be a river bed. We were able to walk a little faster on the downhill, but we still took it “Pole, Pole” to make sure we got down safely. The last section was full of groundsels which made for a great view.

Back on the trail to camp

Baranco Camp appearing in the distance thru the fog/cloud

We arrived at Baranco Camp by mid-afternoon and checked in with the ranger station. Adam and James arrived a few minutes later, having been delayed by knees and hiking pole conditions, respectively. Fortunately for Adam, the next couple days will be primarily uphill. And as for James, the hiking pole repair efforts may or may not prove to be successful, but the hiking pole repair discussion was classic.

Made it to Baranco Camp

Spotting our tents at Baranco Camp

After locating our tents and settling in, we had time to relax and enjoy happy hour. We learned that the larger camps on Kilimanjaro actually offer WiFi. You get 30 minutes for free (and if you have an iPhone, Ari can get you an additional 30 by virtue of his technological wizardry and Apple’s IP privacy feature). This prompted all of us to consider our most pressing queries for the outside world and what to do with our 30 precious minutes of internet. For example… How many tik toks can you watch in 30 minutes? How many podcasts can you download in 30 minutes? How long will it take to upload a couple photos to the “left behind” Google chat group so they know we are still alive? Who is winning the early stages of the Tour de France?

Moment of zen at happy hour

Amid these pressing questions and strategically-timed WiFi activations, we passed our health checks and prepared for dinner. Tonight the menu featured zucchini soup (Mel approved), noodles, mashed potatoes, pepper steak, and a pineapple/papaya fruit combo. The giant mound of mashed potatoes was very useful to create a 3D map to illustrate our hiking route up Kilimanjaro. (Note to self: should get a Kilimanjaro mashed potato or jello mold, lol)

After dinner, August presented us our usual briefing on tomorrow’s hike, telling us what to expect and what we should wear (or “how to wear” as August phrases it). In particular, tomorrow’s hike includes the infamous Barranco Wall that we climb almost immediately after we depart in the morning. The name “Baranco Wall” sounds imposing, but according to August and most of the internet, it’ll be fine. Nevertheless, anything involving scaling a wall does not enthuse James, especially the part called the “kissing stone”, named as such because hikers need to pass by a very narrow path close to a sheer face of rock. Ari re-dubbed it the “African Blarney Stone” to help make it sound less scary, but I’m not sure that helped. Tomorrow we shall see!

Day 5: Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut

by Joanna

Updated: August 14, 2024

Day 4: Big Tree Camp to Shira 1 Camp

by Joanna

Updated: August 4, 2024

1 Comment

Good morning! First night in our new tent home was pretty good. After years of hammock-camping, we had a concern that a return to the ground level in the Mountain Hardwear Trango 3 might be tough for the 45-year old set, but the combination of the sleeping pad, the sleeping bag, and our air mattresses seemed to get the job done (pending whether one of our air mattresses was working properly, which — spoiler alert — it was not, as we came to discover over the next couple days. But that’s a future us problem!).

BONUS! We had some wildlife drama to keep things interesting during the night. Before heading to sleep, the guides told us we may hear some monkeys and jackals scouring the campsite for food during the night. Sure enough, at about 12:30am, we heard some screaming monkey sounds very close to our tents. The monkey (or monkeys) liked our camp and was not planning to leave, or be quiet, anytime soon. Then, clear as a bell, we heard one of the guides shout “FINE! DO WHAT YOU WANT!” and the monkey never made another peep. Ari confirmed he heard the exact same thing, so it wasn’t a Kilimanjaro jungle fever dream.

Even with the monkey entertainment, we got plenty rest (temps did not dip below freezing). Wake up call is at 6:30am, but we awoke quite refreshed at 4:30am, so we had plenty of time to relax, eat a wake-up snack (trail mix), and learn a routine of re-packing and organizing all of our stuff inside the cozy confines of of 92″ x 64″ alpine tent.

Rise and shine and bags on the tarp!

Breakfast was delicious. The eggs and sausage (let’s call them hot dogs) hit the spot. We didn’t know it yet, but us and porridge would become very well-acquainted over the next seven days. Eggs and sausage come and go, but porridge will ALWAYS be there for you.

