D00 Arrival in Africa

21 August 2011,


The long haul Egypt Air flight departed from Schiphol at 16:00 heading for Cairo. The flight to Cairo felt short and we were in good spirits. Once acquainted with the African airport we promptly sped to the transfers gate, made it past the man with the stamp, and made it to the international terminal of Cairo international airport in record time… aka The Burger King. This is where we had our second dinner and killed the few hours of waiting by thinking about what we were about to do. Seven guys, reasonably fit guys, had all consented to take on the challenge to climb to the highest free standing mountain in Africa. Uhuru peak, vowed to touch the signboard located 5895 meters above sea level. A feat that would take us 6 days to reach, a peak that would make for an epic experience, untold adventure and an unbelievable test of character. We had all heard stories, all knew someone who had attempted the mountain, all had a distant acquaintance who made it to the top, but we had all heard the “almost made it” or “stopped just below the summit” stories… We had our expectations, all had our goals and we would all soon see what was to come.

The next security check went swiftly and soon we were in a bus being carted off to our second flight of the day. Had our third dinner onboard, tried to get some sleep and before we knew it, we were in Dar es Salaam. The capital of Tanzania. There was a mad rush for the visa, once this was over and we had all safely collected our bags, we made our way outside. It was early, the sun had just risen and there we were... in Africa! The adventure had begun. We had many many hours before our domestic flight would take off to Kilimanjaro international. What to do... well what else but take a taxi into town for a quick impromptu sightseeing tour? It being Ramadan didn’t help much with the first impressions, as all the city streets were just about deserted, shops were closed and even finding a cup of coffee proved a true challenge. Only the odd Mzungu place was open. No matter… we had a good walk around and proceeded back to the airport. There we could check in and make our way to the gate, Precision Air PW522 was waiting. We were amped to get to Moshi.

Before getting aboard - Wout, Joris, Peter, me, Maarten and Floris. (Jeroen was already in Moshi).

First glimpse of the peak

The flight went as scheduled, everything was timely. At Kilimanjaro international we would meet team member number 7, Jeroen. Jeroen was brought to the airport together with the legendary Francis [Francis Makala owner of Jipe Trekking and Safaris]. The crew was complete! Francis drove us back and checked us into our hotel. The plan was to settle in and meet him in his office at 13:30 to finalise the details, make the payment, answer our questions and arrange for any additional equipment hire.

While looking for the ideal trekking company to do the Kili I spent quite some time browsing Google, and screening the Lonelyplanet and Rough guide forums. Francis seemed to come up often and after I sent him an enquiry I knew that this was our guy. He was reliable from the start, delivered on everything that he had promised and proved to be a truly genuine honest guy. Highly recommend him.

Francis took us to a small equipment hire shop where we could all get ourselves ski pants and jackets for the summit day. Also a place to arrange a sleeping bag and any other trekking stuff we would need but didnt bring. This is also where we met John, our leader and guide. Basically... you could come to Moshi completely unprepared but armed with some US Dollars you can rent just about everything you need. No problem. We were ready! One more night. In the moring we would be collected and brought to the Machame gate.

The evening was spent at a great local joint called Tai Mahal. Excellent food. (Our trekking guide) John joined us for a while during dinner. The day was ended with one pre adventure beer (Kilimanjaro off course) with both Martin (second guide) and John in a small local pub. We would be picked up from the entrance of Buffalo hotel at 9:30 sharp. When the lights went out it was 20:30… We each slept 12 hours without a problem! We needed it!

D01 Machame Gate to Machame Camp (max height 3000m)

22 August 2011,

Revived and full with energy we assembled at the hotel gate the next morning, today we will start climbing! After having had weeks and months of looking forward to this day we all were very excited to finally start the climb! We had a simple breakfast in the hotel and got into the van, in which Francis and John already were waiting for us.

