Day 4 and 5

Day 4 is considered judgment day – if you can complete day 4 up to the lava tower, the chances of you making to the summit is great.
Along the way we passed through some interesting looking trees that only grow in this area.

It was a very difficult hike, we went up to 4200m elevation. I had a hard time with the altitude – my breathing was quite laboured. I eventually had to pull away from the lead group and Danny had to set my pace. Danny is on of the guides and is a Maasai warrior. We made it to lava tower just a few minutes after the lead team. We had our lunch at lava tower and after a short test we continued on our hike.

This morning we set up to scale the famous Barranco wall. There was a lot of scrambling. We were grabbing on rocks and pulling ourselves up and over. The porters went on the same trail as us with a big load on their backs and heads. It’s just incredible seeing the strength and balance of the porters. They just keep on going and going. It’s quite common to encounter congestion along the trail since it is more difficult and at some parts of the trail it is only wide enough for one person to move along.

We find that we are constantly wearing our jackets and then peeling it off after a while. We’re cold in the clouds and warm when the sun hits us directly.
Another thing we do frequently is stopping for a pee break while hiking. Everyone just disperses and find a rock to stand or squat behind. We drink 3litres of water everyday to help with acclimating.
Tomorrow morning we head off to base camp. It is a short hike and we are supposed to rest up for the 11pm summit hike. We hike through the night to catch sunrise on Mt Kilimanjaro.

Our group of 12 is now 11. One of the hikers had to be evacuated. Not due to mountain sickness but simply he is doing this hike too soon after surgery. As for the rest of the group, everyone is doing well and still eating. There is the occasional headache or nausea. Everyone is expected to summit.