Heading back to Nairobi. Rafting, Rhinos and Coraline.

After our Gorilla high, we began the long and arduous journey back to Nairobi. We first stopped in Jinga, on the river Nile. And what a fucking awesome place.

They have all sorts of adventure activities here like a 42m bungee jump, jet boating, or what most people decided to do. WHITE WATER RAFTING.

It was an all day affair, rafting 20kms down the Nile through 8 sets of rapids. 4 in the morning, and 4 after lunch. The whole show is run by a kiwi guy who lives in Uganda half the year and in Cairns the other half, he pretty much lives and breathes rafting from what I understand.

After being mildly hungover in the morning, we head off to the start point which is right after the last in a series of dams. And we go over all the safety instructions, the first dip in the water definitely helped us sober up.

We divided our group into 2 rafts - the 'we want to flip' raft, and the 'we don't want to flip' raft. Unbeknownest to us everybody would flip, several times this day. Even the safety boat flipped, which apparently hasn't happened in 3 years!

It was the best fun and we will both DEFINITELY do it again. We had to bypass the first rapid of the day, a class 5, because the water level wasn't high enough, so we paddled onto our next rapid, a class 3. No worries we thought. Wrong. All instructions by our instructor "Dave" went out the window and we just hung the fuck on and I don't know what happened next, but we flipped hard. So much so that one of the girls in the boat, decided she was going to spend the rest of the day in the safety boat. I don't know what went wrong, I can only relate it to being in a car accident and waking up on the side of the road and someone asking you 'so what went wrong?'. Katie somehow managed to smash Tash (the girl behind her, who spent the rest of the day in the safety boat) in the face with her oar. After we all got back in, we realised that we were missing someone Leo (another girl), had floated down the river, we didn't see her for 5 minutes until she turned up clinging to a rescue kayak.

It was oar-some..... and the beginning of many oar-ful jokes. Which were pretty oar-dinary.





The next section had a grade 5 rapid, as well as a grade 4 or grade 2, depending on how hard we paddled and where we paddled to, we were told if we hit the grade 5 rapid, we would "100% flip", and in the grade 4 rapid "50/50 chance of flip" - I dont think Dave held very much faith in us.

We hit the rapid, and we made it! We were ecstatic, we thought we had landed something that supposedly had a 100% chance of flip. However we were informed that we hadn't paddled hard enough and only hit the class 4 rapids. Dammit.

We flipped twice more in the afternoon, and Katie got really sunburnt, her malaria pills make her sunburn really easy, even after she loaded up with sun screen.

It was the best experience. And I think we will definitely option rafting on the Zambezi river (where Vic falls is) as well.

We had a few drinks and hit the hay for a drive day to Lake Naivasha, where we went on a game drive the next day through Lake Naivasha game reserve, which was vastly different to the Masai Mara (and no where near as bumpy), where we saw Rhinos up close. They were just laying there, but they were huge and it was awesome how close we got to them.

We then went to camp and set our tents up, we would have another day in Naivasha, were we were going to go on a walking safari through a smaller reserve were they was nothing to dangerous and we were free to walk around. However this night everyone got a bit loose at the local bar, and before you know it, Coraline turned up (Katies alternate drunk personality), she definitely left an impression on the group.

So Mardy did the walking safari without Katie the next day, because she was dead to the world, recovering from the effects of the night before. (walking into tents that weren't hers, shouting as people were trying to sleep, tackling people, etc ~ she doesn't even remember me waking up to tell her to shut the fuck up - Mardy)

The walking safari at Crater Lake was great, we got to walk around with our guide Chris, who was very knowledgeable on everything from ants, to planets. And got as close to wild giraffes, zebras, assorted antelope, as you can get before they get spooked and move away. Very cool. Apparently it was on Getaway.

After that we walked down into the crater, were there was a little nice hotel setup on the side of the lake, it was very picturesque. Mardy also had the best damn toastie EVER here. I want to go back there just to eat another toastie.

Once again I'm having trouble uploading pics, but I'll try and get some up this afternoon - including some more for the previous blog.

