Day 5: Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut

Last night we faced our first chilly temperatures on the mountain — dropping into the upper 20s. We layered up, made sure our sleeping bags were zipped, and were perfectly warm in no time. Besides the temperatures, last night’s wildlife was different as well. Shira 1 Camp is no longer in the Jungle zone (aka. the monkey zone), so the Moorland zone offered some new “animal antagonists” — which is what Ari termed the wild dogs and golden jackals we heard during the night. But tbh, they didn’t actually antagonize us at all. Rock on, jackals.

Shira Sunrise

By the time we awoke and packed our duffels, the sun was rising and the temps were warming. The dining tent served up a breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, and yes, porridge. Just gotta be careful with that bacon grease while trying to take notes in your journal! Following breakfast, we made our final preparations by the tarp (sunscreen alert!) and attended to some minor equipment malfunctions (Ari’s water bladder).

Morning Tarp Routine

Today’s hike is a gently-rising 6-mile route from Shira 1 Camp, thru the Moorland meadow, to Moir Hut — a lower-traffic campsite at the base of the Lent Hills. Starting elevation is 11,500 ft and Moir Hut is at 13,600 ft. Later in the afternoon, we’ll do a shorter, steeper acclimatization hike up in surrounding hills up to 14,100 ft. But first, let’s get there!

Day 3 hike map

Day 3 hikes (detail)

The hike’s rise in elevation was more gradual than yesterday, but the hiking path was somewhat uneven and littered with “trippable” rocks — providing plenty of reasons to stay focused on each step you take. Even so, we made good time in good spirits. The sky was clear and we had an amazing view of Kilimanjaro in front of us and we traveled east.

Kilimanjaro snowmen

James and Dismas taking a break with us

The second half of the hike started to ascend a bit more. When we turned around and looked west, we were afforded great views of Mt. Meru in the distance, and our previous Shira I camp below. It is also fascinating to see the larger vegetation look more and more “bestragled” as we increase in altitude, given the increasingly tough environmental conditions.

Hey guys, looking rough… Have you considered moving to a lower altitude?

By this point of the hike, many of the other groups sharing the trail with us diverted to the south and headed to Shira 2 camp, but we continued to Moir Hut. This meant our trail became much less crowded than earlier in the morning. Meanwhile, Matt attempted to put the Osmo Pocket 3 hyper-lapse feature to use, which turns out to be a decent way to show you portions of our hikes. You will just need to add the Benny Hill music yourself.

As we got higher and closer to camp, we passed by a lava tube formation with some cool caves. Geology geeks rejoice! The lava tube offers an exit for water run-off originating higher on the mountain, and some fun vegetation takes full advantage.

Continuing on the way

Lava tube & caves on the right

Smaller plants having a better time up here

Upon arriving at Moir Hut, we commenced our afternoon routine… dap up Abraham for a dusting, check into our tent, and go eat lunch. On the menu this afternoon was onion soup, chicken wraps, grilled cheese with peppers, and fruit.

Moir Hut… less people = moir space!

Home sweet home day three

After lunch, Baraka and August asked us about the chains & golden rings we were all wearing. Perhaps you have the same question — being keen-eyed observers of the photos we’ve posted so far on this blog. Well, glad you asked.

As in the Lord of the Rings — which is, of course, a long-form documentary about climbing a famous volcano — we realized there was a fellowship of NINE of us who embarked on this Kilimanjaro adventure. To honor this topical and numerical symmetry, we acquired nine precious replica ONE rings (complete with the etched language of Mordor, which I will not utter here), put them on chains, and handed them out to our group back in Moshi for motivation. Will they help? Only time will tell, because, of course, the hearts of men are easily corrupted, and the ring of power has a mind of it’s own.

Anyways, we explained to the guides the rings only have sentimental value (Temu.com, baby!) which seemed to relieve them from thinking they had a group of nine crazy people each trying to lose a valuable gold ring hiking up the mountain. Matt also pulled out his phone and showed them a couple key scenes from the movies to help jog their memories when they didn’t seem to recognize the reference. I was pretty sure we just saved Baraka 12 hours of watching LOTR, but after a few minutes, he remembered spending that time watching them 20 years ago.

After our cinema discussion and a couple hours to digest lunch, we re-grouped at 4pm for our acclimatization hike. The acclimatization hike was only a mile in distance, but very steep, taking us from 13,600 ft to 14,100 ft along one of the steep ridges visible to the north of the Moir Hut camp area. August gave us the mission briefing and turned us over to James & Dismas. Meanwhile, August needed to go the other direction to find a cellular signal to order up additional supplies and food from Moshi. Ok! Good idea!

The late afternoon weather was perfect and our 500 ft acclimatization hike was a success. Along the way, we learned previous European hiking clients (may) have actually taken the time to clear off a soccer-pitch sized area of the alpine desert terrain — which would involve moving a ton of rocks. I don’t know why they would make that up, so it’s probably true. One perk of the acclimatization hike was not needing to carry our day packs. Popping in headphones for the first time, Dua Lipa was excellent musical motivation.

After arriving on the top of the ridge, we stayed for about 20 minutes to enjoy the amazing view above the clouds and to help with the acclimatization process. Dismas and James busted out a rendition of Jambo Bwana to celebrate the occasion.

View from the top

Is there cell service up here?

Girl crew approved

Welcome new members of the 14,000 ft club!!!!

On the way back down

After the hike back down we had some time before dinner and watched the sunset. In one direction, we attempted a timelapse of the sunset. In the other direction, we just recorded the light reflecting off Kilimanjaro for ten minutes. The results are below. The timelapse is ok, but watching the colors change in real time — over a short period of 10 minutes — is pretty cool.

Setting up for epic sunset shots

Great end to the day

We bundled up for another chilly night and shuffled into the dining tent for dinner. One thing is clear about our trip so far… Ultimate Kilimanjaro does not mess around when it comes to food. They feed you well. And they may also be able to read your mind.

Earlier, Adam joked that he was hoping to get pizza for lunch (see video above). That did not happen at lunch, but lo and behold, guess what we had for dinner? Pizza. Along with pasta with meatballs, flambéed pineapple, and butternut squash soup.