Kilimanjaro Base Camp

Today we headed off to Kilimanjaro base camp. We had a late start because the van broke down (something that seems to be a common occurrence around these parts).

Signing in-complete

Otto, our guide arrived to pick us up at the hotel. After a short drive we arrived in Kilimanjaro National Park.


Everyone pays an entrance fee of $75 US per day so the first thing we did was pay the park fees, get our permit and sign in (need your passport, name, age, address, nationality) to this huge, hard cover book.

One of several signs at the entrance

There are signs all over warning people about how to avoid altitude sickness, how to identify it and what to do. Restrooms are at the park entrance, again half way to the base camp then again at base camp.




Passing through the "official" entrance

There were 5 of us going up and we each had a porter assigned to us, just in case we all ended up walking at different speeds. Lise and Gabby raced up the hill (with the porters running behind) and made it to the top in 1.5 hours.

The Path

For us, the walk up was pretty extreme. It started out easy but quickly became difficult. The path somewhat maintained in parts, but in others, it is very rocky. Along the way we passed many people coming down from the mountain with their porters. We were continuously amazed at the amount of gear that these porters were carrying.

At one point we came across three kids trying to sell stuff. Otto said that they had snuck into the park and would be in big trouble if they were caught. There is a barbed wire fence that we saw when entering the park but not sure why it is needed.

As we advanced up the mountain it was interesting to see how the terrain slowly changed from rain forest to a more open, barren landscape. We made it to the top in 2.5 hours (average is 3 hours) 2700 meters.  It was freezing up there so everyone quickly got their jackets on and then checked into the base camp hut by entering your name, age, etc in another big book, headed off to one of the huts for lunch.

Lunch was boxed lunch that had been carried up by the porters (they carried up water for us and at one point took over our knapsack ). Lunch was a hamburger with a fried egg (apparently that's how they eat hamburgers), a chicken breast and leg, a muffin, a banana (of course) and a mango juice box. 

Talked to one couple form England who had just come down from the mountain. They had attempted to get to the top but had ended up getting nauseous, headaches and hallucinations. The guys said it was like going through hell, and they were glad to be back down. We heard this same description from several people, so we certainly have no desire to ever try the climb.

View of the Maundi crater

After having rested for about 30 minutes we decided to go a bit farther up the mountain to the Maundi crater- about another 5000 meters up. The crater was formed during a volcanic eruption of Kili...the sudden eruption of lava, caused part of the land to sink. Walking around the rim of the crater gave us a fantastic view of the country side, and we could see villages in Kenya.

On the way back down we passed a family coming up with a couple of porters who were carrying their children...what in hell! This is not a Sunday stroll to include your kids.

Porters heading up the mountain

Coming down was obviously much easier than going up. We had heard monkeys in the trees while ascending but never saw them until we started the decent on the same trail.

Once back down we had to sign the book to say that we had successfully left the mountain.

We headed off to share a beer with the porters then back home to the hospital. The other group was not back from their weekend safari yet because one of the safari trucks had broken down!