Now just for fun, here is a list of shit Katie has lost since we've been in Africa

-Her sleeping mat (which was very luckly returned to her after she left it on the bus which drove back to Nairobi from the Mara, and luckly came back to the Mara with it)
-Sunglass at the equater in Uganda
-Thongs, Naivasha
-A headtorch that wasn't hers in Naivasha
-A Masai bangle in the Nile
-A sundress in Kilimanjaro airport
-And thats all we can think of at the moment, however stay tuned, she is bound to lose more shit

Peace out

Mardy and Katie



Rockin out on the equator



Kev having a Nile on the Nile



Cracking shot Mardy took




Rhinosaurs!



Lake Nakuru



Wild giraffes! On the walking safari



Mardy and Kev at green crater lake near Lake Nakuru



Lake Bunyonyi, Gorillas, and Rwanda

After Kisumu, we had 2 drive days. BORING

We then arrived at Lake Bunyonyi, in southern Uganda, near the Rwandan border. It is one of the deepest lakes in Africa and is surrounded by beautiful hills and countryside. And at nearly 2000m above sea level, it is nearly as high as the highest point in Australia! And its still damn hot.

Our first day spent here was a road trip to Rwanda, a place Mardy has always wanted to go. And as amazing as the trip was, it was marred by fuckups. We got up early as to be at the Rwandan border by 7am, where we sat for 3.5 HOURS, because the tour company we were contracted out to for the day fucked up and didn't have there paper work in order for the border, and we were told nothing at the time, just made to sit and wait at a fucking border crossing. They also fucked up lunch, and because we were running late, the whole day was rushed and we nearly didn't make it back in time before they closed the border.

Also I swear our driver was stoned his eyes were so red, and it was a very nails in the seat drive through the endless hills of Rwanda, as he overtook on blind corners, passed when he shouldn't pass, and stayed behind people when he could have passed. Crazy.







Once we got on the road (having lost a big chunk of the day considering we only had a day visa), we made mad dash to Kigali, the Rwandan capital which was a few hours away.
Kigali is surprisingly clean for an African city, our tour leader says its probably the cleanest city in all of Africa. As dumping of rubbish is illegal there. However it is a strange city, with so many people involved in the 1994 genocide still wondering around, you really wonder who is a murderer walking the streets.

Once we got there, just out of town we firstly visited a church, were the most horrific of things happened during the 1994 genocide. 10 000 people locked themselves in a church, thinking they would be safe from the carnage outside, but instead the militia/interhamwe blew the doors open with grenades, randomly shot people, and either clubbed most of the rest to death with clubs that had nails in the end, or cut them up with machetes. You can see the blood stains and bullet holes everywhere, the walls, the roof, etc.

The most difficult part to hear was when they said them picked children up and threw them against the brick walls, you could still see the blood stains where they hit the wall. All the clothes from the people inside were still there (so much clothes...), and there bones were kept downstairs in mass graves which you go down to see. As many as 45,000 people were buried at this church, as it wasnt just the people in the church who were buried here, but also the people from the surrounding area. After seeing the inside of the church you go downstairs were the bones and items left from the people are on display. Nearly all of the skulls have giant fractures in them where they must have been hit with a club, and a large number of skulls are missing parts (like big holes in the top) presumable where they were beaten with a blunt object. It was difficult to see, however we are glad we saw it, it has to be seen to be understood. The cruelty of people truly has no bounds.

We then went to the Genocide memorial in central Kigali. Were there was a lot of information on the genocide and video testimonies of victims. I cannot put into words how much some of these people suffered. Pretty much the worst things that you can image happened. Like HIV positive murders raping women, women being repeated raped by gangs, people cutting off peoples legs and throwing them in septic tanks to die, burying people alive and the list goes on and on. I wasn't just mass murder, it was mass torture as well. Truly horrific.




After making it back to the border (just), we got back to our campsite and hit the hay ready for Gorilla tracking.

The next day we went Gorilla tracking in the hills of Uganda. We hiked for about 2.5 hours, before finding our family. It was a family of 27, and we saw about 17 of them in the rain forest.

We followed a ranger with a machete hacking his way threw the forest, until we found them. You then get to spend an hour with them (limited to an hour to avoid them contracting human diseases), it was incredible, you get so close to them. Like within 3 meters, and they are massive, they have huge beer guts and the silverbacks are just ginormous. They don't hate humans, and aren't afraid of them, but they do find us annoying it seems and always walk away when you get to close. So subsequently we have lots of shots of gorillas asses. There are a few good ones though that I'll put up.

