Mount Kilimanjaro is a serious mountain challenge, despite its postcard look and warm location slap bang on the equator. At a smidgen under 20,000 feet, it is two thirds the height of Everest, equivalent to six Ben Nevis stacked like pancakes, and gets insurance companies nervous when mentioned in your itinerary.
Of the many friends and family we invited to join us on this mad use of valuable vacation time, only five were brave enough to make the journey (Alex, Simona, John, Gill, and Darrell) ... all slightly nervous of what lay ahead.
We selected one of the longest trail routes up the mountain,the Lemosho trail, which takes 7 days in total and is considered one of the best experiences due to its scenic variety and slow acclimatisation. The trip was booked through the excellent Africa Travel Resource company, and our agent Lenny was an absolute star!
Climbing Kilimanjaro is probably not for everyone. It does end up working out quite expensive once all of the costs are totalled and the toilets may put some of you off for starters. That said it was a very special, enlightening experience, and one that will go with us to our grave. So glad to have seen the African glaciers up close and personal before they are gone forever.
@PeterBertke1 I want to climb Kilimanjaro and was wondering how I can do it like do I need to sign up? or do I have to raise money? (JamieT96, 1 year ago) @GrundleflyDOTcom It was a good hit, coming down woke us up enough to push on down to Mweka camp after sorting kit out at Barafu. For me the downhill part of the Mweka trail was the hardest, as just prior to Lemosho gate I had slipped in some mud and damaged my ankle ligaments - amazing what you can patch up with duct tape and an old sock! Good boots helped. (MonkeyBoyDrinksVat69, 2 months ago) @MonkeyBoyDrinksVat69 Thanks. Barranco to Barafu, spot of tea and then up to the summit and down again? Jeez. That's giving me a headache just thinking about it :) Nicely done Sir. (GrundleflyDOTcom, 2 months ago) Great set of vids. Most impressed that you managed to keep filming on top. I was up there with a mate back in June, same route, but six days as we skipped Shira & Karranga camps (lunch stops). So did Barranco to Barafu in one hit then summited the same night. By the time I got past Stella point my IQ had receded so much I couldn't get the camera out! (MonkeyBoyDrinksVat69, 2 months ago) Enjoyed, going in October 2012 before the 7th World Ranger Congress WooHoo!!!! (jewelann64, 3 months ago) Lovely song! Sadly the truth is that global warming has melted nearly all of Kili's snow. Take a look at my fly-over video on this site, filmed by me last month. Will we still have a moutain to sing about...?
speakswahilidammit 50 seconds ago (speakswahilidammit, 1 year ago) Lovely song! Sadly the truth is that global warming has melted nearly all of Kili's snow. Take a look at my fly-over video on this site, filmed by me last month. Will we still have a moutain to sing about...?
speakswahilidammit 50 seconds ago (speakswahilidammit, 1 year ago) i was in tanzania. just saw the mountain but never climed it. i was too young anyway (youtubhelper101, 1 year ago) Nice series. I'm dreaming myself away here, sitting and planning my honeymoon next year.
Norway (edomir, 2 years ago) Hey, thanks for the kind words.
Indeed, it is a challenge trying to get photos and videos on these tough hikes, but we try our best and it keeps us fit ;-) We find it a nice way to remember trips for ourselves by capturing the footage this way and to share and hopefully inspire the world.
More great travels on our web site and watch this space for a new site for the community coming soon!! (GrundleflyDOTcom, 2 years ago) Thnx for this serie of nice videos. I did the same route in 2002 and it's great to see it all back this way! And also I have a lot of respect of your discipline to shoot so much video footage while climbing. Excellent! Grtz, Boris (bkrielen, 2 years ago)