24 August 2011,
Day three was my personal favourite one, many reasons for this, but the main one was probably that we were now really making headway, we were getting close, the scenery was changing fast and the adventure was truly happening. Home seemed extremely far away and the all here and now was the goal of Kili. I was fully acquainted with the camping lifestyle, and was taking it all in. The weather, as expected, could not have been any better, the scenery was amazing and the fact that we were well above the clouds with a day long view of the somewhat scarcily snow topped summit created an unexplainable atmosphere. The vibe on the mountain is amazing, so many driven people all with a common goal in mind.
The landscape changed progressively from somewhat green to continually more and more barren and rocky. By lunch at Lava tower there was hadly a plant to be seen. Getting closer to the lunar landscape people spoke of. The glaciers hanging above us provided the cool breeze requiring the fleece jackets to be taken out of the bag. Lunch at 4600m was once again excellent. The chef really outdid himself. Cucumber soup may seem overrated now, but on Kili... its an all time favorite. The main comprised of fried chicken, corn dumplings, and french fries! Washed down with some mango juice and a good cup of Africafe. Once all the water bottles and camelbacks were refilled with fresh kili water we continued on the trail to the lush and green baranco camp. A few hours were left, but we were assusred it would all become easier as we would descend pretty fast.
The sight of Mt Meru took away just about all the discomfort! We were standing eye to eye with the summit of a 4800m mountain. We still had just over 1000m to climb! Puts everything into perspective. The altitude sickness was slowly taking its toll and most of us felt a nagging headache forming... the thought of descending to Barranco really helped the motivation.
Once at camp, surrounded by the massive Senecio plants native to the high altitude of the Kilimanjaro, we were welcomed by a fresh tub of water for washing. Oh was that tub welcome! This was the perfect moment for a Kichaa crew photo. The seven of us had a crew of 24 men looking after us and guiding us to the summit. The crew was comprised of porters, a chef, chef assistant, personnel cook, guide (John), assistant guide (Martin), trekking assistants (Shabby) and all incredibly well organised. Thanks to John everything ran as smoothly as it possibly could. John, compliments to you on your great leadership skills.
Day three was my personal favourite one, many reasons for this, but the main one was probably that we were now really making headway, we were getting close, the scenery was changing fast and the adventure was truly happening. Home seemed extremely far away and the all here and now was the goal of Kili. I was fully acquainted with the camping lifestyle, and was taking it all in. The weather, as expected, could not have been any better, the scenery was amazing and the fact that we were well above the clouds with a day long view of the somewhat scarcily snow topped summit created an unexplainable atmosphere. The vibe on the mountain is amazing, so many driven people all with a common goal in mind.
The landscape changed progressively from somewhat green to continually more and more barren and rocky. By lunch at Lava tower there was hadly a plant to be seen. Getting closer to the lunar landscape people spoke of. The glaciers hanging above us provided the cool breeze requiring the fleece jackets to be taken out of the bag. Lunch at 4600m was once again excellent. The chef really outdid himself. Cucumber soup may seem overrated now, but on Kili... its an all time favorite. The main comprised of fried chicken, corn dumplings, and french fries! Washed down with some mango juice and a good cup of Africafe. Once all the water bottles and camelbacks were refilled with fresh kili water we continued on the trail to the lush and green baranco camp. A few hours were left, but we were assusred it would all become easier as we would descend pretty fast.
The sight of Mt Meru took away just about all the discomfort! We were standing eye to eye with the summit of a 4800m mountain. We still had just over 1000m to climb! Puts everything into perspective. The altitude sickness was slowly taking its toll and most of us felt a nagging headache forming... the thought of descending to Barranco really helped the motivation.
Once at camp, surrounded by the massive Senecio plants native to the high altitude of the Kilimanjaro, we were welcomed by a fresh tub of water for washing. Oh was that tub welcome! This was the perfect moment for a Kichaa crew photo. The seven of us had a crew of 24 men looking after us and guiding us to the summit. The crew was comprised of porters, a chef, chef assistant, personnel cook, guide (John), assistant guide (Martin), trekking assistants (Shabby) and all incredibly well organised. Thanks to John everything ran as smoothly as it possibly could. John, compliments to you on your great leadership skills.
The high altitude took its toll on us after dinner. Once the darkness set in and the temperature shot down we soon retreated to our tents. Tomorrow we wouild head to Barafu and that would technically be the summit day already!
Breakfast of champions
The team in the morning
Hike to lava tower
The lava tower - 4600m - Lunch
View of Mt Meru - 4800m
First glimpse of Barranco
The team on day 3 at Barranco camp - 3800m
Maarten, Joris, me, Peter, Wouter, Jeroen, Floris
The entire Kichaa expedition crew
Tent at 3900m
No comments:
Post a Comment