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DAY 6: BUFFALO CAMP – THIRD CAVE CAMP
This day begins with a climb up the Buffalo ridge and down into Pofu Camp where lunch is usually served. The route then continues east around the northern slopes to the Rongai Third Cave at 3,800 meters. The trek is shorter than the day before and by now I was well acclimatized to the altitude. You arrived at the Third Cave just around mid-afternoon. This is rarely travelled route allowed one to enjoy vast mountains wilderness in peace.
Distance: 8km/5miles,
Hiking Time: 5-7 hours,
Elevation: 13,200 ft to 12700 ft
Habitat: Heath
DAY 7: THIRD CAVE CAMP – SKULL HUT CAMP
This day involves a steady incline up and over the Saddle which sits between the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi Peak. We then continued walking south-west up to School Hut (4,800 meters). The hike was steep as we went from 3,800 to 4,800m roughly. On our left was Mawenzi, the second highest peak of Kilimanjaro, at 5,149m. Mawenzi is reputed to be dangerous to climb because of its hardened lava which is rather shattered and its steep gradients. In the morning, it looked like an evil mountain, a good setting for the land of Mordor! At some point, we stopped to see the carcass of a dead buffalo which some cheeky ones had named ‘Bold’ by writing that word on it. After arriving at School Hut, I was served an early dinner and then was told to shut eye as I would be awoken before midnight to start your summit attempt. I prepared all my gear, including warm clothes, insulated water bottles, snacks, headlamp and camera before going to bed.
Distance: 5km/3miles
Hiking Time: 4-5 hours
Elevation:12,700 ft to 15,600 ft.
Habitat: Alpine Desert
DAY 8: SCHOOL HUT CAMP – UHURU – MILLENNIUM CAMP
There was no sign of weather getting better . It was raining consistently and upper reaches are full of snow . The porters are not equipped to stay at the altitude within snow and ice and it feels inhuman to push them. I was also not sure if there is much point in staying at Crater camp and Sele , the guide did not seem to instill lot of confidence. So , I decided to take the call of abandoning the hope of staying at crater camp and instead taking the typical route of climbing to the top of Killi and then come back to Millenium camp. It was a hard decision but I dont think there is much option left . So it was the summit night . I did my packing earlier and tried to sleep for few hours before start my climb to crater bowl of Mt Kilimanjaro. I was woken at around 11 pm to start my summit trek. I got a hot drink and some snacks to carry all the way. Total time I took for the whole day was 12 hrs and 30 mins. First part was reaching to Gilman point through a zigzag climb along the crater rim. This was the hardest part. It took me 5 hour and 15 miniutes to reach to Gilman point. Now Gilman point is merely 2.59 miles from School Hut but most of the altitude is tackled here . I climbed around 800m, so it is important to maintain pace but at the sametime not be too quick . Otherwise one will catch altitude sickness. The inclination is insane almost consistently remains between 25 to 30%. Generally people encounter an amazing sunrise from here but unfortunately for me it was dark , snow storm and all white. I am lucky that I got crampoons which really helped me. From Gilman point to Stella Point is another 1 hour. The weather was still really bad . From Stell point to Uruhu peak another 1 hour. Weather started getting better from this point . While I was returning from Uruhu peak , the view was amazing .
Then we started descending from Stella point. This is pretty hard on knees. I came stright down to Barafu camp and then continued all the way to Millenium camp. I was super tired towards the end. When I reached the cam I went straight to my tent and went for some sleep.
Distance: 17km/10.5 miles
Hiking Time: 12.5 hours
Habitat: Alpine Desert
DAY 9: MILLENNIUM CAMP – MWEKA GATE
The is the final day which a short hike through the dense montane rainforest from Millennium Camp (3,950 meters) to Mweka Gate (1,640 meters). Most of it was forest and it was very wet and muddy. There was a tip ceremony before I left the camp where you are expected to pay guides and porters some tip money and they dance around you. At the gate I had to sign-out with the authorities, who provided me with your official certificate – a gold certificate for those who reached Uhuru Peak.
Distance: 12km/7miles,
Hiking Time: 5-7 hours,
Elevation:12,434 ft – 5,380 ft
Vegetation: Rain forest