Few impressions from Kili (1)

So this is it. The moment I dreamed of  finally came true. I am at the entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park, looking at the final preparations for the trek. Soon the whole equipment and food will be packed and the whole group (22 people in total, 6 trekkers) will be ready to set off. Difficult to talk about the feeling down there. I guess it’s the strangest mixture of excitement, fear, high hopes, curiosity and impatience you can imagine.

Although considered to be the least scenic of all, our Coca-cola route is stunning anyway. While admiring the views I already think of coming back next years. After some time, we can finally see the summit. It’s simply beautiful.

The Horombo camp was our acclimatization base. However, we could not enjoy our idyllic rest completely. It was rather impossible while looking what's happening around. Lets call it overbooking, but with scary consequences. Too many tourists came to the camp at once so the guides and the porters were left without a place to sleep at the temperature around 0 °C and pouring rain. No needed to mention that sleeping is not possible in such a conditions, so the only thing they could do was crawl under the huts taken by the tourists and play cards by candlelight… And the next day: set off at dawn and another 1000 metres up!

Porters’ abuse is very common in Tanzania. They go up very overloaded, they don’t eat properly (sometime’s it’s just one rough meal per day), they don’t have a proper place to sleep (overloaded tents and huts, sometimes no shelter at all), they are not dressed properly and have no equipment, the salaries are a joke, sometimes even the tips do not reach them… So if you ever trek, make sure it’s not the case!




Think it’s easy? It’s NOT
You can learn more at:
http://www.kiliporters.org
http://ippg.net

AND WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-lpXf-UlP4


While on the trek we were supported by the team of great porters and guides, all together 16 people (we were 6 trekkers). Thank you very much guys, we would not make it without you!

And finally a little tribute to our main guides, Demi and Cony.
Two young, hard-working and smiling Tanzanian guys that in the end got us to the summit. The guys have their own company- Diamond Glacier Adventures, which I can definitely recommend to everybody interested in trekking Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are really caring and you feel absolutely safe while on the mountain. Great job guys! Thank you very very much for all! Maybe you’d have some time to visit their website?

Quick link: http://diamondglacieradventures.com/