After breakfast, we stepped out of the dining tent and discovered the porters has already deconstructed our camp. These guys are amazing! We made our last-minute day-pack adjustments, and were ready to go right on schedule at 7:45am — we are definitely on “UK time” now, hooray!

Melanie is still the No. 1 draft pick if we were a fantasy hiking team

“The Allegory of Coffee vs No Coffee”

The day’s hike began in the Rainforest zone and eventually emerged into the Heather-Moorland zone. It started at 9,144 ft and ended at 11,472 ft when we arrived at the Shira One campsite. During the first part of the hike in the jungle, the weather was amazing and the trail stayed dry — avoiding what could easily have been a muddy disaster with a small amount of rain.

Day 2 hike map

Day 2 hike (detail)

After about an hour, we transitioned to the Heather-Moorland zone. It was a striking change of scenery. There were no longer large trees around us, replaced with bushes and shorter plants more adapted to the higher elevations and cooler temperatures. Looking west above the jungle, a cloud layer sat atop the lower cultivation zone, and Mount Meru rose in the distance.

Westward view of Mount Meru after emerging from the jungle

We were out of the jungle, and the sun was shining (remember your sunscreen, people!), but the Moorland zone is no joke and our relatively easy hike quickly turned a bit challenging about halfway thru. The slopes were steep and we could see hikers on the ridge far above us. When we eventually reached the top of that ridge, we would quickly discover another higher ridge in the distance. That probably played out about 4-5 times. As James eloquently put it, “So many false plateaus!” Without the larger vegetation, the sense of distance was altered as well. Aaron compared it to the Vegas Strip, in that “objects in the distance are much farther away than they look.”

That ridge is SURELY the top!

Pretty vegetation in this area

Along the way, we took several snack breaks and enjoyed the view. As we approached 11,000 ft, we found ourselves passing thru a cloud layer or two. The cooler air was a nice break from sun. We also discovered the higher elevations afforded better odds for those of us hunting for international cellular service signals. This is how we came to learn that Ari’s garage door in Minneapolis was successfully closed this morning. We also successfully sent a proof-of-life photo to Becca (and the “left-behind” google chat).

Northward view over Shira Plateu as some light clouds roll in

Breaks are for millennial selfies and cellular signals

At long last, we cleared the final ridge and our GPS apps no longer indicated we had a significant number of contours to traverse. Welcome to the Shira Plateu! The last 2-3 kilometers were a flat walk eastward with a great view of Kilimanjaro in the distance, and our campsite growing ever larger in the foreground. Everybody eventually made it — even Lily, who got a bit queasy/cold as a result of her never-ending quest to avoid wearing extra layers.

It’s a straight shot to our campsite from here

Still on target

When we got to camp, we were greeted/congratulated by the UK staff who, once again, worked their magic and had our entire operation up and running by the time we arrived. One “downside” of our amazing weather without precipitation is the higher levels of dust. As such, one of the MVP candidates among the porters for the next week was Abraham, who was always one of the first people to dap you up on arrival, and would then immediately dust off your shoes & gaiters — a HUGE help keeping our tents clean.

We unpacked a bit and soon gathered in the dining tent for a lunch of leek soup (not to be confused with “weak soup”) and pasta with minced beef sauce and shredded cheese. We discovered a bottle of hot sauce on the table labelled “Mazoon Chilli” that featured the following ingredients: Red Chilli, Mango, Ginger, Vinegar, & Garlic. As expected, this stuff was fire (in a good way), especially when added to the right dishes, such as the leek soup. Mazoon Chilli sauce might be the dining tent MVP.

Checking in at Shira 1 Camp

Less crowded… Less trees… Less monkeys

Home sweet home day two

Everlasting flowers

Complete with spiky protection

For the remainder of the afternoon, we took it easy around camp, and gathered in the dining tent to play some card games. If you preferred a normal card game, you could play hearts. If you preferred a more wacky card game that — as eloquently noted by Ari, “you could win by accident” — then you were probably playing Fluxx (but with an appropriate nature theme for camping).