Our route to the summit is the Machame route, a route that will take 6 days – longer than the 5 days coca-cola route – but that will yield us a higher success rate because there is more time for acclimatization, plus it will offer us some great views of the rough nature that mount Kili has to offer. With Machame route you basically round the mountain for half, meaning you will spend more time on the high plateau which is just under the top crater. This is a great area with splendid views, but also allows you to walk at high altitude during the day, and sleep lower, we have been told this is good for acclimatization.

Machame route has one starting point, which is at Machame gate on the southwest corner of the national park and the mountain. Before being able to hike it is required to sign in (registration was also necessary on every camp on the mountain during the week), and you need to hand over your heavy backpack to the porters. It’s good to know that your heavy bag, containing all your clothes, toiletries, gloves, ski coat, scarf, sleeping bags, etc will be carried for you, and that you only need to take care of the things you need during the day, such as lunch, fleece jacket, sunglasses and some water.

During registration and the paperwork we had some time to walk around the gate area, and had a look at the weighting process: Each porter is allowed to carry a maximum of 20kg only – which is, in my eyes, already a heavy load to carry up on the mountain. In any case, these rules are well enforced and porters will be only allowed to go into the national park after having weighted their load.

After having received our lunch box and water we were ready to go! Finally we were starting our ascent. Machame gate was already at 1800meters above sealevel, some 1000 higher than Moshi, and the aim for the end of the day was to reach 3000meters. The first few kilometers were on sandy roads that were slightly ascending through a thick rainforest. We saw monkeys, and were awed by the large trees and the abundance of green around us. On the road it was quite busy, I would have expected to see many other hikers, but since you all walk with roughly the same speed the main people you see on the road are porters, who all overtook us with great speed, even with their heavy luggage. Our guide Martin led us though the rainforest, and after a few kilometers the dusty sand road stopped, and only a small trail was spiraling up on the mountain. This was the last point where it would be possible for four wheel drive cars to get up, from now on it was a hikers path only.

We had a nice lunch halfway through the rainforest, with some tasteful sandwiches, juice and roasted chicken. And after a hike of roughly 5 and a half hours we arrived at our first camp, Machame camp, 3000meter above sea level. 3000 meters didn’t seem a lot to me initially, but already we were feeling the first signs of altitude here, a very light headache came up in the end of the hike.

At Machame camp we registered at the ranger, and had some fun jumping on the dusty floor, creating clouds of dust covering every sight. We had our first experience of sleeping in the camp. Our tents were already ready, what a luxury. After washing the dust of our hands and faces we had our first dinner on the mountain in our dedicated dinner tent! I didn’t even expect this luxury since the tent, chairs and table need to be carried up the mountain, but while at it, it was very nice. When we finished dinner it was already dark, and temperature had dropped considerably. It was a clear night so we had an excellent view on the stars, and also on the summit! It still seems quite far away though, despite having covered already 2200altitude meters…

We called it a day quite early, most of us were tired of the first day’s hike. Around 21:30 hours we headed for our beds. 

The team before departure (me, Jeroen, martin, Peter, Floris, Joris, Wouter, maarten, John) 

Arrival at the gate

Signing in - Maarten

 The porter chief weighing in the carry loads

Ready to go (Joris, Peter, Jeroen, Wouter, me, Floris, Maarten -- John and Martin)

The rush at the start of the trail

Arrival at the first camp - machame hut 3000M

Written by: Wouter Pomp

D02 Machame camp to Shira Camp (max height 3800m)

23 August 2011,

At 7:00AM we were woken up with ‘water for washing’ – a little tub with hot water, good to start the day with. I had a good night of sleep, only had to go to pee two times in the night, a number of times that is normal on the mountain. With the altitude it is important to drink lots of water, resulting in nightly trips to the wooden toilet building next to the tents. Although the sun was already out and shining, you could still see that it had been quite cold during the night. The ice on the grass means it had been below zero in the night, and it made us think about the temperatures we are about to encounter higher up on the mountain.

The morning dose of " water for washing"

After a great breakfast we started for our day two of climbing, leading through a wasteland with low trees and lower bushes. We started the first few hours with a trail that was steeper than day one, also the terrain got rockier as we ascended. After a few hours we could look back and see Machame Camp, the starting point of the day laying below in the distance. Quite impressive to see what distances you can cover in such a little time.

