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In January 2001, we travelled to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro (5,895m - 19,340ft), with 'Explore Worldwide'. Climbers were Tim Ecott, Dan Ecott, Jim Rae and Ben Rae.
For this type of climb it is essential to be prepared and have all the right equipment with you. Here is our list of essential items as compiled from various sources, and from experience!
| Equipment | How Many? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walking Boots, 3/4 Season type | 1 Pair | Well worn-in pair essential |
| Trainers | 1 Pair | |
| Proof of Yellow Fever Jabs document | 1 Each | Essential for entry to Tanzania |
| Trip final documentation and tickets etc. | 1 Each | |
| Travel Insurance documents etc. | 1 Each | |
| Maps & other data etc. | 1 | |
| Passports | 1 Each | |
| Tanzania Visa | 1 Each | Essential for entry to Tanzania |
| Kilimanjaro Park Entry Cash (375USD) | 1 Each | |
| Spending Money/Tips etc. (USD) | 1 Each | |
| Rucksack-Trekking 35 Litres | 1 Each | |
| Main Large Soft Luggage Bag | 1 Each | |
| BumBag for odds and ends/ID/money | 1 Each | |
| Socks Walking | 5 Pairs | |
| Socks Cotton inner | 5 Pairs | |
| Whistle | 1 Each | |
| Emergency Heat Blanket | 1 Each | |
| Plastic Bags (bin liner type) | Many | |
| Pants | 10 Each | |
| Waterproof Cagoule | 1 Each | |
| Waterproof Trousers | 1 Pair Each | |
| Warm lined walking Jacket | 1 Each | |
| Fleece top | 1 Each | |
| Sun Hat | 1 Each | |
| Good Gloves Warm | 1 Pair | Best quality essential for the final climb |
| Glove/Boot Warmers (chemical type) | 2 pairs each | For the final climb to the peak |
| Tracksuit | 1 Each | |
| Normal tops | 5 Each | |
| Sweater | 1 Each | |
| Normal trousers (for out/home) | 1 Each | |
| Sleeping Bag 4 Season | 1 Each | Essential |
| Sleep mat | 1 Each | |
| Trekking Poles | 1 Pair Each | Leki type |
| Water Bottle 2Ltr | 1 Each | Insulated type is best |
| Water Purifier - Iodine fluid drops | 1 Set | Essential |
| Sunglasses Good | 1 Pair | Good UV protection for the peak day |
| Warm Hat | 1 Each | Ideally covering the ears |
| Balaclava | 1 Each | |
| Boot Gaiters | 1 Pair Each | Essential for rain forest days |
| Scarf | 1 | |
| First Aid Kit with syringes | 1 | |
| Swiss Army Knife | 1 | |
| Head Lamp with 6 hour battery life | 1 Each | Essential for the final climb to the peak |
| Good Torch Maglite | 1 Each | |
| Torch and Head Lamp Batteries | 2 sets each | Essential |
| Toiletries Kit, Full (with Panadol) | 1 Each | |
| Nail Brush | 1 | |
| Wet Wipes | 1 Pack | |
| Professional Sunscreen Factor 25+ | 1 Each | |
| Vitamin Tablets | 1 Pack | |
| Ginko Biloba Tablets | 1 Pack | |
| Lip Balm | 1 | |
| Towels | 1 Each | |
| Flannel | 1 Each | |
| Toilet Rolls | 2 Each | |
| Pocket Game/Palm Pilot | 1 | |
| Disposable Cameras | 3 | |
| Digital Camera + Batteries | 1 Kit | |
| Binoculars | 1 | |
| Energy Bars | 5 days worth | |
| Pad or Diary + Pens | 1 |
Our route - The Machame Trek:
We followed the Machame Trek up Kilimanjaro. Take a look HERE at route details.
Our diary - Describes our experiences:
Each day we maintained a diary of our experiences. Warts and all, the entries are included here....
We set off from Heathrow a bit late, discovering that the plane was going to Kili via Rome. We had a slight delay at Heathrow passport control due to Dans Swiss Army locking penknife - which was confiscated. Our flight times were two hours to Rome then five and a half hours to Addis Ababa.