It is definitely a once in a lifetime experience, and I highly recommend you do it. Considering how few of these creatures are left, we have been truly lucky.

On our last day here Mardy visited an orphanage whilst Katie caught up on some sleep. Were Mardy and Katie had bought toys/exercise books/and assorted items for the orphanage. It was great to see what was being done there, and the kids hang off you all day, a few people walked away sponsoring a child. Which is something I think we both might end up doing before this trip is out.

Once again I'm on a computer that I can't upload pics, so I'll have to catch up on the pics later.

Peace out

Mardy and Katie

lake bunyonyi

The church where all the atrocities happened.

The genocide memorial with Kigali, the Rwandan capital in the background

Some of the many skulls on display, this was in the museum. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the mass graves. Just imagine this x100 though.

The real hotel Rwanda



Me, Kev, and the Ranger



Nairobi - Kenya dig it!

After Kili, we waited around the hotel in Moshi, waiting for our transfer for our flight in the afternoon. The transfer to the airport is due to pick us up at 1pm. The power at the hotel is constantly in and out. Which takes the internet out with it, making it difficult to do the blog.

When we get to the airport we find out that our flight is cancelled, and that we will have to wait till the next day to get a flight to Nairobi. We were going to cut it very close with the pre departure meeting for our safari. However the hotel they put us up in was very plush, and we abused the shit out of there free beers and free laundry service.

We were supposed to fly out at 2.15pm the next day, and Nelsen our supposedly friendly airport transfer guy, who was supposed to rock up at 1pm, doesn't show up till 1.45, and then tells us our flight is at 1.50! STRESS. And the fucker still had the nerve to ask for a tip when we got to the airport. Turns out our flight still was at 2.15, and we did make our flight, after much confusion with the check in people.

We finally board, when we realise its just us, and 2 other people on the plane. Which wasn't even the dodgy part. When we pull up to the runway, the pilot turns to us and no shit asks "So where are you going", we are all like "what the fuck? Nairobi man!", he's like "Nairobi has 2 airports which one?", so I rummage around our documents and find out the name of the airport we are supposed to fly to. Then before we take off, it looks like they've realised something is wrong, and we taxi all the way back to the tower. Where the pilot turns off the left side propeller we were sitting next to (we were begining to doubt our decision to sit next to the propellers), and a ground crew guy runs over and does something. We are assuming they forgot to close the baggage door, and the tower noticed when it was on the runway! Crazy! TIA

After a very sketchy flight, we make it to the Nairobi airport and check in. We then do a mad dash across town to the Boulevard Hotel for our meeting, luckly we were only half an hour late. Nairobi peak hour traffic is CRAZY, and there are these huge dinosaur/bird/pelican things that inhabit the city, straight out of Jurassic park.

We meet our tour leader Justus and the rest of the group (16 in total), and after the meeting we head off to dinner with our new friends at a local pizza place.

After breakfast the next morning, we jump on a huge overlander with everyone else and head towards the Masai Mara. On the way we stop at some shops and Katie finally finds an ATM that accepts Mastercard, hot tip, bring cash or a visa card to Africa. As mastercard hardly ever works. Katie stresses until we find an ATM that works.

We spend the entire day driving. We stop at some town to eat some lunch from a roadside restaurant. Nobody really understands what they are ordering.

We head back on the truck and the roads just continue to get bumpier and bumpier.  We spend a lot of time trying to spot animals and playing extreme UNO where if the cards stay on the table, its a bonus. (Thanks to cajan Katie for the UNO card donation)

We spot our first baboons and zebras on the way to the park. Biggest tourists ever, all pressed against the windows of the truck trying to get a good look.

We eventually reach the Masai Mara camp site, set up our tents and help with dinner. The good news is they have beer here. The bad news is they are warm. However we quickly adapt to our warm beers in the middle of no where. Neither of us are really sure what we ate for dinner, but it was good and thanks go to the cook.

Everyone lends a hand to clean after dinner. One person washes, one rinses, and everyone else drys. But not like you would expect with tea towels, instead by shaking them dry in the air like lunatics. This evidentially is to avoid dirty towels and prevent the spread of diesese. This would become the norm.