The lunch spot

During the way the mood is good. The weather was great, we had some splendid views, and we still had enough oxygen to talk, make jokes and sing songs. It would not take long for John to call us the ‘Kichaa’ group, which means as much as Crazy Group. We all had a crack on the situation where John thought someone wanted to be raped, while the person only asked if he could get his ‘reep’ from his backpack. It took a while and many laughs before John could understand that he only wanted his energy bar, and a new joke was born.

Around 14:00 hours we enter our campsite, Shira Camp, which is at 3800 meters and is located on the high plateau surrounding the top crater. We can already see the glacier dropping down from the top, seemingly close, but still many, many miles away. This mountain is enormous!

The camp for the night

After again an awesome lunch we headed for a walk in the afternoon to 4100 meters for acclimatization. I was happy to do this walk, because even only 300 meters, the difference in height gives an advantage for acclimatization during the night. The headache of yesterday evening was gone in the morning and did not return so far, so I was willing to do anything to keep it that way!

The team after the acclimatization walk to Shira hut

We returned in the camp just before sunset. It was a splendid view to see the sun go down in this moonlike landscape, with just an occasional bush or strip of green. After dinner the temperature dropped quickly, and again it was time to go to bed early. Tired of the hike and the effects of the altitude we went to bed around 20:00hours. It took me only 5 pages of my book to fall asleep. This night the pee encounters were even colder, there was even ice on the tent during the night.

View of the Shira camp from Shira hut

The team at end of day 2 - Shira camp 3800m

Shabby, Jeroen, Martin, Peter, Floris, Maarten, me, Joris, Wouter

Written by: Wouter Pomp

D03 Shira Camp to Barranco (via the Lava tower) (max height 4600m sleep at 3900m)

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.

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

D04 Barranco camp to Barafu (Max height 4600m)

25 August 2011,

The day started at the crack of dawn and today was unexpectedly adventurous. In the distance of the camp we saw a somewhat sheer cliff face with some bright coloured movement. On closer inpection we saw some porters strategically maneuverer their heavy loads up the rocky outcrops. Turns out that was the standard route to the top. Turns out the idea was to start the day “climbing” Kili. Up until now the hike had comprised mainly of walking, slow walking due to the thin air, but nonetheless nothing else but a long and steady walk. I had not needed to use my hands for support just yet. Well, today was different. I wouldn’t say it was extremely dangerous, but if you were not careful then a slip could be fatal. Somewhat dangerous... Adrenaline. “A short spurt” was assured by Martin, only the part you see, once you get to the top it levels out! Pole Pole... Hakuna Matata, Piece of the cake! Well… we needed to see about that, and offcourse we first needed to make it to the plateau.

Serious climbing, thats how the day started

Some serious teambuilding and some serious Kili traffic. We made it through the toughest part of the day and all enjoyed the view at the plateau. Once again… Awesome!

Having survived the "climb" 

In the meantime John had caught up the whole team was complete. Once at the highest point of the day we were truelly well above the clouds. Wow! After the plateau we started a abrupt descent… only to start a second climb (walk) to the lunch camp. The weather was still excellent, pace was steady and we all felt the effects of the hight and lack of oxygen. 

The road ahead - in the distance is Karanga hut - the lunch camp

Arrival at Karanga hut - 3930m - Lunch

Its amazing how slowly we walked and still needed to occasionally take a breather! The lunch was possible the best one to date! KFC at 3930m! Well not exactly, but the chef had made us fried chicken and a very generous portion of fries and even coleslaw. Some serious effort went into that meal.

An impression of the fast pace environment

Walking in the clouds

After lunch we continued on to Barafu. There were still a few hours to walk and the clouds moved in fast. We were now well above any living plants and were walking on what could have been a lunar surface. Small rocks, grey drie sand and just about 0 plants or creatures. In the distance we could see the final ascend of the day. It had been a long day and thought of sitting down and relaxing was truelly relieving. This is also the first time where there was no energy for a team photo.

