Day 7 - DAY 5 OF THE CLIMB! SUMMIT NIGHT!!! - 27th August

Jambo!! Today I OFFICIALLY REACHED THE SUMMIT OF KILIMANJARO!!!! Along with everyone else in the team (28/28!) which is pretty epic!

We woke up at 1am and set off at 2am, so everyone was shattered to begin with. All you could see was head torches moving along the path for the first few hours, and then we got to see an incredible sunrise.

Just as the sun started to rise!

Seeing the sun rise was a brief bit of motivation to keep going, as before that it was just cold and dark... But, the motivation was short lived, as carrying on going upwards just became harder and harder. The path we were walking on was a scree path, so every step we took, it seemed like we slipped back another half a step, which was what made the day really hard.

The hardest bit was getting to Stella Point, as it was so steep, on scree path and we just had no energy left, as well as a lingering headache and generally not feeling great from the altitude. We got very close to Stella Point when Simon just seemed to shut down temporarily, I don't really know what happened to him, but he just seemed to stop, and he sat down and we were both scared he wouldn't make it to the peak.

After not long he was helped up to Stella Point, and we were greeted with fellow team mates, guides and a cold ginger tea. After a little rest, we all set off on an hour long walk to the summit - where we came across the rest of the group all on the way back and we all stopped and congratulated each other, which was nice.
The walk to the summit was a steady ascent, so it was nice compared to the walk to Stella Point. Except for the lack of oxygen we all had. But seeing all the glaciers was amazing, - and they'll probably only be around for another 20 years because of climate change, so we were pretty lucky to get to see them.

High above the clouds and a glimpse of the glaciers

I finally arrived at the summit, with Simon, Katie, Will, Ro, Dan, Emma, Gabbie and Josh (and a group of guides), and the views were beautiful!! We took lots of cheesy photos with the signs and most of us had a little cry - it was amazing we'd all got that far after a year of planning and preparing.

All of us at the Summit! (photo courtesy of Gabbie Majer)

We only spent around 15 minutes at the summit before we had to begin our descent. (You're not allowed to spend long there due to lack of oxygen). Initially, 2 guides kind of linked my arms and pulled me down, but then they decided it'd be easier to take turns piggy back'ing me down (as I can't walk downhill very well) to the camp we stayed at last, for some late lunch!

After that we carried on down further (walking and piggy back'ing) until we finally got to our camp for the night! Which I was pretty glad for, to say the least!

It's been an amazing (but pretty hard) day, and it still hasn't quite sunk in that I've climbed Kilimanjaro!!

Lala Salama! 

(P.S. I apologise that I took so long to blog this, I suddenly got quite busy and completely forgot!!! My bad!!!)

Day 5 - DAY 3 OF THE CLIMB!!! - 25th August

Jambo! Today we've done around 10 hours of trekking!! Woke up this morning not feeling too well and with very little appetite, so although breakfast was lovely, I just couldn't manage to eat much. So, therefore I got hungry real quick when we started walking, just to get to lunch 6 hours later, and lose my appetite again!!! (annoying!)

Our photo with Lava Tower!
Photo credit to George Murphy

The first 6 hours of the walk was very steep uphill, and then the 4 hours after that was very steep downhill... We did this to try and acclimatise, so lots of us felt quite ill when we got to Lava Tower for our lunch, but were blessed to have lots of oxygen back in our lungs as we walked back downhill to our current camp - Baranco Camp.

At one point while we were walking we were having a conversation (well I was kind of listening in to Simon & Will having this conversation, kind of joining in :P) about what we couldn't live without doing... And it got me thinking - as I don't have a clue! I don't really have any hobbies that I'm so dedicated to that life would be hard if it was gone... Is that sad? I don't know, maybe I'll get one some day! (Or just discover what it has been all along...)

Pretty picture of the mountain! With the moon there
too (if you can see it!)

Another thing I thought about was how music is awesome! - It can literally connect anyone! Like, the porters and I speak completely different languages (well, most of them knew pretty good English) but anyway, when I played 'Happy' on my phone Daudi and I were both singing and dancing along - it was great fun!

One last thing that occurred to me today is pride. I am proud of myself for getting this far. We are now over half way through our time on the mountain and I'm still going very strong. I think I deserve to feel proud of myself after struggling for the last 7 years, and figuring I was never going to do anything great. Well I've decided that even if I can't conquer Kili - I've still done something great, because I've tried - which is more than can be said for a lot of people. And also, I know a lot of people doubt me (even if they wouldn't actually tell me that!), and also some people believe in me (which is awesome!) and it's both of those that are driving me up the mountain! I want to prove the doubters wrong and the believers right! So, it can be done!

Anyway, end of the deep soppy stuff, after dinner (of pumpkin soup, rice and chicken! -yum, again!) Ami chatted with a few of us about the history of Kilimanjaro, he told us things like how 'Kilimanjaro' translates to 'small mountain with snow' which is hilarious seeing as it's the biggest mountain in Africa! He also told us about the different routes and why the glaciers are named what they are. The best thing he told us about was how Kilimanjaro is 'female', which is why everyone becomes so nice and caring during the trek - because we take on her femininity - but also, if you disobey her main rule of 'pole pole' she will punish you with altitude sickness! Because Kilimanjaro, can be a bitch! (funny!) He also told us some of his own stories of the mountain, like about the time he ran half way up Kili in 2 hours, and also the time he climbed with a guy who was completing the 7 summits, and the guy underestimated Kili because he'd done Everest (silly!)

After that we left for bed and saw, possibly the most beautiful view ever! The summit of Kilimanjaro, lit my the moonlight and surrounded by so many stars! (I've never seen so many at once!) It was truly beautiful, but I couldn't get a picture unfortunately as my camera couldn't see anything except darkness, but it's a view I will never forget! 

Anyway, time for bed, another long day ahead tomorrow!!!

La la salama!! =)