June 28 - Kili day 5 - of nervous energy and anxiety

Day 5 and we set up for a quick short 4 hour walk up to base camp. It was mostly uphill but it was a site to see. So many people buzzing with energy - some like us summiting tonight. Others coming down from the summit - tired, exhausted, but elated.
We had a late lunch , short afternoon siesta , early dinner and then donned out cold weather armor and went to bed. There were 45 students in the tent next door who were making a ruck with all their nervous energy making it impossible for us to rest. Not to mention we were a bit restless ourselves.

We were woken up at 10:30 to dress up and have some tea and biscuits before we headed off to the summit. 

June 27 - Kili day 4 - of cliffs and rocks

Day 4 and we woke up to frost and yet another hot breakfast of porridge and eggs. The barranco wall looked intimidating - sheer cliffside rocks with nothing to break a fall. The good news - it wasn't as bad as it looked. In fact the rock scrambling was kinda fun. The bad news - just when we thought we were over the hard part, we saw a huge ravine between ourselves and our camp for the evening. A huge downhill to a river where from porters carry water up to the uphill campsite and even all the 

way to base camp. 

Pole pole - we were at it a step at a time  until we were at barranco camp for day 4 dinner. 

June 26 - Kili day 3 - of stars and mountains.

had to watch our every step. 
This evening was our evening for acclimatization. We had passed our highest point yet. Diamox was definitely at work.

This night we saw Kili rise over the dark sky right under the shadow of the Big Dipper. Our best view of the mountain yet

June 25 - Kili Day 2 - of steep uphills and pole pole

Woke up early morning to a nice hot water wash and a hot breakfast made up of porridge, followed by eggs and toast , followed by a piece of fruit. And a introduction to milo - which was going to be a morning routine for the next few days.

And my - it was a scenic but uphill hike pretty much all day. Our pace was being regulated by Filbert and our assistant guide mussoni - pole pole as they say. One slow step at a time - which was to be our mantra for the next few days.

Every time I turned around I was amazed at the distance , altitude and the scenic vistas behind us. And glimpses of the trail ahead of us with mt kili playing hide and seek with us under the cover of the clouds.

We were exhausted by the time we reached camp which was around 2sh. Had a late lunch and didn't have much of an appetite for dinner. But were relieved to hear at dinner that the next day wasn't to be so bad. 

June 24 -Kili Day 1 - of excitement and wonder

Started with loading up our stuff in the jeep and drove down to the machame gate. And then registered our first entry into the park. After being handed our first of many boxed lunches and making us wait forever, we started walking. Only to stop at the gate and take the mandatory 'before' pics.

Had a monkey come to wish us good luck and it was 11sh by the time we kicked off the trek. Felt very surreal - like it wasn't really happening or I wasn't really there. But sure enough we were huffing and puffing our way through lunch. Got bit by an ant on the lunch break. Was that going to be an affair to remember!! That and the first public restrooms we came across - worse than what I'd ever seen before. And I've seen some gruesome ones.

Anyways, we marched on till about 5 whereupon we came upon our tents almost around the corner as a surprise. Pleasant one , albeit.

We were then introduced to the 'private toilet' which turned to be a blessing given they were a lot cleaner and a lot closer than the public ones. Though no one knew if there was a flush and how it worked.

After washing up , had some tea and popcorn as we settled into our first camp site. And were shortly thereafter treated to a nice hot dinner. Filbert came and briefed us on the next day - as he usually did for the next few days at dinner time. ( spoiler alert I know ;)

Bedtime at 7. And a shared tent with Nilie. Slept well the first night all the same. 

June 23 - Kili Day 0

June 22 - of travel to Africa.