Going Home! Only 8 more hours

Dear All,
we had an amazing visit to the crater, we saw 8 lions! Hippos, rhinos, it was like being in a Discovery Channel program, African animals everywhere. A long day but a great day.

And then yesterday was our visit to the Amani Children's Home. The kids were incredible, so much energy and they are so resilient. They are so fortunate to be in the Amani Home. It is really quite a shock to see small children of 6, who only weeks ago were living on the street, now at the home. How did they survive?

We have had an incredible trip, but we are all ready to be home again with friends and family, see you in 8 hours!!

Safely back at the lodge, en route to the Ngorongoro Crater

We arrived safely back at Kilemakyaro Lodge last night and then had a great celebration at the El Rancho Restaurant in Moshi. The whole team received certificates for summitting Kili. Our final day on the mountain was our wettest yet, so the hot showers at the Lodge were very welcome. We are now en route to see the "Big Seven;" lions, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, leopards, and cheetahs! We will go down onto the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater to see all these animals, just like in the opening scene from the Lion King (literally, as the Lion King scene is based on the Ngorongoro Crater.)
Today is our first day off from hiking in a week - a well deserved rest for the coolest group on the mountain!

Last Day on the Mountain

Well, all good things must come to an end. Again, we are all so happy that our group of 10, the "coolest group on the mountain," was able to climb to the Roof of Africa and look east to the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful sunrise over Mawenzi (one of the secondary peaks of Kibo.) Today we do a long descent, from 12,500 to 5,300 feet, to finish at Mweka Gate. It is a beautiful walk through rain forest, we hope to see monkeys! We are all looking forward to a shower at Kilemakyaro Lodge.
Thank you again to family and friends for your support.

Everyone safely at Millenium Camp, end of Day 6

Just a quick note to say that we are all safely at Millennium Camp. We had beautiful weather on the summit (19,341 feet!) but it is raining again at our campsite. The group is pretty knackered, but proud that we all summitted. This is a long, hard day with 16 hours of climbing and descending. Time for a Tanzanian beer (the park warden sells beer!)

"When the wind is backed by will, miracles happen."

Time for bed, thanks to everyone for all their support.

We all made it to the summit!

Jambo from the roof of Africa! We all summitted, beautiful weather. Everyone is feeling good and healthy, though Sarah did experience some AMS.

Final thoughts before our summit bid...

To all you beautiful husbands, sons, daughters, relatives and friends - we all feel good. We're excited, anxious and prepared. We leave tonight at midnight and hope to summit between 6 - 7 am. We look forward to emailing you then. Wish us good weather!

We've arrived at High Camp! Day 5 of trek

Just wanted to let you know that we have arrived and are now resting at our final campsite before the summit, we are at 15,358 feet. Everyone is in their tent putting together summit clothing, resting and hydrating. Even though we've had a good day, the weather has just turned nasty, we shall see how it progresses.
A quote from Rachel. "Nature is a giver, a true friend, and a sustainer."

Mambo Poa from Karanga Campsite, day 4 of trek

Mambo Poa from 13,255 feet! (That is the cool way to say hello in Swahili, and we are definitely the coolest group on the mountain.) We had no rain today, YEAH! We started our day by tackling the Barranco Wall, the cliff that looms above the 3rd campsite. The wall is just one of the many challenges we face on the way to the summit. Basically it is a 2 hour team initiative in which we have to scramble/clamber up a cliff using our hands, knees and often our well padded butts (good thing we have kept our appetites and our bums haven't gotten too skinny.) We pulled it off without a hitch (or a fall) and had fun too! We are all well, no altitude sickness, healthy appetites and lots and lots of laughs. Barbara continues to be our leader, always the first behind our mighty National Park Guide, Michael. Her strength of body and mind is inspiring. We arrived at our campsite early so that we can rest, eat and hydrate all in preparation for the main event taking place at midnight tomorrow...summit night! We are thinking of you all and missing you but we are all pretty happy to be here. Have a great Saturday,
Love, The Poa (cool) Kili Gals

Day 3 of Trek, camped at Barranco Wall

Dear All,

today was a long day but a good day. It rained most of the day, but the skies have cleared so we can see the wall but not Kibo (Kilimanjaro) yet! The team is great, a few mild headaches but overall we are healthy and strong. Our pace is slow and steady, and slow and steady (pole, pole) wins the race on Kilimanjaro. Today was a significant day as we climbed to almost 15,000 feet before descending to 13,000 to sleep. Reaching 14, 700 feet was a true test of each climber's ability to cope with the altitude. We are proud to say the team passed with flying colours, all tummies are intact, heads are more or less clear and appetites...are voracious. Also, we can all proudly claim, "We beat Navratilova! " The sky has cleared, we can see the Southern Cross constellation high in the starry sky. We say goodnight to the "dreaded" Barranco Wall that broods over our campsite, we will climb it in the morning.
Rachel has perfected the art of snacks appearing each day as she pulls out a bag of tasty treats. She is praying to Jua (the sun god) and we hope you all put in an extra prayer to the sun that has been somewhat reluctant to join us on the trek thus far.
Alison and Sarah

