Day 4 on the road to Kili was the long road to nowheresville. We could basically see base camp at Kibo Hut from the moment we left camp but it took the entire day to get there. We trekked 9 km, over an elevation gain of about 425 m (4303 m to 4730 m), along the dusty trail, following the little, tiny ants in the distance ahead of us. The whole way there I started to really think about the summit climb that we were going to be embarking on that night. Am I going to be able to do this? I think the statistical success rate, as listed on Wikipedia was only like 40%. It was getting colder and the energy stores were being used up day in and day out. What if I get sick, or I'm just so tired, or what if I cant breathe...

We came across the debris of a plane crash that had happened a few years back when a tourist sight-seeing flight went horribly wrong during a fly by of the kili summit. Abe, our guide, was leading a climb when he heard the crash. It was such a sad story as we walked past the wreckage, there is no way to get the debris down the mountain, so it remains there still.



The closer we got to base camp at Kibo Hut the more the fog thickened and the temperatures dropped. The sun sunk behind the clouds and all that was left was a dark, dense, grey wall that closed us in...an eerie entrance to base camp, but we had made it this far, and I was ready to celebrate this milestone with a well deserved nap.








Each evening after we reached camp, we did an acclimatization hike to spend time at higher altitude so that we could stretch out the lungs and get used to breathing thinner air with less oxygen content. I didn’t mind the extra mileage one bit because these quick ascents made me feel slightly more confident that my little ol’ lungs wouldn’t mysteriously forget to do their job during the night...I know, I know, but I used google to prepare for the trip remember, there is all sorts of craziness that pops up on there!

That's our tiny little camp waaaaaayyyy down below!

The sea-level dwelling Aussie blokes tested out their oxygen tanks that they had rented in advance, but seeing as we had true blue Canadian Rocky Mountain blood pumping through our veins we opted out.



xo Tegs

By Day 3 the heavy fog had cleared and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise shining light across a breathtaking view of the Kibo summit! We did a little happy dance to celebrate the fact that after walking for two days straight, we could finally set our sights on the end goal!


 

Day 3 was just a quick 4 km jaunt over to the Mawenzi Camp, with a 624 m elevation gain (from 3679 m to 4303 m). After the long days on the mountain we started to get intimately acquainted with it. Our guides told us that Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcanic mountain in Tanzania, near the Kenya boarder, comprised of three volcanic cones, Mawenzi, Shira and the highest peak Kibo. The guides took turns leading the group at a snails pace up the mountain. Every so often they would say polé, polé, which means slowly, slowly in Swahili…which suited Davey and I to a T. I mean, our natural pace is a leisurely stroll at best anyways (hello, always late), so we didn’t really mind it one bit. Actually, looking back at it, the hike was like a bit of a metaphor for our relationship. We just have this thing where we really try not to rush through life to quickly… you know 7 years of dating, followed by a 3 year engagement…no hurry, no worry. Only in this case it was more of a no hurry, no worry that you will run out of oxygen and get early onset symptoms of acute altitude sickness kind of deal, so we went with that.

That's Mawenzi summit peaking through the clouds.

xo Tegs