Walk: Kikelea Caves (3672m) to Mawenzi Tarn Hut (4283m)
Acclimatisation walk: to 4493m
Notes and photos from my Kilimanjaro diaries written in 2007. Uploaded to my blog in 2009 but posted with a 2007 publish date.
Pretty cold when waking up, but glorious sunshine sets an amazing scene over the clouds covering the world below.
Start walk to Mawenzi Tarn Hut in time for lunch. Lunch had an Arabian feel as we ate in the food tent: sun and shadows danced across the wind-knocked canvas.
The camp itself was inside a small crater with a shallow pond at the foot of Mawenzi Peak. After lunch, we headed off on an “acclimatisation walk”. One of our party wasn’t able to make it due to his delicate diarrhoea situation but the rest of us got an idea of the style of hiking we would have to perform on summit night (relentless zig-zagging across steep slopes).
We did this for about 90 minutes (summit night would be for 6 hours) and ended up half-way up Mawenzi Peak on a rocky outcrop … stunning views over the edge. Looking the other way, we could also see the true summit of Kilimanjaro – Kibo Peak – and not much higher than where we were, the shining roof of Kibo Hut where we would arrive tomorrow afternoon for our summit attempt the next day.
Coming down was great fun and for once I was grateful of having my walking poles which really helped with stability and speed. Very pleased with the wrist straps that came with the poles too, as they made it very easy to flick the poles out ahead of my feet.
Had trouble sleeping (very unusual for me) – must be the altitude. Had to wake up in the freezing dark for a loo break (without contact lenses)
An Antipodean Adventure 