Mt Kilimanjaro – not a walk in the park
Well, I made it up Kilimanjaro, but it took just about every ounce of eneergy I had. I actually got mountain sickness on the way up (the summit is around 19,000 ft), and basically had to crawl to the top
. We went up on the fifth day of the trip, at midnight, andclimbed all night. There was a huge procession of hikers with headlamps on, moving at a ridiculously slow speed – it took about 6.5 hrs to reach the summit, and I had to lay down on the rocks many times – I felt like I was hallucinating, and was very dizzy. MS effects everyone differently. It took me about 30 minutes to cover thje last 300 meters to the top. I then had to descend rapidly, so my guide (Paul) and I shoe-skiied down a 1000 m skree slope, after which I was violently ill – then a 4 hour hike down to lower elevation. I guess I won’t be climbing Mt Everest anytime soon. Kili is the largest free standing mountain in the world and the highest in Africa – it is truly impressiv. I’m leaving this AM for a 5 day safari to Serengeti, Ngorongo, and other spots – should be very impressive (elephants, lions, leopards etc) – hope there is still space on this site to post pix
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