Day 3: Climb to Machame Gate
MOUNTAIN ROUTE OVERVIEW
Our group will start climbing after registering in the National Park’s Climber Log and eating lunch. They’ll start hiking on a forest road through the rain forest – which is why it’s wet and humid climate where they start climbing. To the right and left of the road are Mount Kilimanjaro’s giant red germs and impatiens. The path will get narrower and steeper as it winds through the rainforest. After another hour of hiking, the landscape will start changing as they enter the moorland zone and approach their first camp. Upon arriving at camp, porters will welcome them with a tent that’s already pitched and hot tea with biscuits. After resting, they’ll debrief about the following day’s climb and eat dinner. If the weather is good, they’ll see a beautiful sunset and catch a glimpse of the first snow-capped peak of Kibo!!
MOUNTAIN ROUTE STATS
Starting elevation 6,000 feet
Ending elevation 9,900 feet
Elevation gain 3,900 feet
Distance hiked 6 miles
Average hiking time 6 to 7 hours
Gameday. Spirits are high, we woke up ready to go! We ate a hearty breakfast (aka “The Last Supper”), checked out of the hotel, and off we went for a 2 hour drive to the mountain with our whole team (20 of us including us 3, our guides, and our awesome porters)!
Once we arrived at the gates, we sat and ate a hot lunch (with a very mischievous monkey that was trying to steal food) while John Simon (our incredible guide) handled registration and helped the porters divide our gear. Then, our Kilimanjaro trek officially began!
Today we hiked for about 5 hours from 6,000ft to about 10,000ft. Pole pole, as they say—slowly, slowly. We hiked amongst magnificently tall trees and countless species of plants throughout the rainforest. The weather was a bit cloudy, which made the temperature nice and cool.
We got to camp just at sundown, where we were greeted with smiles from members of our team who had already set up our tents, private Beyond bathroom (which surely sparked jealousy from other groups around us), and prepared popcorn and tea for us in the mess tent. After we changed into dry clothes and cleaned off a bit, we had an awesome dinner made up of soup, tilapia, coconut rice, vegetable curry, and fresh cucumber tomato salad, plus banana and Nutella crepes for dessert. We’re eating gooood here! John Simon briefed us on what to expect for tomorrow (one day at a time!), we went over our rose-bud-thorn’s, and are off to bed. All is well!
Time of our lives—let’s do this!