We woke up on the plane at 4:30 UK time with the Sun rising over the Sahara desert. We were served with drinks and flying over the Nile as breakfast is served. We arrived at Addis Ababa airport at 9:15 local time, ready for a 4 hour wait for the onward connection to Kili. The departure lounge is not quite the same as Heathrow! The onward flight is another two hours to Kilimanjaro airport. We boarded the connecting flight at 13:15. Watched plane safety video for the third time. We first spotted Kili from plane as we approached the airport. WOW. What a mountain. Lots of snow on the top. We landed at Kili airport at 15:40. After checking passports and yellow fever certificates, Dan managed to reclaim his Swiss Army knife. We also found all of our luggage. Amazing. We got into bus to Moshi and met with our first big flying wasp-like bug. We arrived at the Mountain Inn at 5pm local time. The drive to the Mountain Inn was very quiet as we got our first awe-inspiring land view of Kili. We got our room keys and had a quick shower before meeting with the rest of the climbing party over a drink. Afterwards we met with someone who had just got down. He told us of record snowfall and a summit whiteout over the past few days - also record rainfall. We had dinner and a briefing from the party leader Kevin Butcher. We finally settled to sleep at 10pm.
Safari day began with breakfast at 8am. We left for the safari at 9am heading for Arusha National Park in bone shaking landrovers. The park contained Mt Meru. We saw giraffe, warthog, monkeys, zebra, hippo, water and bush buck, buffalo, pelican, flamingo and many a butterfly. We spent several hours touring the park and had a packed lunch while overlooking a large crater. The ride back was fairly long and very bumpy. We got back to Moshi for dinner and the day-1 climb briefing. Bed at 10:30pm.
Climb day 1. Our trek started at 9:50 with a landrover ride to the Machame Gate at the base of Kili. When we got to the Machame Gate there was lots of action as porters were selected etc. Our actual trek finally got under way at 11:30am as we set off up the wide dirt track from Machame Gate. This track became very, very muddy as we carried on up through the rain forest, and parts were fairly steep. We arrived at the Machame campsite at 17:30 - before most of the porters and guides, so we helped set up those tents that had arrived. Our boots were caked in mud, and our trousers were wet and very muddy too. We did our best to clean them up but there was no water available (we had not discovered the small stream by the campsite at this time). As time passed and darkness fell it became clear that several of the porters had not arrived - so as a result several tents and some personal baggage had not made it to the camp. A porter was sent down in the pitch dark to try to find out what had happened. All we could do was wait to see if he came back! We began to plan having extra people in each tent as there were three tents missing. Everything was delayed (the cooking tent was one of the missing items), so our first camp meal was quite late. The food was good though and very welcome. Dan had to lend a fellow climber a jumper for the night. We got to sleep at 11:20, only to be woken up again at 1.30am. We could hear some good news for the climbers without bags. They had finally turned up. 2 guides had apparently fallen asleep and one had stopped as he was feeling ill.
Climb day 2. Dan was abruptly woken up at 6:30 by Tim trying to pack his sleeping bag. This was a major task as the bag simply did not fit into the tiny sack it is supposed to go in. After a lot of cursing and fuss in the confined space of the tent, it was finally done. Breakfast was at 7:30am. Porridge and papaya. After breakfast we cleared our tents and filled water bottles from a supply carried by the porters - our first taste of purified water - not bad really. We set off at 9:10am. This trek was quite a long slog as we climbed out of the forest and scrubland - and out of the mud. We ate a supplied packed lunch at about 1:00pm. We were amongst clouds now. The path dog-legged left onto the Shira plateau. Tim arrived (last) at the Shira campsite at 14:40pm. We had tea and popcorn. Good views over the plains to Mt Meru in the distance. As dinner was not until 17:30, we had some time in hand. Tim went straight to sleep to recover. Nice sunset. After dinner we turned in again quite early, at about 20:00.
Climb day 3. We headed off from the Shira Camp at 09:15 after a good breakfast of porridge etc. The walk was to the Barranco camp at the foot of the infamous 'wall'. The walk was mostly across open plains, it included a climb up to 4800 metres for acclimatisation purposes. Some problems on the route caused by walkers getting separated and losing contact owing to the occasional cloud cover. Dan and Tim nearly took the wrong path on one occasion. It was a good day for both Tim and Dan who were keeping up with the front group and feeling no problems due to the extra altitude. It turned out to be a long trek to the Barranco camp as we did not arrive until about 5.30pm. We had dinner and went straight to bed due to the need for an early start tomorrow. One porter on the trek had a bad tooth and we discussed pulling it using Dans Leatherman pliers. In the end he took some painkillers. From the campsite we could see the lights of Moshi below.