The next day we head off to the Masai Mara, everyone is excited about going on safari and we head off early after breakfast. We enter the "Mara", and zebras are the first animals we see, and we are still excited about them, but by the end of the day we are well and truely zebra-ed out. Next we see a few gazelles then wilderbeast (ugly ass things), more zebras, and then LIONS. There were some females and about 4 little cubs. One of the females and about 4 little cubs standing right next to one of the smaller safari vans. We were so close we could almost touch them. The lions were definitely the favourite of the day, although it would have been awesome to see a male lion, or a 'mufassa' as the group referred to them as. The next exciting find was a cheetah. It was just laying in the sun not being very exciting for us tourists at all. Still pretty cool to see.

Giraffes were next on the list but we could only see them from a distance so we left for a more exciting discovery. A LEOPARD, apparently leopards are pretty difficult to find so I think we got lucky today with this. We came across some waterbucks, more zebras, more giraffes, and then elephants!

We could see the migration across the river in the Serengeti, it was pretty amazing to see the amount of animals in the distance, but most hadn't crossed the Mara river yet, only about 7000 had crossed, and they weren't crossing when we were there.

We stopped for lunch at the Mara river were there were hippos sunbaking and having a swim. Whenever the bus stops and we all get out we always have to make sure the windows are shut to keep out the monkeys. Whilst having lunch Natahlia, one of the girls in the group was worried about the monkeys as she didn't get any rabies shots. She was chatting to Aishia (a med student) about common cases of rabies, when a monkey runs up behind her and jumps on her arm and steals her banana out of her hand. Monkeys were stealing food everywhere. And Natahlia was freaking out about her possible case of rabies.

We then went on a walk with a local ranger who got us closer to the family of hippos, and showed us a crocodile and where the migration crosses the river. The same one you see on NatGeo. We got a photo with him and his rifle before jumping back on the overlander. We stopped at the Kenya/Tanzania border to take photos before starting to head out of the Masai Mara. On the way out we get a close look at some giraffes crossing the road and see a dead wilderbeast next to the road. Last stop for the day before returning to camp is the Masai Village

We stopped at the Masai village for a cultural visit. Mardy joined in the jumping dance with the Masai, apparently the higher you jump the less you have to pay for your wife - or something. Mardy would be paying alot as he didn't jump very high.

After the dancing by the boys and then girls, they showed us inside there tiny houses that are made from cow poo and sticks. It was pretty awkward. They then started to try and sell us some of there stuff (necklances, bracelets, machettes, spears, etc). They were VERY pushy.

This was the last night we would spend with the 16 of us that left Nairobi for this 3 day adventure, as some would stay with us but most left. We woke up in the morning and had breakfast with them and said goodbye. We then spent the next day and a bit hanging out at the campsite waiting for the next tour people to come. It was mostly uneventuful, highlighted by having baboons come into the camp (omg!) and going on a nature walk with a Masai warrior named Dickson, which was fun, much better than the Masai village visit, and more realistic of their way of life, not all touristy.

We walked up the hill adjacent to the campsite/masai mara to the mobile phone towers - which seemed really out of place here, considering there is no running water or power. We passed the time by teaching danish 500 to some of our fellow travellers, which Katie (much to Mardys disgust) seems to always win. Wont be long now beofre we have our first beers and Meet our new friends t hat will come with us to the gorillas. There is supposed to be 36 people in the next group! So it might get a bit crowded from here on in.

Mardy misses Pete.

The next day we met our new crew, and went into the Masai Mara again, it was not as eventful this time, we saw a pride of female lions walking, some elephants up close, and a few carcasses being eating by vultures. First time we went was definately better. Also our truck got bogged. Awesomes.

The next day we hit the road for Kisumu, we've spent all day on the road and finally have free wifi to do some blogging, its taken us 2 or so hours to catch up, so enjoy it! Here are some photos from Kili till now.

The death plane

Kev at the great rift valley

Great rift valley. Side note, we saw possibly the ugliest human being ever at this rest stop.

Our huge overlander! It would become our new home

LION CUBS

Mum was badass. And damn close to our truck

Mardys favourite animal.

Leopard, looks mighty uncomfortable sleeping in this tree.

A parliament of elephants

The famous Mara river. Where you see the animals cross and get eaten by crocs and all sorts on National Geographic.