Barafu base camp

Fatigue was slowly setting in. Some of the guys had had trouble sleeping at altitude and there was a substantial drop in appetite. The only thing really keeping us going was the thought of tomorrow! This is what we were here for.

D05 Summit day (Barafu – Uhuru – Mweka) (Max height 5895m)

26 August 2011,

Summit day.


At 17:30 the previous day... John stuck his head into the dinner tent to brief us for the summit. We would be woken at 23:30 with tea and some biscuits. At 23:45 we were to get ready and by 00:00 sharp we would switch on out über cool head lamps and start the long strenuous walk to 5985m. The hike could take anything between 5 and 8 hours depending on your body, energy level and many, many other things. 


0:00 we were out of the tents. Jackets on, boots tied, headlamps on and the bad jokes were going... Joris managed to wrap his pants around his ankles and needed some assistance... This provided some entertaining memories and a somewhat small delay in the departure. No matter! At 0:15 we started the long, hellish stumble in the dark. The though... why am I doing this again... undoubtedly goes through every single hikers head at this point.


It is a hellish experience. Icy cold, pitch dark, uncomfortable, your body doesn’t feel good, your water slowly freezes, you’re hungry, don't have the energy, appetite nor coordination to grap a “reep” and walk at the same time. You walk in a long line, you cant see whats ahead and all you see in the distance is a never ending ant trail of headlamps. Occasionally you think you see a falling star only to realize its another hiker reappearing from behind a rock… one who left about an hour before you… you walk, all you can do is walk. Talking makes you grumpy and steals your breath. 


Within the group there was a difference in speed preferences and this led to the executive decision to split the group. This decision took place after about 30minutes and led to the split of the group from 7 to 4 - 3. john would stay with Joris, Maarten and Jeroen. martin would assist Wouter, Floris, Peter and I. Shabby would be where he was needed.


We continued and the pace set by martin was fast. very fast. Hakuna matata, a piece of the cake, just a little further… those were the continual sounds from Martin as he progressively picked up the pace. "Pole Pole Martin" would be our response. The ground started becoming loose, it was now like walking on a monstrous Sahara sand dune, only then in sub zero temperatures, in pitch darkness wearing many many layers and only having your watch on your arm as an indication of how far you are. 04:38… We had been walking for over 4 hours, 4 gruelling hours and now the ground under our feet was soft, so soft that you had trouble getting your footing right. Like I said a true test of character. The only thing getting you through this hell is the thought of getting to the top. Martin assured us we were almost at Stella point. The famous Stella point. Just 170m below the summit. 10 minutes he said. We had serious doubt on his word... But... he delivered! Three minutes later we saw the sign. This was the exact motivation we needed. Energy reformed after a team shot... To the summit.

Stella point, new hope (sadly without Jeroen, Maarten and Broks) - 5:04AM

Here is something to take back from this blog post… if you ever climb the Kili, (I truly recommend it!) and you are stumbling through the gruesome soft sand thinking what ever possessed you to climb to the summit. Thinking "is it really worth it", thinking "Stella point is good enough". Just remember… the soft sand stops a few meters after Stella point. From there is becomes hard(er), more stable, doable. From there you can walk like you were walking earlier. From there it is “pleasant” all the way to the top. The use of the word is obviously a relative one… but for that last hour from Stella to Uhuru you are no longer cursed with soft dune sand. It becomes better.

Sadly we were not with the whole crew, but the four of us soldiered on. Martin had taken us up there pretty fast, with result of us having at eta to the summit well before the sunrise. After all we had been through, we at least wanted to see the view! A picture in the dark was out of the question! We decided to wait. We found a spot out of the wind and we sat and counted the minutes slowly pass by. 10 minutes passed, 15... and we decided to continue. A red line was forming on the horizon. The lights was coming in, Magnificent! 


We did it! We made it to the Uhuru peak! We walked the last few meters, shook the ice from my glove and took out my camera. This was for the victory shot!