Climb day 4. The required early start meant that Tim woke early and once more tried to pack his sleeping bag. Because of little sleep Tim got really angry with the bag because it does not fit without a struggle. At altitude, this was quite exhausting. All this in a tiny tent meant Dan was woken up and pretty cheesed off too. We had another good breakfast (porridge, egg, bacon, coffee). At about 8am we got going to the Barafu camp. The trek started with a steep climb of about 200 metres straight up the sheer Barranco Wall. We enjoyed this part of the trek as it was quite a challenge. Some of our party did not like the height too much though. The view from the top of the Barranco Wall was superb. The trek took us onward to the Karanga Valley, a deep valley where the porters had set up a chaotic but very tasty cooked lunch (including chips!!). The trek out of the Karanga valley was another steep climb, followed by a long haul up to the Barafu camp. The final steep climb to the camp site was very tiring for some of our group but Tim and Dan both felt ok - even at 4600metres. Barafu is Swahili for ice.....we know why the camp is called Barafu!. Our tent is pitched on a rocky base near the top of a high cliff. Not feeling hungry, we declined dinner and bedded down early to try to sleep before the midnight climb to the summit. As we rested a very strong and icy wind blew up buffeting the tents and preventing any chance of real sleep.
Climb day 5, Summit day. Midnight came soon and we kitted up with multiple layers for the final climb. After a slightly disorganised start we got going at about 00.30. The temperature was -10C, but with the bitterly cold wind blowing it felt a lot lot colder. We began a very slow trek behind our lead guide Meckson. Torches lighting the way up the steep face to the summit. The scene was surreal, the lights of other climbers being just visible higher up like stars. One slow step at a time, we followed the climber in front. With only our maglite torches to light the way, the going was tough. We realised that not having a headlight was a major disadvantage. About two hours up, our torches both failed at about the same time. Changing batteries was a slow and extremely cold process in the dark. The delay caused by this meant that we lost touch with the higher climbers for a while - but we did find them as we carried on up. Shortly after this Tim began to feel some problems (pins and needles and coldness in the left hand). Putting extra socks over the glove did not help, and the hand quickly became cold numb and very painful. Porters tried to warm the hand by rubbing it. This did not help as it made the pain worse. Tim then found he could go no further, as he was shaking and could not stand. Tim was told by Dan to go down. A porter, Napthael(?) took Tim down. Tim had got to about 5000 metres. Dan carried on up.
The path continued on up past 5000 metres, the sky now getting slowly brighter as the sun began rising over Mawenzi. At about 6:00 am the sun was rising directly behind Mawenzi to produce some fantastic photo opportunities. The team was finding it increasingly more difficult to walk a great distance at any one time, stopping to refuel their leg muscles every 15 steps. By 7:00 am we were in the snow and onto the scree slopes with Stella point now well in reach. Now only being able to take no more than 10 steps at once, it seemed to take an age to reach the rim of the crater at Stella Point. The team reached it at about 8:00 am. The amusing thing at this point was that once at the top you could see the rest of the team behind you coming up the scree slope, no more than 10-20 yards away from you, but stopping every 2-3 yards to breathe and rest. To the people already at the top it didn't look very far away at all, but was quite a different story for the people still climbing. Congratulations came from the guide as the last of the group made it to Stella Point. We stopped for no more than 10 minutes for a quick cup of tea and some special fruit juice that a porter had brewed for us, still warm in a thermos flask despite a temperature getting on for 20 below freezing. The question came from the head guide. "Who is going to carry on to the top?" Of course everyone said yes, despite having no reserve energy to stand back up let alone walk another 45 minutes round to Uhuru (meaning freedom in Swahili), the highest point in Africa at 5895 metres. This part of the walk brought some of the most breathtaking scenery of the whole trip. The whole of the crater could be seen with a new layer of virgin snow below us as we scaled clockwise round the rim towards the peak. A path could be seen coming across the crater, probably from another route up the mountain. Down from the south side of the rim were glaciers high as 10 storey buildings with a clearly visible new layer of snow probably a metre thick settled on the top. Mount Meru was now coming into view to the West, now looking like a small hill in comparison to its big brother Kibo. 20 minutes to the top now and everybody was still stopping every 10-15 steps to rebuild some energy. This part of the 'path' was not so steep as the one coming up to Stella point, but felt every bit as difficult. The will to get to the top was building with every step we took. We could now see the peak with its signs and flags. Only another 5 minutes to go. We reached the peak at about 9 in the morning. Staying no more than 10 minutes we had chance to gather our thoughts and congratulate everyone else in the team and take as many photos as we could as proof of the achievement. Then a couple of minutes rest to look at the surrounding scenery and then back off the way we came back to Stella point. This part of the walk was done solo. Everybody spaced out and took