Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro
In February 2022, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with my sponsor Ashok, my housemates Abby and Eliya and nine others including Manjid who was the leader of the group. I felt so good when I reached the top because I knew I succeeded. We climbed for 7 days. It was very difficult.
Day 1
we drove to Moshi. From Moshi we went to Macheme Gate. I felt good on the first day and we began to climb until Macheme Camp. We arrived at the campsite at 7 in the evening.
Day 2
I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I brushed my teeth and washed my face in my tent. I took breakfast and we started walking. We started at 8 in the morning and finished at 2:45 in the afternoon. When we arrived at the camp we took lunch. After eating, we took a nap. When we woke again it was time for dinner. I was very tired and slept early.
Day 3
I woke again at 6:30 in the morning. The same as yesterday, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I took breakfast and we began walking 10 km. This day was easy because there were no hills. We started at 8 am and finished at 6pm. We arrived before the others because we walked quickly. We stopped halfway through to eat lunch. When we were walking we saw the ice on the mountain. It was so beautiful. At 7 pm we ate dinner and by 8 pm I was asleep.
Day 4
We walked 6 km. On this day it was so cold. My legs were freezing. I didn’t like this day because of how cold it was. I reached Karanga camp at 2:30 pm and I took lunch at 2:40 pm. I went to take a nap. I woke up at 6:30 to have dinner. Karanga camp was better because there was less ice and it was not as cold.
Day 5
On day 5 after packing and going to take breakfast we began walking. We walked 5 km starting at Karanga camp and finished at Barafu camp. I was feeling bad this day because I was sick. My head was hurting from the altitude. Manjid gave me some medicine for my head and I started to feel a little bit better. When we got to Barafu camp we ate lunch and then I took a nap. I woke up again for dinner and then went back to sleep. I was feeling so tired from being sick and the cold, but I was not tired of walking.
Day 6
We woke up in the middle of the night at 11:00pm. We prepared ourselves to summit to the top. We climbed 15 km to the top of the mountain. I was feeling so dizzy; I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it to the top. But, I kept trying. I kept walking slowly and reached Stella point at 8:00 am. After one more hour I reached Uhuru point, the very top of the mountain.I was one of the last to reach, but I made it. I was still feeling sick, but I was so proud that I made it. At the top we took some pictures and then started to go back down. Going down was very easy. We arrived back at Barafu camp at 2:30pm and ate lunch. After lunch we kept going down and reached Mweka camp at 6:40pm. When we reached there we ate dinner and finally we went to sleep at 8:00pm. I was still feeling sick but was feeling so good inside that we were done. Everyone was shocked when I was singing because I was so happy.
Day 7
On day 7 we woke up for the last time, packed our things and had breakfast. We started at Mweka camp at 8:00am and reached Mweka gate at 12:00pm. We took lunch at a hotel called Kijiji Village Kilimanjaro. After that we went back to the lodge we started at and we were done!
I am so happy I got the chance to climb Kilimanjaro, but I am not sure if I want to climb again. I will always remember this experience and meeting so many new people.
