Wahoo, the end is in sight!
We wake up on Day 5 with a leisurely three-hour hike ahead of us, which will take from 9am to noon. And then the plan is to sleep for the rest of the day (between meals), wake up at 11pm, and start our overnight trek to the summit. Piece of cake, right? We got this.
The top of Kilimanjaro still looks pretty far away in this photo, however:
Here’s the view from our tent when we wake up:
By the time we depart after breakfast, the clouds have started to clear up:
Morning is the best time to view the top of Kilimanjaro. Clouds will surround the peak within a few hours so I take my photos now.
That’s our guide Bruce:
I am still blasting Audra McDonald’s Climb Ev’ry Mountain on repeat:
We are nearing Barafu Camp, which is also called Base Camp. It’s our highest camp of the trek at 15,200 feet elevation and it’s getting harder to breathe — even short stretches on the trail take a fair amount of effort. The landscape reminds me of what I’d expect the surface of the moon to look like: no vegetation and lots of rocks.
That’s Mt. Mawenzi in the distance below:
True story about these toilets: they were newly installed a few years ago after a hiker fell to his or her death when the entire toilet slid down the side of the mountain. What a way to go out.
Also, in case you’re curious, all of the toilets on this trek are squat toilets. Which is not at all uncommon throughout the non-Western world, and totally manageable when it’s the only option. That said, I’m grateful we have our own sit-down ‘toilet tent.’
It’s noon when we arrive at Barafu Camp, and following lunch (a hearty stew) we take a sleeping pill to rest for a few hours. It’s imperative that we sleep now because we’ll have to hike all night long. Thankfully the sun is warm and it’s delightful to sleep in a non-freezing tent.
We wake up to eat dinner around 5:45pm and have a final pre-summit meeting with our guide Bruce and assistant guide Thomas. Here’s what Base Camp looks like at that hour:
We carbo load for our final meal — spaghetti with a mushroom tomato sauce.
Clouds have been swirling around the peak of Kilimanjaro but we get a clear glimpse after dinner. The next time we see it in daylight, we should be WAY up there!
By 8pm we are back in our tents trying to fall asleep. Bethany is successful, but my mind is racing and I spend most of the next 2.75 hours tossing and turning in my sleeping bag. Our alarm goes off at 10:45pm. It’s time to put on our extra layers — it’s FREEZING — and make a final trip to the bathroom. Our chef has prepared hot water for coffee and delivered some cookies; I’m insanely jealous that he is about to go to sleep while we spend the next 11 hours going up to the summit and back down to this very spot.
Tomorrow I’ll detail our trip to the summit.
Many thanks to Zara Tours for discounting my Kilimanjaro trek in exchange for photography and blogging. Opinions are my own.