Also, in case you weren’t taking your game seriously enough, there was a funny moment when the guides popped-in the tent to give us some information, but kindly waited seeing that we were focused on the games. After we took a pause and directed out attention to them, they jokingly said “No, keep going, we need to figure out who the loser is first!”

Nature Fluxx!

Having survived our second day of hiking, this must be the point when the Ultimate Kilimanjaro team figures we might be around for a while (just kidding), so we were all invited to join the full team outside the dining tent to participate in the official introduction/welcome ceremony. It actually makes a lot of sense to do that here instead of the very crowded Big Tree Camp.

August introduced all 30+ of the porters making it possible for us to do this climb and we are incredibly grateful for their support! After that, August tossed it over to Nelson (our server and primary music man) who stepped forward to lead the group in dance & song. Later, August explained that UK has hundreds of porters and that groups are called for duty in alphabetical order. And thus, we learned why over 50% of our porters’ names start with “J”.

Shortly after the introduction ceremony, we watched the colors of Kilimanjaro change rapidly with the setting sun. Following one last burst of bright orange, twilight settled in, and we gathered for dinner. Being in the Moorland zone at over 11,000 ft (+2,500 ft compared to last night), we all needed to put on our extra layers to stay warm after the sun went down. Dinner featured a zucchini soup, avocado salad, and stewed chicken curry on rice. We devoured all the food before heading back to our tents for the night.

Kilimanjaro an hour before sunset

Kilimanjaro five minutes before sunset

After a second day of hiking, we are feeling great! So far so good. With a few additional layers, the colder temps should not be a problem. There won’t be any monkeys tonight, so who (or what) will provide the overnight animal entertainment?!?! Stay tuned!

Day 3: Moshi to Big Tree Camp

by Joanna

Updated: August 13, 2024

1 Comment

Today the real adventure begins! We started with an early wake-up call to give ourselves enough time to make any last-minute packing adjustments to the holy trinity of bags we needed to prepare… 1) our day packs, 2) the suitcase we leave in storage at the Parkview Hotel, and 3) the duffel bag we bring with us on the hike.

Saying we “bring” the duffel with us is quite generous, since the porters will actually be carrying this bag up the mountain for us. Therefore, the duffel needs to be the most carefully packed item, as there is a hard 15 kgs (33 lbs) weight limit. That duffel weight limit also includes the rental sleeping bag, which ended up being a bit more than the expected 5 lbs — but no worries, we just tossed a few extra snacks into our day packs! Matt’s detailed spreadsheet with the exact weight of every item he packed proved surprisingly useful.

Don’t leave anything behind! Ready to roll…

Once packed and downstairs, our whole group gathered for breakfast at 7am — along with folks from the other two non-private UK groups that were starting the hike today as well. These were certainly very nice people — but no fraternizing with the competition!!! 🙂

After the Ultimate Kilimanjaro (UK) guides weighed our bags (with a fairly ancient scale that was returning some questionable results vs my spreadsheet, fwiw), and final adjustments were made, we were all cleared for takeoff.

One last thing we had to do was hand over our suitcase, extra cash in excess of ~$200 (which was the max amount UK wants you to have on your person on the mountain, if any!), and passports for safekeeping at the hotel. Leaving the passports was not my favorite thing, but it was comforting to know that if all nine of us had our passports disappeared we could start a new life in Tanzania together.

These bags passed the weight limit test

By 8:30am we were ready to go, but we waited until ~9:45am for our bus to arrive with additional members of our UK team for support — in particular, loading all of our bags to the top of the bus and somehow securing them up there! We also met Baraka, one of our assistant guides, who everyone calls Obama. Damien was our driver again, and once the porters finished packing the bus, we snapped a group photo and headed on our way.

So it begins…

Heading out!

The drive took about three hours with a 20-minute rest stop. There were people aggressively attempting to sell food, drinks, hats, and any other items you could possibly want thru our van windows once we stopped. It did not seem to bother them that the windows were closed.

