Day 4: Mawenzi Tarn Camp to Kibo Hut

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.