The rabies monkey that stole the food

Kev shitting himself

Fuck yeah, got gun?

Giraffes crossing the road

Masai guy starting a fire

BABOONS IN THE CAMPSITE OMG OMG OMG

Mardy - the Masai Warrier

The top of the hill with the Masai warrier

Bogged in the Mara

Kilimanjaro Climb

So I'm sitting in our hotel in Nairobi and have paid for some 'high speed wifi' for the room, which means a slow as connection, but never the less. I'm going to spend this time finally writing our Kili climb blog. Katie has written down a bunch of dot notes in her diary, and I'm going to try and convert them as best I can into this blog.


Day 1


On the first day, we met our guides, 2 Tanzanians called Johnnie and Robbie. We also met the rest of our climb group. There would be 7 of us in total, trekking over 8 days via the Lemosho route to the summit. The members of our 'kili krew' included the following personas


Jim and Jen - A married couple from Minnesota that will use each others heads as tripods for long exposure shots. :p (cool people, I had some very interesting chats with Jim - Mardy)


Katie and Jase - 2 workmates who are vets for the US government. Katie is married to a snowboarder looking dude and Jase rocked up after coming from safari with a real safari hat. Coolest thing ever. Before I even met him, I had to run and tell Katie "your not gonna believe it, but some guy down there is wearing a safari hat!" - turned out he was in our group and was a pretty cool cat


Peter - The other aussie on our trip, had a massively long and scarey night bus ride from Kampala, Uganda I think, where he was sitting behind the driver reading his lonely planet. And while reading his lonely planet discovered that the seat behind the bus driver is reffered to as the 'death seat' in Africa


So this was our crew. We hopped in a troopy and drove for 3 hours to the Lemosho gates, seeing quick glimpses of columbus monkeys on the way. After arriving at the gates, we had to do some paperwork for the national park and then it was another hour in the troopy to where we started walking.


And so we started walking. Through the African rainforest. In the middle of nowhere. It was awesome. We wore shorts today, it would be the only time on this climb we would wear shorts. Shit was gonna get real.


We worked for a few hours catching brief glimpses of blue and columbus monkeys on the way, but not enough for a photo, before arriving at our first camp. "Big Tree Camp"/Mtimkubwa Encampment


Oh, I had better mention how things worked, as we soon discovered here on day one the way things happen. Each client has 2 porters so we only had to carry a daypack with our own daily water, camera, wet gear, and bits and pieces, the porters carried our main bag with our sleeping gear and tents to the campsite every day, nearly always on there heads. We initially felt bad about this, having some poor African lug our shit around a mountain, but when we realised how many people we were providing a living for, we felt a lot better. Its just the way they do things here.


So the porters set up dinner for us the first night and we walk into the tent and there is popcorn and tea, a weird combo we thought, we munched that down and then ate some soup and some bread and thought that was it, and were ready for bed. Then as we were getting into our tents the cook runs over to tell us there is more food we ate for nearly 3 hours the first night, it was crazy. Katie wishes to note that she discovered that Mardy snores on this night, Mardy vehemently disagrees with the fact he snores.

The Kili Krew

First hours of hiking. Pete already looks unimpressed.

Camp site 1 - Big tree camp/Tent City

Day 2


We left Big Tree Camp early and started walking towards Shira 1 camp, it was a pretty big day of walking, but nothing to tuff. We walked out of the rainforest and above the clouds, but still no sign of the supposed mountain we were climbing. Mardy kept saying 'it will be just over this next ridge', we walked over ridge after ridge for hours and the mountain didn't come into view until late in the afternoon, Mardys advice was questioned by the group.


During one water break, Mardy somehow segwayed into asking Pete if he had ever been teabagged. Pete confessed that it had happened to him before. Mardy later confessed he worried that he had come on to strong.


We eventually saw the mountain coming around a ridge and onto the Shira plateau, it looked so different from the plane.


We were now walking in direct sunlight in Africa, no shade from the rainforest to comfort us any more. Hot tip - Bring a hat to Africa. What was Katie thinking, not bringing a hat to Africa, its not like it has a reputation for being a sunny place or anything.


The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, highlighted only by Mardy trying to ollie a rock while talking to Pete about skateboarding, and realising that we didn't bring anywhere near enough toilet paper or wet wipes to keep ourselves at a reasonable level of cleanliness.