Outside the van, Aaron used this time to procure some sunglasses. He found a guy, explained what he was looking for, and then the guy full-on SPRINTED across the street to another shop. He was back moments later with a handful of options for Aaron. The glasses were probably $.30, but that epic level of service was easily worth the agreed upon price.

Last chance to buy sunglasses

When we arrived at the entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park, our porters went to work unloading the van. But not just our porters… hundreds of porters from all the various groups and different guide companies were busy unpacking vans and preparing to start the hike. It was quite the operation.

Our group secured a few open benches in the picnic hut to eat our box lunches and fill up our water bottles/bladders. Other hikers were getting the full tablecloth & silverware routine from their tour providers (which seemed like overkill, tbh). The UK lunches were great — especially the chocolates.

Organized chaos!

After finishing lunch and topping off our water supply, we were on the way! JUST KIDDING! We needed to hurry up and wait a bit more. There was a line for hikers to register by signing our names in the log book (which we did), and then was another line for our guides to finish their registration and administrative tasks (permits and such, probably). Because there were probably a couple hundred hiking clients (or more) milling about and each with an army of guides & porters, it’s not surprising we had to wait a bit. Early July is not the busiest season on Kilimanjaro, but it’s probably about 75-80% of the max.

With some deep breaths and a renewed sense of patience for “Moshi time!”, we took a few moments to check our gear, perform some calisthenics, and most importantly — in honor of our volcano-hiking Bolivian guide Oscar — we made an offering to Pachamama with the $1 Coke I bought on the van ride over (“the bubbles are good for you”). Spoiler alert: Pachamama came thru BIG TIME. Oscar, this one’s for you!!!

Around 2:15pm, August gathered us up and said that we should start hiking with our other two assistant guides, James and Dismas. August said he would finish up the paperwork and catch us in 20 minutes. As expected, the number one mantra Kilimanjaro guides want to convey to hikers is to GO SLOW. In Swahili, that is “Pole, Pole”. Get used to it! They said we can let the guides know if the pace is too fast. Or conversely, they humorously said they would also let us know if the pace is too fast. Finally, we were on the trail!

Baraka, Dismas, James, and August almost ready

The day’s hike from the trailhead to our first camp was entirely in the rainforest zone. We were lucky to have clear skies and warm weather without being too hot. The trail was dirt and clay and easy to walk on. There were several steep sections that we took “pole, pole”. We saw some monkeys hanging out in the trees. Dismas set the pace and made the hike very manageable. Less manageable was the UK call-and-response chant that Dismas tried to teach us. Seems like we’re gonna need a couple more days to get that down.

Map of today’s drive from Moshi, and hike to Big Tree Camp

Day 1 hike (detail)

Made it to the first sign!

Nice jungle scenery for the first day

After about two hours, August and Obama caught up with us. We said we were expecting them for a while. They said, well, you know… paperwork! The good news is that we were now on the hike, and “Moshi Time” is not as big of a problem once the Ulitmate Kilimanjaro team is in charge. Sure enough, August’s prediction that we were now only 20 minutes away from arriving at our first camp was right on the money.

August and Obama finally caught up!

There are monkeys in this picture!

The name of our first camp is Mti Mkubwa, meaning “Big Tree”, hence, Big Tree Camp. Dismas pointed out one big tree in particular that the camp was named after, though — to be fair to the rest of the forest — there are many large trees here.

We (Joanna) registered our group at the check-in book and made our way to the area where UK had prepared our camp. This is one of the smaller camp sites and there are many groups so it was a bit crowded. The guides said that the other camps will be more spread out. Turns out it was not a big deal at all… the more the merrier. And the monkeys are big fans.

Made it to Big Tree Camp!

The porters worked their magic

Adam getting ready

Jo REALLY likes camping

We got ourselves acquainted and organized in our individual tents and then gathered in the dining tent for hot beverages and snacks. The guides administered our health check (all good) and gave us the briefing for tomorrow. After those formalities, we were served an amazing dinner of soup, home fries, veggies, and fried tilapia with homemade tartar sauce. Everything was DELICIOUS. It should have started to dawn on us that we are NOT gonna need about 75% of the snacks we brought.

