Today began at 6 am with a cup of tea, we packed our bags before getting a wash bowl at 6:30 am, before eating breakfast at 7. We finally set of for the days trek at 8 am.
I slept quite well getting around 6 hours sleep in total which more than the majority of the people in the group. The monkeys were in the trees howling at each other throughout the night and I think this kept a lot of people awake.
During the trek myself and the Doctor needed the toilet because of all the water you had to drink to help with the altitude. It was quite undignified, we had to find a large tree to hide behind to avoid the trail of porters and other hikers using the path. We felt much better after and were able to walk quickly to catch up with the rest of the group. As a group we stop every hour for 10 minutes for a toilet break and drink.
For the first part of the trek we walked through the rain forest which was beautiful. I saw a bird that was all black but when it flew past us the underside of its wings were bright red (Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this because it flew away before I could get my camera out.)
After about 2 hours of walking we began to head out of the rainforest and into heath moorland. There were some stunning views of the valleys and we were able to see how far we had come which was nice, you could also see the porters ahead on the trail so we were able to see the path that we would shortly be taking.
We stopped for lunch at 11:30 am. The porters had set up a tent for us to eat in and a toilet tent had been set up, which was AMAZING! (no more hiding behind trees). For lunch we had vegetable soup and noodles. I had a small headache starting at lunch. It was very hot so while we ate lunch I took the opportunity to drink as much water as possible and that really helped. We set off again after an hour. The trek was quite steep but the pace was great so I didn't get out of breath at all and everyone was happily chatting to one another.
At 2:30 pm we walked around a corner and saw the most wonderful sight! THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO!!! What we have all come here to see and conquer. It truly is the most stunning sight. I am sure that my camera will not do it justice. The feeling of seeing it in the distance was amazing, and truly brings home what this trip is about for everyone in the team.
We got to camp at around 3:15 pm and unpacked, at 4 pm we had a cup of tea and some nuts and sat around admiring the view until dinner which was at 6 pm. I got a stomach cramp before dinner, not sure why, which went away while we were resting before dinner but came back during dinner. I feel a lot better now as I sit here writing in bed so hopefully that has gone away.
The word of the day has been 'WOW' every corner we turned was stunning which I am sure will only get better. Even the view from the door of the tent is breathtaking.
I am very excited for tomorrow. We climb a little which will be good fun. The trek today took 7 hours and tomorrow is set to be 5-6 hours, with stunning views apparently. I am excited!!!
Good night. x
P.S. The sunset this evening was gorgeous it turned Kilimanjaro a beautiful shade of orange.
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