a very leisurely pace down the path and had time to think about what we had just done. The path was not really a path, more of a line of footprints. The path had been lost under snow. The day the team arrived in Tanzania there was a snow storm on the peak, resulting in the worst snowfall in 10 years. The team met up with the guide again at Stella point for another quick talk and an estimate of how long it would take to get back down. The guide said 'about 4 hours'. We set off back down the path we had come up only a couple of hours previously, only this time very cautiously as a chance of slipping was very high. This is where having walking poles really came as a big bonus, driving them into the snow and ash before taking a step forward and downward. The team could now see the path they had walked up during the middle of the night. It was unrecognisable since it was pitch black on the way up. The ash turned into loose shingle and stones. Jim had a fall and twisted his knee and had to be carried down the rest of the way. Three of the team went ahead and alerted the rest of the climbers and guides back at the camp about Jim and requested some more guides go up and help. They came after about an hour, closely followed by Kevin, the Explore leader. Jim was dragged down the rest of the way on the shoulders of the two guides. The camp was now coming into view round the corner but was still about an hour away. There was a little climb to the top of the camp site but from there it was all downhill back to the tents and a warm welcome from other team members, some of which had to come back down during the night. The time was 2:00pm. After a quick cup of tea we were told that we now had another 3 hour walk down to Mweka camp. This did not come as welcome news. Those that had reached the peak were very tired and nearly mutinied at the prospect of having to walk for another few hours. Initially over the rocky ground at high level, the route followed the line of a dried-up riverbed once it reached the higher forest. We followed this rather monotonous route down, with little or no views to be had. We were all by this time somewhat tired, and wished that the camp were round the next corner, but it took about 6 hours to get there. Once there we enjoyed our first drink for nearly a week (a bottle of Coke) and took in some good views of the peak. We had another good dinner and turned in. Our tent was pitched on a slope so everything including us slid down toward one side during the night.
We woke early from our last night under canvas. After a good breakfast we continued our walk down the Mweka trail. Increasingly muddy, like the first days walk up, we trudged onward toward the trail head. We all voted not to stop for lunch, but to continue on to the trailhead - to get there sooner. Finally we saw what we had been waiting for ever since starting down - the sight of the Landrovers at the trailhead. We had finished the trek. It was by now very hot - and we all drank several bottles of water, beer, coke etc. Our porters assembled to sing us the 'Kilimanjaro Song'. We thanked Meckson and those that had helped us. Successful climbers registered for their certificates. We boarded the landrovers for the drive back to the Mountain Inn, arriving at about 4pm. Everybody immediately went to their rooms to shower. How welcome that was - since we had not washed for a week! Our evening meal was an open-air affair, and in the form of a celebration, with the successful climbers (Jim and Dan from our party) receiving their certificates. In all, 11 of our party of 16 made it to the top and so collected their 'trophies'. An enjoyable conclusion to the stay at the Mountain Inn.
The flight back from Kili airport took us on a fly-by of the peak, with the plane lower than the summit. This was an amazing sight… Our flight back was not direct but via Addis (again - where this time there was a power cut at the airport - apparently a regular occurrence) and then via Cairo and Frankfurt. We eventually touched down at Heathrow to be met and driven home. It was over. What an amazing experience.
Conclusions - Daniel's Kili Summit Log entry:
Daniel placed this entry in the Kilimanjaro Summit Log.....
"What a great mountain. Climbing in January or February (holiday season in Tanzania) gives you the best weather. Our group got just that. The week previous, however, there was a snowstorm on the summit causing the worst snowfall for 10 years allegedly. We chose the Machame route for the camping and the views. The route is supposedly the best for acclimitisation as there is a day in the middle of the climb where there is only 200m altitude gain from the Shira plateau to the camp at the base of the Barranco wall. On summit day our group left at 12:30 am and summited at 8am. The views are absolutely awesome when you get to the top. Mt Meru looks like a little baby. On the climb in the morning the sun rose over Mawenzi, the smaller peak of Kilimanjaro, which was also spectacular. What a sense of achievement when you get to the top.... I have to say though that the greatest risk of injury is on the way down because of the steepness of the walk back to Barafu camp. One person in our group twisted their knee coming down the path. I cannot emphasise enough that you do need to take your time on the way back. The things that are essential are the sunblock (a common one)... and use it..., a head lamp and good thermals and sun glasses for summit day. There are also lots of stories about taking Lariam and Diamox. All I can say is get advice from a number of sources and make an educated decision. "
Dan Ecott Worthing, UK Email: dan_ecott@hotmail.com
Date(s) summited: 02 Feb, 2001 Date signed: February 07, 2001
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