First mountain meal… 10/10 would recommend

Ready to catch some shut eye, we went back to our tents to get ready for the night and prepare for the morning. Despite today’s occasional bouts of “Moshi time”, we are now officially in the park and on our way! It was a great first day of eight. Tomorrow’s hike will be a bit longer, but since we will start in the morning, we’ll have plenty of time at our next camp to relax.

Day 2: Moshi

by Joanna

Updated: August 13, 2024

Day 1: Chicago to Moshi

by Joanna

Updated: August 14, 2024

1 Comment

Our adventure to Tanzania began in the typical fashion: an Addison bus and a Blue Line to O’Hare. The rides went smoothly and we made it to Terminal 5 with plenty of time to spare. We attempted to get into the Priority Pass lounge, but it was only available for first class passengers at that time (lame). But it was for the best because from what we saw, that lounge was small, cramped, and probably included free Covid. We opted for lunch at Big Bowl instead. Yum!

Don’t be fooled by the Asia advertisements, we are going to Tanzania

We took our time eating and eventually walked to the gate for boarding our KLM flight to Amsterdam. The flight and crew were great! Bonus points to KLM. One in-flight KLM entertainment option was trivia with a community scoreboard. Matt spent most of the flight trying to post the highest score possible. But the entertainment value really went up upon discovering the other individual challenging those high scores was seated directly in front of him. After trying for hours to de-throne Matt’s high score, the guy failed in one last glorious attempt, threw his hands up, and quit the app to go play Yahtzee. Boom!

Making our way to the first stop

Once we arrived in Amsterdam, we had an hour to kill before the rest of our group arrived, so we tried another Priority Pass lounge. The last time we were at AMS for a Delta-KLM flight to Norway, they bumped us and would absolutely not give us lounge access. This time, we eventually found our way into the Priority Pass lounge, but like the one in Chicago, it was not very impressive. There was a waiting list, the food options were minimal, and the coffee machine was broken (no milk, then no beans, then overflowing). We guess Priority Pass kinda sucks now… except maybe for the one guy in there who poured himself a water glass full of gin at 8AM!

After the brief stop in the “lounge”, we walked back to the gate to meet up with almost the rest of the group who had arrived from Minnesota. Adam flew from LAX and met up with us a few minutes later.

Long walk from arriving at gate F9 to departure at F8

These seats are reserved for hikers

The Flying Dutchman

Boarding was a few minutes late, and we needed to wait another 30 minutes for the airspace over Germany to clear up, but neither were a big problem. We ended up getting bulk head seats so we were quite happy. Props to the KLM air conditioning guys because they had that unit running like nobody’s business! At least we got to put our cold-weather gear to use. And another shoutout for the KLM flight attendants who are WAY nicer than you’ll find with other airlines. When asked by a fellow passenger what the difference was between the chicken and the pasta lunch options, she kindly replied, “Well, a chicken is an animal and the pasta is pasta.”

It’s like first class for basic economy people!

Good idea to fly around Sudan

After landing at Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, we joined the crowds going through the very slow customs line. An hour later, we were all through, collected our bags, and met Damien, our Ultimate Kilimanjaro driver who took us to the Parkview Hotel. It is currently dark out, so no park views until morning. We did see a cat at the airport though, so we are already seeing nature.

Made it!

Group Shots need some work

Tomorrow we have the day to rest, buy/rent any gear we still need (like a sleeping bag), and get briefed for the hike.

Hotel room complete with princess net

Getting Ready for Tanzania

by Joanna

Updated: June 27, 2024

1 Comment

What do you do when your friends have been joking about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro for 20 years? You invite them to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro of course!

After some research and recommendations, we decided to book with Ultimate Kilimanjaro for an 8-day Lemosho route trek and a 6-day safari. Matt, Jo, Adam, Aaron, James, Ari, Cordwood, Lily, and Melanie will be going on the hike. James and Ari will then go home and Emily will join us for the safari to everywhere the light touches: Lake Manyara, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro crater.

We’ve been training and preparing for a few months and are ready to tackle all 19,341 feet of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We can even destroy the One Ring at the top.