Summit at 6:20AM Wout, Shabby, Peter, me, Martin and Floris

Thank you Martin, Shabby, John and Francis! Thanks to you guys we made it to the top! THANK YOU.

The sun rising at Uhuru. 

The sun bathed glacier on the summit

Now for the long walk down

So there you are… at the peak of Africa all you see aroud you is beautiful. Truly breathtaking. An aeroplane view of the world, and you walked all the way up here yourself! I was proud. This was a trully epic achievement. All the horror, pain and discomfort of the moring were forgotten. This is what it was all about. This is what we did it for. Victory of the peak. The sun had come up properly now and the amount of people started to increase. The people from the Coca Cola route were also starting to arrive. Martin and Shabby gave us some juice and a small snack. 


It was now time to decent, what had taken us nearly 7 hours to walk up would now take about 2-3 hours to decend. What awaited us was something far steeper then expected. In the light we could see what we had done. We had walked up what could be described as a black graded ski slope! Something that if seen in the light would make people plain refuse. I suddenly realized that “the sunrise” is only part of the reason for the night ascend, if they started this climb during the day I think the success rate would drop drastically! Going back down was like skiing on hiking boots. If they would start a sandboarding club up there I think they could just about print the Dollar bills! A very tiring decent, but one with a serious adrenaline rush!

In the distance Barafu camp was visible

Looking back you think... did I really stumble up this in the dark!?!

Back at camp I heard the news of the others. They made it far up, but the fatigue and strain took over. Jeroen made it to Stella. Joris and Maarten turned just before. We were all exhausted and we knew we still had a few hours to go to the camp for the night. John advised us to try get some rest. Tried to sleep but the fast decend had delivered me a nagging headache… We had 3-4 more hours to descend today. We couldn’t stay up at this altitude for long. We got an hour to rest in the tent, we would have lunch and leave for Mweka soon after. John assured us a fast relief due to the descend. he was right.

Feeling strong at 3800m

Floris, Peter, Wouter, me, Maarten, Jeroen (Joris was on his way with John)

Going down was such a pleasure. Strange as it was all the aches, pains and discomforts slowly started to subside, conversations picled up, the bad jokes returned and the mood got better. Way better!

We did it, the seven of us went up Mt Kilimanjaro! Not all of us made it to the summit but the experience is one that will never to be forgotten.

Maisha marefu! kilimanjaro!

At Mweka we celebratory drink, Proost! Maisha marefu! Kilimanjaro!

D06 Mweka – Moshi

Early morning broke and the whole team was well rested. We showed our appreciation for the extremely hard working porters, guides, cooks, assistants and crew by giving a tip. We were rewarded with song. Loads of song!

Floris showing his African freestyle

Breakfast tasted good and the “easy” walk to the gate was the most pleasant one of the entire trip! The oxygen was widely available, the air was moist, the ground was even and every single person had a big smile on their face!

Last clear glimpse of the conquered summit

The end of the Machambe route

The gate, we signed out and all boarded a bus back to Moshi. All of us, the entire team! The driver even put in his best CD for us… Michael Bolton… What a trip!

The entire team in one bus

D06 Aftermath - back in Moshi

One thing that you do not have while climbing the Mt Kili are showers. Being back at the hotel therefore was a truelly awesome experience. The warm water somewhat brown with dirt seeped through the drain and what we thought was a hard core tan soon disappeared. One by one we started to emerge from our rooms clean as can be. The adventure was now truelly over and we could start with the second part of the trip. The safari.

Just before the shower... 

But first. This giant feat had to be celebrated! Celebrated with everyone that had made this possible. We met Francis and John, Martin and a few of the others at a local bar/café called East Africa. There we sat at plastic tables, got rounds of BBQ meat and a steady supply of Kilimanjaro, Serengetti, Safari, Castle, Castle lite (for Francis) and the best of all Tusker beer. This was to be the start of an epic night!

John Omari and Francis Makala

For the record… Francis stayed out partying with us until the very end. The very end was about 05:00AM, a true legend, a man of his word. If you are considering a trek or a trip give the man a call!

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