Some of you have expressed curiosity/interest in my recent experience hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. So, I am going to start a new thread here to talk about it briefly. I am emboldened by Steve's comment that no one will get upset and the fact that the web site says "Mt. Whitney and ALL HIKING Q&A TOPICS".
For me the experience was intensely emotional. (Don't tell anyone, but) Once I reached the top at 8:15am on June 16 under intense blue skies I simply collapsed on the ground and cried like a baby for 5 minutes! Not sure why, but I simply had no control over the tears streaming down my face. I remember only 2 other prior occasions when I was moved to tears like that.
Having said that let me provide some practical information about hiking this peak. It is a very popular hike and probably the easiest of the "7 summits". Mt. Kilimanjaro has 3 peaks - Meru, Mawenzi and Uhuru. The tallest, commonly known as "Mt. Kilimanjaro" is Uhuru peak. It is the tallest in the African continent at 19340 ft and is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world - meaning, not part of any range - it juts straight out of the East African planes.
You can reach Kilimanjaro international airport from Amsterdam by KLM or fly in from Dubai (which is what I did).
I took the Machame route for the ascent and Mweka for descent - about 90km round trip. You are not allowed to come back the same way. It took me a total of 7 days - 5.5 days to the top and 1.5 days back down. My crew consisted of 5 porters, 1 cook and 1 guide. I was on Diamox starting a day before the hike and took it "slow" on the mountain - no rushing up even if your legs can do it - and drank nearly 4 liters of water per day. I was able to keep altitude sickness at bay. But you can feel the thin air because the simplest physical actions leave you short of breath. You need 0-degree rated sleeping bag, knee high gaters, rain jacket, rain pants, sturdy hiking poles, double-layerd gloves, layered clothing including thermals and fleece, plus parka to go over everything, balaclava, really good quality UV-protected (preferably polarized) sun glasses with side coverings (or just straight skiing goggles), sturdy water proof and comfortable & broken in hiking boots . But do not need crampons or ice-axe. Although I said that this is the "easiest" of the 7 summits, you will make a grave mistake if you underestimate this hike - it is guaranteed to truly test your enudrance to the limit - especially the final push to the summit when there is not much left in your tank after hiking in thin air for the last 5 days. I think I am in reasonably decent shape and completed it without any mishaps - still, once I got back down I simply lay flat on the bed in the hotel room for 36 hours straight like a zombie as the body slowly recovered from being literally wrung out on the mountain. But it was all more than worth it!
I can probably go on and on. But let me stop here. I can send pointers to some pictures if anyone is interested.
T2n