With an attitude of Hakuna Matata, we are ready for whatever Tanzania holds for us!

Us in two Saturdays, probably

Day 10: Santiago to Chicago

by Joanna

Updated: April 4, 2024

2 Comments

After yesterday’s late night of travel stress, we slept in a bit today at the United-provided Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Santiago. But! We also intended to wake up in time for the free breakfast and take advantage of our bonus day in the city. The weather this morning was beautiful and the sky seemed more clear than our previous visits to the city. Could even see the Andes in the distance.

Looking for Easter rock concerts

We started with the breakfast buffet, which was solid. Then we heard some music coming from the event space near the lobby and discovered a big Easter rock concert/mass thing. Hard to tell, but we watched and rocked out for a couple minutes before they tried to seat us. Fun fact, there was a Bat Mitzvah in the same space when we arrived at 2AM last night, so look no further when considering where to book your next religious music party in Chile!

Once we hit the streets, our plan was to hike up to see the Virgin Mary statue atop San Cristobal Hill — a hike we did back during our visit in 2019. Only this time, it is more thematically appropriate because it’s Easter Sunday! Also, this hike is a good choice because while a lot of places are closed for Easter (La Burguesia… Noooo!), the public park stays open.

Along the way, we encountered some sort of biking event which closed the streets to traffic and filled them with cyclists instead. Then we discovered the same sculpture park we wandered thru last time. And finally, we found a series of promotional tents giving away useful sample items to the masses — ranging from sunscreen to toothpaste. Colgate even set up a trampoline exercise workout zone to get your heart-rate pumping before your hike and/or bike up the hill!

Santiago’s version of “Bike the Drive”

Wish Chicago had this park

More clear view of the city than our last visit

After having some fun, we hiked up the hill. Started on a paved road, but mixed in some forested, mountain-bike paths for good measure. Finally, we made it to the top and Easter’d it up with people attending mass by the Virgin Statue. We rewarded ourselves with Mote con Huesillo – a sweet peach drink with husked wheat. We walked back down the road and back to the hotel. In total, we walked about 6.25 miles.

Beautiful bonus day in Chile

Happy Easter!!!

Pro tip: We each got our own this time

Bees approve!

Curly fry art

Back at the hotel, we finished our leftover pizza and packed up for our return to the airport. We got an Uber and arrived perfectly just before check-in time. Because we were now flying Delta, we were also allowed access to the Priority Pass lounge that shot us down yesterday. From the windows of the lounge, we could see our broken United plane from last night still sitting on the tarmac.

Solid martini from bartender Jo

Our cancelled fight from last night still hasn’t moved

Given our last-minute booking on this flight from another airline, we didn’t have seats next to each other, but they managed to help us change our tickets and seat us together. The plane actually boarded, and even took off! We were on our way from Santiago to Atlanta on the overnight flight.

Finding two seats together like an Easter Egg hunt

Santiago sunset

Next stop ATL

We arrived in Atlanta a few minutes late. We were at the back of the plane so it took a while to get out. Are Delta passengers slower than usual??? Hard to tell. Anyways, we breezed passed everyone in the very long customs line by going through Global Entry. But then, of course, we still had to wait for the bag, and get back in the single security line. Eventually, we made it to our gate a few minutes before boarding, and once again, they managed to seat us together.

ATL to ORD

Back in chilly and rainy Chicago, we landed in concourse M (which is in Terminal 5, in case you were wondering!). Again, we were seated in the back of the plane, so we enjoyed another chance to observe Delta passengers setting records in the “most time needed to deplane” category. First time we’ve been the LAST two people off of a plane! Anyways, good thing we weren’t in a hurry. We grabbed our bags and eventually made our way to the Blue Line.

Nice try Atlanta, but this is the real “plane train”

Despite losing a day to the cancelled flight, we managed to pick our schedules up pretty well. Jo headed straight to work from the Addison stop — which is fitting because that’s how the trip started. Meanwhile, Matt headed home on the 152 Bus and was able to pick up Poe no earlier than we would have if we had arrived yesterday. So, all good! And with that, another trip blog is in the books!