Day 6: Almost there!

Baranca Wall

Rock "hugging"

Standing at the bottom of the daunting Baranca Wall, I cannot help but wonder how many people and bags have fallen off the ledge. Starting our scramble up, it was actually lots of fun!!! A bit of rock climbing and rock "hugging" at places, but I didn't feel unsafe at any stage.

This is probably a very difficult day for the porters who are balancing heavy and uncomfortable items on their heads. We tend to think that just because they are used to the altitude, going up is easy for them, but believe me, it is not. Tanzania is such a poor country that people don't have a huge choice of jobs, so at least Kili is providing work for people who would otherwise have been working in the Tanzanite mines, or else be jobless.

When we got to the top of the Baranca Wall, the most beautiful scene awaited us - it looked as if we were floating on the clouds! Going down again, then up more rocks, then scrambling down rocks and once again up a hill we reached Karanga where we had lunch - the most crumdidiliumptious (as the BFG says) corn fritters and toasted cheese sarmies. We went up and down a few more valleys and then reached Barafu.

Some people have already turned back home from Baranca Camp as they were too sick to continue. Thankfully, apart from a few light headaches, we are all feeling strong.

Flying high

Tonight it will be Uhuru Peak!

Today was a long and tiresome eight hours walk. We will have an early lunch and try to get a few hours sleep.  Sleep is something that doesn't come easy on the mountain due to getting used to the altitude, and I think the thin mattresses don't help at all! After having a quick nap, we will start at midnight towards... Uhuru peak 5895m.