Summit!

Today was tough. Very very very tough.

We left Barafu camp at midnight. My water bladder's sucking tube was already frozen (despite the fact that I blew all the water out last night!) so you can imagine how cold it was.  We quickly had to go back to camp to get an alternative bottle holder. Thank goodness that I noticed it early as it can be disastrous not having water on summit night.

We soon joined a long queue of potential summitters and could see a line of headlights going up.  It was full moon and the moon was guiding us. If I thought our previous "pole pole" pace of one step per second was slow, today's was even slower at one foot per second (no adult supervision needed to try this at home). It is quite a shock to your body to realise that even if you want it to go faster, it just can't! Have I yet mentioned how tough today was?

Dr D first to Raymond's and then my rescue! 

Raymond soon started showing signs of mountain sickness: headache and nausea, and we made short stops every half an hour. Delmence immediately pulled out her medical "chest" and dosed Raymond. We continued on at a very slow pace.

About halfway up I started getting a headache. "Dr D" once again pulled out her kit and gave me eight pills to swallow. (Yuck). After taking so long, my hands were totally frozen from taking them out of the gloves.

Fortunately Bruce and Delmence didn't suffer much from mountain sickness. But all around us there were some VERY sick people, some who had to turn around.  

At about 6am the sun came up and it was breathtaking to see the sun coming up whilst being on the highest mountain in Africa.

It took us an arduous and difficult seven hours to do one km upwards and we reached Stella point, and then another hour to Uhuru Peak (5895m). Getting there I just wanted to cry, but am not sure if this was out of joy or pure exhaustion. All of us felt very emotional reaching the highest point in Africa!

When I got to the top I suddenly felt zoned out. Posing for a very quick photo, I just wanted to go down as quickly as possible. The other three said they knew something was wrong when I wasn't writing the blog straight afterwards or walking around looking for (and getting excited over) a cellphone signall!  After descending about 300m I felt absolutely fine again, albeit tired.

We reached Barafu camp, had a quick rest and lunch (thank goodness I regained my appetite), and then walked down to Mbweka camp where we are spending our last night. This has been a veeeery long day with about 15 hours walking, parts of which were very strenuous. Our bodies are aching and we cannot wait for a hot shower tomorrow! Hooray!!! All four of us are so thrilled with this achievement. I believe that things that don't come easy are more appreciated. All in all this has been an unforgettable experience.

Tomorrow: our last day on the mountain as well as the results of our not-so scientific experiments.

Why we did it:

Since I knew that this mountain exists, I wanted to conquer it. This year things just fell into place, and my dream has come true!

Bruce and Delmence are experienced travellers and have climbed mountains in Bolivia, Himalayas, Chile and a few other places and Kili is something they wanted to do for ten years.

Raymond had Leukemia in 2006, and lying in his hospital bed, he visualised himself walking up Kilimanjaro. The Leukemia came back in 2008 and when it went into remission again, he just knew that he had to make it happen.

That is positive hope for you!

All four of us had dreams and we're able to turn it into a reality. The School of Hope is a school that helps children on their way to reaching their dreams so if you would like to become 50/500 Club members or make any sort of donation to them, go to Thembalitsha's link or use the banking details listed on the blog. You can claim the tax back!

Lala Salama! Good night!