Everyone is Strong, New Shira Plateau Day 2 of Trek

Dear Friends and Family
Day 2 on the mountain and every one's strong. No headaches, no nausea, and good appetites all around. Sarah and I are particularly proud of the way everyone dealt with the challenges of the day: a day that started in brilliant sunshine and ended in pouring rain, and a day where 40 minutes of climbing turned into 4 hours. Rain is never nice but positive energy and preparedness turned the weather into a valuable lesson in self care. By evening our clothes were drying nicely on our makeshift clothesline in the mess tent and everyone had bits and pieces of damp clothing ready to take to bed with them (body heat is the only available nocturnal heat source!)

Meanwhile, Cheryl earned the first prize of the trip and was crowned "Queen Parka" for her intelligent use of her clothing "system." Neri continues to be the expedition photographer, and news has just arrived that the Skippy peanut butter has been found...peanut intact! Karen's lost luggage was dropped off at her tent at 5 pm thanks to the amazing feat (feet?) of a porter who picked up her bag this morning and did our 2 day trek in one day, an amazing display of fitness. We took our photos standing at 12, 621 feet under a rainbow. Happiness reins at New Shira Camp.

Our quote tonight was read by Laura:

"Real courage is risking something that you have to keep on living with, real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one's cliches."

We go to bed knowing that tomorrow (day 3 of trek) we'll climb to 14, 741 feet before descending to 13,000 ft at our campsite. Altitude here we come!

Love from all,
Alison

Day 2 of Trek, we have arrived at New Shira Camp

We have arrived at our second campsite. We had a good day, all is well. We are at an elevation of 12, 261 feet. It is now pouring with rain, that will mean snow on the mountain at higher elevations. Time for bed.
Sarah

Day One of Trek, all safe in bed

Hi friends and family,

The 1st day on the mountain has come and gone. I sit here in the mess tent listening to the climbers settle into their tents. Someone is doing sit ups per Sarah's recommendation to get warm before going to sleep. Colleen's anticipation of her first night in a tent. Cheryl's frustration at not finding her chocolate. We began our climb today at 11:30 am from Machame Gate and got to our campsite at 5:30 pm. We climbed from 6,000 feet to 10,000 feet, a good day. No headaches to speak of.

Just before dinner Colleen paraded out in her pink long underwear and earned the January spot in the calender. Barbara was hoping to snag the March slot with her"shower" photo in the morning.

We talked about our hopes and fears for the climb after supper. I share some of them here.

"To experience the beauty and magic of the mountain. To appreciate the people I am climbing with."

"To be supportive of everyone in the group and to keep the voice in my head positive."

Good night and hugs to all.

Alison

Preparation Day Went Well !

Jambo,
we arrived safely and had a good sleep in our first morning in Tanzania. We had a nice relaxing breakfast and then met Michael, the head guide from Chagga Tours. We went for a short hike through the coffee plantation we are staying in the middle of to acclimatize, and then had another huge meal (this trip is really about eating.)
The afternoon was taken up with final packing of our duffels - trying to get our duffels whittled down to 25 lbs (11 kgs) each. Colleen and Sherry won the prizes for lightest packs. An unnamed individual had 8 lbs alone in snacks! We finished up with a good carbo load at the pizzeria in Moshi. We are ready for our trek up the mountain to start.
Unfortunately, Karen's bags have not arrived yet. They have been held up in Amsterdam. The team however, came up with most of the clothing and gear she needed to start and Michael provided the rest. Hopefully her bag will arrive tomorrow and come up the mountain the following day, day 2 of the trek ( a porter will make a special trip.) Karen has been a real trooper and the rest of the team has provided amazing support. Thank goodness for all those extra clothes everyone brought. Bye for now from thew base of Kilimanjaro.

Good Luck!

Dear All,

have a great trip. And remember to enjoy yourselves, when will you be on the Roof of Africa again?
Angus

One More Sleep!

So tomorrow we are off! This is the last night in the comfort of our beds before we head for Tanzania and the roof of the world! All our bags are packed....we're ready to go....Kilimanjaro, here we come!