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Our attempt on the summit required 6 days on the mountain. Our
party of 24 required an entourage of 65 porters, cooks and guides
carrying food, fuel, cooking pots, and, in the upper reaches, water
for the whole group.
Talking to the African guides and porters was fascinating as the
party wound its way day by day up through the different climactic
zones.
Semi-tropical rainforest with coloured birds, butterflies and colobus
and blue monkeys, gave way to a band of tall tree heathers draped
in hanging lichens.
A moorland area of exotic plants, giant bulbous Senecios and giant
Lobelias whose teasel-like heads grow to almost 3 metres then gives
way to .....
.... an alpine desert supporting very little life in the thin air.
The dusty ground is punctuated with small “everlasting”
Helichrysums and scattered rock lava bombs.
Here, Kibo looms above the alpine desert.
Fresh snow on Kilimanjaro’s sister summit Mawenzi accentuated
its rocky alpine character and set the scene.
Successful
summit attempt. After a just a few hours sleep we left our
beds at midnight and climbed for 6hrs by torchlight to the crater
rim ..... >> more
