Climbing Kilimanjaro

On 8 March 2009 Tim and I stood at the base of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. For months we’d been planning our grand adventure but now that we stood at the base of the world’s tallest free-standing mountain the task before us seemed a little more daunting than we’d anticipated.

The brochures, websites and movies don’t do this mountain justice. Reaching 5895m above sea level, it dominates the African plain from which it erupts. And while Kilimanjaro doesn’t rate against the peaks of the Himalaya mountain range (Everest is 8,848m high), its snow-capped peaks are still a daunting sight – particularly to two

climbing novices like Tim and I.
There are plenty of websites that talk about Kilimanjaro so all I’m going to say is that it’s an extinct volcano located in Tanzania along the border with Kenya. There are a couple of routes that lead to the summit – all tough but some a little easier than others.

The route Tim and I decided to take is known as the Machame route – not one of the easiest but regarded as one of the most scenic.
The route starts at the Machame Village (altitude 1500m) and each of us carried a day pack with wet-weather clothing and enough water to get us through the day (3l each).

On day one, our trek led us through fertile forests teaming with indigenous plants and wildlife. We were led on the route by our mountain guide, Rayson Mawenya and his assistant, Martin. Rayson was an experienced and good-natured guide who set and slow and steady pace.

He spoke good English and was able to share his knowledge of the local plants, animals and people living on the mountain. We were accompanied on the journey by a cook and a team of porters, who raced ahead of us to prepare meals and set up camp.