In the afternoon, Johnnie and Robbie took us for a 2 hour light walk up the rim of the plateau to help us acclimatise and get a good view of the place, it was pleasant.


We begin to blame everything stupid we did on "the altitude"


The rest of the team realises Mardy snores. Mardy disagrees even more vehemently.

Day 2, still in the forest

Johnnie one of our tour leaders. Cool as dude.

We finally see Kili!

Day 3


We crossed the Shira plateu towards Shira 2 camp, and saw a waterbuck way way in the distance. and walked up another part of the plateau rim near the mountain called "the cathedral", American Katie measured the altitude at the top to be 3900m. It provided spectacular views of the mountain and the sweeping planes of the plateau that we had just crossed.


Jeffery the waiter/porter gave Mardy a braclet that says "cristoph boy", nobody knows what this is meant to say, not even the guides. Katie was incredibly jealous of the bracelet.


We can see the the 'Arrow glacier' directly in front of the campsite, it looks like Australia with SA cut out and removed from the rest of the body. The way it should be.


Our swahilli was getting REALLY good. We can say 'hello', 'good morning', 'thanks', 'the food is good', and heaps more! We are really impressed with ourselves and speak way better swahilli than the other groups.

Pete and Kev

Way way above the clouds already

Top of the cathedral on Shira Plateau- 3900m 

Day 4


We left Shira 2 camp and walked past the Lava tower which was at 4600m, but then descended into a valley towards Barraco camp. Following the age old climbing principle "climb high, sleep low" - in order to avoid altitude sickness.


As we were talking down the valley, underneath (I think it was Ham glacier??), Johnnie let Katie wonder astray into the stream to get some ice and she was excited by the "almost snow".


Katie taught Jase how to play Danish 500 at this camp, and beat him at it as well.


We slept this night underneath the glaciers. Mardy notes that walking up in the middle of the night for a piss, looking up, at the incredibly bright stars, the glaciers shone just as brightly in the night sky. It was beautiful. Best midnight piss ever.

Leaving Shira 2 camp in the morning

Petes last cigarette, what a place to quit. We had to put up with his moodiness the next few days. He blamed the altitude.

Kev goes to Kili!

Katie and the "almost snow"

Barraco camp

Barraco camp again, what a view

Day 5


It was a short day today, only about 3 hours of walking, and it was more hands and feet climbing than hiking. We put our Mt Beerwah/Tibro skills to good use.


It was a good shake up from just hiking, and we eventually made it to Karanga camp, home of the fanciest drop dunnies ever. Nicely tiled, fancy doors, but still a dirty as drop dunny.


We took some awesome tourist shots on a giganto rock we climbed in the afternoon overlooking the mountain, where Mardy was swooped by one of the giant crow/vulture/killer birds that inhabit the mountain. And Katie built a rock garden on top of the gigantic rock.


The altitude was getting the better of us, and we started playing silly games like the 'hopping game' where you see who can hop on one foot the longest whilst pushing the other person around. We even got our waiting Jefferey to play, but he didnt hang around, crazy mzungus (tourists), he must have thought. We also started to make rediculas agreements like Katie having to sing the neighbours theme song at the summit, and Mardy and Pete having a hopping game at the top.

The trail required some hands and feet climbing in parts

At an awesome lookout with the krew

The Katies!

Kev at altitude

Our next camp site

Mardy tried his best to capture the colours of the sunset 

Day 6


Another short trek to Barafu camp. Getting tired of the cold. Its pretty windy now. Pete and Jases tent blew over. The storm trooper mask is discovered. Early dinner tonight, as tonight is summit night!!!!!!!!!!!

The trail to Mordor, I mean Barafu camp

Robbie bravely leading us into the mist that encircles the upper reaches of Kili

DAY 7 SUMMIT DAY


It was fucking freezing getting out of the sleeping bag at 11pm. We put on almost every item of clothing we had with us to keep us warm. Jen donated her foot warmer/inner soles for Katies boots (what a gem, says Katie). We cannot wait to get started and get moving. Everyone has high hopes and is feeling in high spirits.


