Adventure Kilimanjaro (5895 m) ♥

A few months back, I stumbled over the holiday of my dreams. Accidentally. Never before I dreamt of climbing a mountain this high, let alone the Kilimanjaro. But I do love mountains... And I have always, always loved Africa (like all of it). So when I saw a journey that combined climbing Kilimanjaro with a safari in Kenya, there was no turning back: my heart was ON FIRE! :-D

And so it happened that I left Bergen on December 27th, which happens to be my birthday, to fly via Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro airport. Not that I care much about my birthday (too old for that ;) ), but having to show my passport a million of times along the way, I was sure waiting for someone to notice. ;-) But nobody did (awwwww...). And so I was sitting in the airplane, thrilled - both, because I was on my way to Tanzania and because it was my birthday - sippin' on my free Amarula liqueur and looking out of the window. How very satisfied I was! :-D

I sat next to one of the other participants of this trip. Å., his name. He was the oldest of us: 73 years old! We were just flying over the Alps, with ice-blue sky and clear vision over the snow-covered mountaintops, when I tried to share my excitement with him... "Isn't it beautiful?!? Look at those mountains!!!! How lucky we are to have this good vision?!!" But all I reaped was a look and: "Nah... in Norway we have mountains, too! And fjords!!! That's much more beautiful!" And bam the blinds were closed. :-D But no worries, I still had my Amarula to enjoy! ;-)

Later on that flight, I tried some more small talk with him. Whether he would be excited already? And what was his family thinking about him going on such an adventure (in his age)? The answers were Å.-style: wife is dead - that's how he could afford going on this trip (paying for 2 would have been too expensive). And of his 2 daughters, one doesn't care and the other was mad at him, because he didn't take her along.

Alrighty... Good talk. Hm, Amarula liqueur...!!! ;-)

We arrived late in the evening, and after having dealt with Visa issues, we were brought to a hotel in Moshi. It was only then that I was aware of who actually belongs to our little hiking group (13 plus one Norwegian guide): a family of 4 (the 'kids' being the youngest of us: 18 and 20 years old); a sporty woman with her sporty father-in-law; a father, his daughter and her boyfriend; old Å.; the Norwegian guide; and 3 singles - all celebrating their birthdays in the course of this trip!!! :-D

And so the journey began! Early the next morning, our duffel bags were collected and we drove around 4 h to the Northern part of the Kilimanjaro National Park, from where we would take the Rongai Route to go to the summit. Needless to say, but I already enjoyed the bus ride. :)

In the streets of Moshi.

 The "Tanzanian Christmas tree", because it blossoms in red in December.

 Some of the trees had already lost leaves + blossoms.

 termites' nests !! :)

 View from our hotel room in the morning: first glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro! :-)

 Loading our duffel bags

 The blue one is mine :-D

Clearly, life in Tanzania takes place on the streets! People just sit by the road and watch others walk by. They meet and chat and sell and buy things. And they transport things! Oh yes, they do. Huge piles of bananas or other bulky things elegantly balanced on the tip of their head or on a motorcycle. :-D It also became evident that animals have a different life in Tanzania than they have in Europe. Cows were tied on short ropes next to the road. Goats wondered around in cities in search for some grass (how dry it was!). And quite frequently you could see somebody carrying a chicken or a rabbit under the arm...

I absorbed everything: the people, the streets, the plants and the trees. :-) Even the warm summer breeze. ;)

On the road...

Our hike started after lunch. The starting altitude was roughly 2000 m. We were about to take the Rongai Route (or also called Nalemuru Route), which is the only trail to approach Kibo from the north. It is said to be less popular than e.g. the Machame (Whiskey) Route, so it promised to be not too crowded on the trail. ;-)

unloading...

 Rongai Route starts very close to the border to Kenya, which is seen down below in the background.

And a few words of wisdom about Mount Kilimanjaro - because I always had the wrong image of this mountain in my head! :-D It is in fact a dormant volcano, with 3 volcano cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. When you see Kilimanjaro from afar, it looks like this:

photo by David Daniel Turner

On images of Kilimanjaro, they usually only show Kibo! Which is why I was wondering for quite a while, why Kilimanjaro looks so very different in real life than it does on pictures... :-D So, the Kibo summit is seen on the left, with the mountain's highest point right on the lip of the Kibo crater, the so-called Uhuru Peak (5895 m; Uhuru = Swahili for freedom). The Mawenzi crater is the second highest summit of Kilimanjaro, and is seen on the right.

And with this informative bit of wisdom, I give you a reading break - more pictures and stories (about the actual hike) coming up soon! ;-)