Mt. Kilimanjaro

Hi Bird- We booked through Exodus (based in the UK). The local operator was African Walking Company. I have nothing but praises to sing of them. Our guides were absolutely fantastic. Good luck and have fun!!!

Bird -- good luck! I did the 6-day Rongai route as well. My biggest bit of advice is that if you are also doing 6 days and stopping by Mwenzi Tern, your water will be terrible for day 4 and 5 so bring something to flavor the water and possibly consider buying water at Kibo Hut. The water at Mwenzi Tarn comes from a stagnant lake by the campsite. It was actually so revolting that I couldn't drink it unflavored. There is no fresh water at Kibo hut, so your water for the summit is brought up from your last stop (in the 6 day Rongai route, this would be Mwenzi Tern). I seemed to have a stronger reaction to it than my friends, but it did make hydrating challenging for me. They sell bottled water at Kibo hut - $5 a bottle. Don't want to frighten you, but after finishing my slightly flavored camelback on the summit, I vomited when I first tried to drink 2-day old stink water from my Nalgene on the summit - which was not good for my morale. My guide added a sugar packet to the water to help me drink it. All of the other water on the mountain tastes great -- natural runoff from the glaciers! I took Diamox starting on the fourth morning. Originally I was only planning to take it for emergency use, but after a few days of altitude sickness symptoms, it really helped. Assuming you're not allergic, the only harm is that since it is a diuretic, you have to really be sure to keep hydrated and it kept my friend up all night running to the bathroom - and when you're comfy in the tent, a toilet run out into the cold isn't so exciting. OUr guide definitely didnt' want people taking it without talking to him -- mostly so he knew what anyone was already taking in the case of emergency. HAving walked up the Rongai route and down Marangu, i think Rongai was nicer -- there is only one way traffic and it is much less crowded. Plus, you can see the mountain starting from Day 1. Marangu is nice because there is more time in the forest, but you really can't see the mountain the first few days. With Rongai, you come down Marangu, so you experience both trails. A couple things I thought were really useful that weren't neccessarily on the list of what to take -- -a multi-tool/ swiss army knife -extra batteries for asst. gadgets -a bandana/ something to keep the dust out of your face -a sun hat that can actually fit over your wool hat -- or ear warmers to go under your sun hat -wet wipes, anti-bacteria gel -a nail brush -- you can't believe how much dirt gets under there! probably best to trim nails before you go. A few things that surprised me -it was below freezing every night -- i was not dressed warmly enough the 1st night -some companies have camp toilets, which were a godsend -the trails are much better taken care of than I expected -walking up the "scree" is a bit like walking up the dunes -- your feet slide down a bit with every step you take -the descent is rough on the knees-- def. take walking poles -we all had first aid packs, sunscreen, emergency blankets etc. After the 1st day of lugging everything up the mountain, my two friends and I split up who would carry which items, because we did not need three of each! -expect to pay $150+ in tip at the end of the trip (amount might depend on size of group, company, etc). <em>edited by JillMV on 31/01/2011</em>

Yes, I'm back. Made it safely up to the top and back down. Summit day was extremely hard. I actually started tearing up (out of joy I think) when I got to Gilman's Point. We pushed on to Uhuru (the tip-top of the mountain) and our whole group of five made it successfully with no real problems. Once I'm settled back, I will take the time to write more

Thanks! I leave tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes:)