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The hike started in lush rain forest which quickly changed to sparse moorlands and before we knew it we were walking on rough rocks and shale - we kind of felt like we were walking on the moon as there was no vegetation and very minimal animal life.
I did the climb through G Adventures and the team of 40 (6 guides, 2 cooks and 32 porters) that we had were amazing, the guides stuck with us every step of the way, keeping up motivated and cheerful, the cooks provided tasty and nutritional meals, all cooked on gas stove tops (fires are banned in the National Park), and the porters carried everything up the mountain from our tents, sleeping mats and clothes to tables and chairs for us to eat at, it is truly amazing how these porters carry everything on their backs and balanced on their heads and yet manage to get up and down that mountain so much faster then us and stay so happy and cheerful always singing and dancing wen we arrived into camp each afternoon. They were truly amazing and none of us would have made it up that mountain if it were not for all for crew members.
I was also very fortunate to have a great group of travellers of all different ages and nationalities, surprisingly i was the only Australian in my group of 12. The group were fun, relaxed and there were no overpowering personalities which was good. Everyone got along as through we had known each other for years which really helped especially on summit night when we had hiked for about 7 hrs, had only 2 hrs sleep before waking up at 11pm to start our midnight hike up to the summit which we reached around 9am. We worked out that in 2 days we walked for about 16 hours on just 2 hours sleep. Needless to say we were are exhausted and deliriously stupid by the time we reached the exit gates and made it back to our hotel.
It is difficult to describe what we experienced on the mountain, at times it was amazing, other times it was hell, the paths we took are indiscribable as half of them didn't even look like paths. We hiked through the heat, through cold winds, thunder, lightning and rain, we even encountered a blizzard on summit morning but every day got us closer and more excited to make the final climb.
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| Our camp on night 2, very cold and windy! |
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| One of the many long and winding paths taken |
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| One of the better loo's we encountered along the way. Great views :-) |
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| Having a bit of fun on the way! |
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| Cold, Cold, Cold |
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| FINALLY MADE IT TO UHURU PEAK!!!! |
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| The team that made it along with our guides! |
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| There were glaciers all around the summit. |
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| We often hiked through thick fog and dirt paths. |
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| Almost back to the base of the mountain, spectacular views across the National Park. |
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