Not having Internet connection is liberating but also rather impractical at times. Anyway, I have returned from my 4 day safari into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, and Tanangire national parks.

Summiting Kili feels quite long ago. I look back at the pictures and it just brings back the elation I had felt. When you get what you have worked hard for, it feels great.

I wrote an entry each day I was at kili and so I will just copy and paste it onto my blog.

Day 1 londorossi gate to big tree camp.

Took a 2.5 hr drive from Moshi in a massive army convoy truck to the west gate of Kilimanjaro where we all had to sign in and sat down to have some lunch. We then proceeded to londorossi gate, another 30 min drive. Bumpy dirt tracks, and hitting all the tree branches on the side as we ascended through a small part of the forest. I actually felt like we were ripping through the forest in an oversized truck and causing a considerable amount of destruction!

Walking commenced from 2400 m altitude. We only walked 6km in 2.5hrs, ascending to 2900m. Through thick forest and dusty paths. Saw an amazing long white long tailed monkey, which I learned is a colobus monkey.

Set camp at mti mkubwa- lots of tents with other trekkers. Not quite the tranquil, 'in the middle of nowhere' experience I had anticipated. Had our own private toilet thank god.
The porters bought over hot water in a small bowl, so we could wash and then we had popcorn and hot drinks, followed by a delicious dinner.

Jenny and Jon are leaving us tomorrow for shira camp 2 located at an altitude of 3810m! Symptoms of AMS will start to manifest at that altitude. As for us, we will trek to shira camp 1 reaching an altitude of 3500m. It's an 8km trek.

Been a good day of relatively light walking today. Surprisingly cold too, but warm in my snugpak sleeping bag and liner!

Ok, best try to get some sleep. It's really noisy at camp!

Night night! Lala Saleem.

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Day 2 base camp to shira 1

My fingernails are disgustingly dirty. I am dirty. Today's trek was difficult with lots a steep uphill gradient climbs and going down again, mostly through the rainforest then the moorlands. You get alot of dust in your face and the sun is mighty when it beams down directly on you. My day pack was heavy, I carried too much extra clothing, 4L of water, camera, glasses, sunnies, sun lotion, sweets, torchlight (something about a torch that gives me security). It was a heavy bag, plus I made the mistake of wearing two bottom layers. But it was good training for me though- that's how I comfort myself anyway.

Camp here is alot more spacious, and instead of being in amongst the trees like base camp, it's really exposed here in the moorland. We can see the peak right in front of us and it is a magnificent sight. We got to the highest altitude of 3800m at one point and we were amongst the cloud condensation level.

We trekked apparently only 8km today in 5 hours, but it was challenging.

There's loads of other climbers with different tour operators here, and one group was dancing and singing. I wandered over and got involved. The Tanzanians were all so lively and inviting. I had a little dance and I was out of breath after!! Couldn't believe it, I wonder what the partial pressure of oxygen is here.

We're sleeping at 3500m altitude tonight. I'm feeling well except for a minimal headache which isn't troublesome. The rest of my group are doing well too.

It's really noisy here!! I wonder how Jenny and Jon are doing. Ear plugs in.

Best get a good night sleep.
Good night.

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Day 3 Shira 1 to Shira 2

My headache had disappeared after a good(ish) nights rest and another 700 ml of water overnight, regardless to say I had to go and pee in our private toilet, which is essentially a bucket in a tent.

Today's trek was pleasant, it was steady with slight incline. We left at 8.15am and arrived in our camp just before 1pm. I had to pee in the bush twice... But it felt so good just to be able to pee.

We crossed the shira plain and the spectacular shira ridge was to the right of us.

After a few hours rest we went for another 1hr walk to ascend another 200m reaching an altitude of 4100m!! The pace was slow and I felt my breathing was more laboured, as if I was jogging. I was very conscious of my breathe, in and out, in and out. I felt a slight twinge of a headache that came on.

Manuel didn't feel so great, his headache escalated and his stomach felt unsettled. Dan and Ed were ok.

We only stayed up in that altitude for 5 minutes and we descended quickly. I felt fine during the descent. Peter, our assistant guide even taught me a song in Swahili, but I've now forgotten it.

We got great news when we got back to camp. Manuel's lost luggage arrived! It took the poor porter of 24 hours of constant trekking to get it here to us! Ed and Dan's extra tent also arrived, the porter trekked 6 hrs constant. This porter's permit was only for 2 days so he now had to run to the next camp, which is really far away (only 2 more hours until sunset) and exit the park tomorrow from there. Crazy.

Oh and manuel managed to get some diamox which he is happy about.

I'm really winding now, which is a great sign that I am acclimatising. I feel good so far, but I am prepared for more symptoms to arise with the elevation. We're reaching an altitude of 4650m (Lava tower) tomorrow! But sleeping low at Barranco camp at 3900m.

Night.

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