Walking in the dark with our minors lights on, we looked like glow worms acending the mountain. No sense of direction, just following the feet of the person in front of you. 5 and a half hours this went on before we reached Stella Point (the rim of the crater). It was hard to breathe, the altitude was becoming a serious problem, with no oxygen while your trying to work hard to climb this steep steep trail. You panted heavily and it did nothing to catch your breath. We couldnt feel our hands or feet. And sadly Jim from out crew didn't make it. After throwing up for what seemed like forever he eventually pulled the plug. Alot of respect for Jim for holding out as long as he did. We were all struggling it was near impossible to function at this altitude in many negative degrees centigrade. We needed help from the guides to preform simple tasks like getting water from backpacks (which was starting to freeze).


We eventually made it to Stella Point, with Katie not in good shape, as she had been getting a sick from breathing all of the dust from the last 6 days, and it was seriously starting to affect her.


Only 1 hour to go from Stella Point. Nobody can walk straight, everyone is delerious and somewhat miserable and then.... We saw the sign!!!! We had made it, finally!


The sign still seemed ages away, but it was within our reach, we stumbled towards it. American Katie threw up 10 metres from the sign, but we had made it. You would think we would have been happier but all we were thinking was "lets get a photo so we can go" no one made any attempt to look good for the camera. All still wearing balaclavas, minors lights and rugged up like you would not believe. Frankie (a guide who joined us later) and Robbie were constantly saying "hurry up, lets go" "come on guys" "lets go, lets go", and Franky could no longer feel his fingers.


The view up there however was incredible. The sunrise was amazing, and before the sun rises over the horizon it leaves what appears to be a smoke trail before coming brightly and spectacularly over the horizon, the glaciers were huge and so close, but I dont think anyone really took it all in as much as they should have. When you are physically and mentally exhausted to that extent all that you are really thinking is "thank fuck thats over. I did it!". It was the hardest thing either of us have ever done.


We then began our decent. At least the sun was out so the temperature rose slightly and it became more and more bearable as we lost altitude.


We hadn't been descending long, maybe about 20minutes, when Katie (who had been struggling to breathe since halfway up, and hadn't let anyone know how bad it really was) sits down and stops. She wheezes something to Frankie about how she can't breathe. And Frankie looks a little confused, not understanding and points out the way on the trail. Then Robbie comes over and realises whats going on. And shit got serious, quickly.


Robbie switches into rescue mode, takes off Katies beanies scarves and balaclavas and one layer of jackets and turns to Frankie and says "We go down, NOW!", and drags her down the mountain fast, holding on to her arm to keep her from falling


They stop periodically on the way down to remove more layers, all the time as it warmed up. With Robbie repeatedly saying "dont panic, no worries, hakuna mattatta (no worries)". Everything happened so fast. As we got nearer the camp. Robbie stops at a random tent, where a guy comes out and they swahilli at each other. He asks Katie how she feels. Katie just looks back a little dazed and says Jambo (hello). Then Robbie gives him a cigarette (random) and then they continue on down to the camp site, where Robbie puts Katie in her tent to rest. Mardy arrived about an hour later with the rest of the crew and between us gave Katie some antibiotics and neurphen to patch her up. We then walked 3hrs that afternoon to our last camping place. Shedding 3000 metres of altitude in 3 hours.

The storm trooper mask is discovered

The "before" shot, notice how keen we all are. According to Katie, making the summit would be a "non-issue"

The crater rim, we only had to walk around the crater now for an hour to reach the summit

Believe it or not, this is the best photo of us at the sign, in all the others we looked retarded. We were to delirious to care what we looked like at the time.

The Krew

The view back from the summit towards stella point, looking in the crater ash pit, and towards another of Kilis peaks, something begining with M, Megwnze? Or something. Whatever, was awesome

Robbie walking us back, past the glaciers 

Day 8


The next morning was only a short hike to the gate out of the national park. 7 days to summit, and 1 day to descend  pretty crazy. We all stink, like real bad. Cannot wait for a shower, but we have just completed one the most amazing and challenging adventures of our lives.


(Again this place has shit internet so I can't upload pics, will load pics onto this later when I can)

American Katie and Kev tuckered out after a big day/night

Mardy turned back and took this snap on the way down

See Mum, the scarf did make it, Katie wore it all the way to the top.

Another turning back photo, we went down a different route. 

Blue monkey

The Kili Krew "after" shot, fittingly drinking Kilimanjaro beers. Great success.