It was January 4th, 2021. I had just spent 2020 traveling mostly around Europe, and now here I was on a flight from London (now in full lockdown) to Tanzania (where the now deceased president has claimed there is no Covid thanks to 3 powerful days of prayer 🙏🏻).

This was my first real trip to Africa. I had once spent a few days in Casablanca, Morocco, but most people would agree that I had not been to Africa. My flight was to Kilimanjaro airport, but there was a short detour in Zanzibar where I started to disembark the plane, only to learn that I needed to stay on. Little did I know that I would eventually return to Zanzibar (a future post).

It was a strange experience to arrive in the small and chaotic Kilimanjaro airport. It was strange because on the planes, the crew and passengers wore masks and in some cases — airline staff wore full body suits — but in the airport (and the rest of Tanzania), it was as if Covid never existed. I finally made my way through the chaotic visa checks, grabbed my luggage and grabbed a taxi to my hostel in Moshi.

I stayed at the We Travel hostel in Moshi. This is where I had my first taste of Tanzanian food which mostly consists of flavored rice and meat. The chef at this hostel makes delicious meals. 🤤 The room was pretty basic, but fit my needs.

Day 1 in Moshi consisted of hiking to a waterfall and visiting a small village to see how coffee is made. Later that day I would have my briefing from my Kilimanjaro hiking guide where he would check my equipment. We determined that I needed a bigger Winter jacket and a few other items, but for the most part, I was ready to go and they would pick me up in the morning. Time to get some rest. 😴

Day 2 began about 9am when my guide arrived at my hostel to drive us 2-hours to the entrance of Kilimanjaro park. I was in a packed van full of high spirited guys who I would later learn were the chef, the porters and other assistants. I was told another couple might be joining me, but that they were running late waiting for luggage.

Upon arrival at the gate, I was given a brief orientation and then we started the hike about 11am. We stopped briefly to check out the Marangu waterfall at the base of the mountain.

Day 1 finished at the Mandara Hut. It was 8km (5 miles) and 900m (3,000’) of elevation gain. The climb only took about 3 hours and was pretty easy.

Day 3: Normally day 3 is an acclimation day. You normally hike up to Zebra Rock and then back down to acclimate. My guide and I decided we would skip the acclimation day and press on to the base camp. This will later come back to haunt me. 😅

I had an early dinner and went to sleep around 6pm to wake up at midnight to begin the final ascent.

Day 4: Woke up at midnight to begin the final ascent.

So… Remember how we skipped the day of acclimation? This turned out to be a bad idea. I didn’t take any altitude sickness pills and I was feeling terrible. I could feel my heart beating in my head and I felt very nauseous. 🤢 In addition, my day had just begun. I now needed to hike back down to the Kibo huts, rest and then continue down to the Horombo huts.

I was feeling miserable hiking down to the Kibo huts, but I made it and was told to take an hour nap. When I awoke, my body was trembling. I had no appetite to eat lunch. I asked my guide if there was some other way to get down to the Horombo huts. He told me I could take a helicopter for $3k or hike down. I later asked why I couldn’t just spend the night at Kibo. He said the rangers don’t allow it because too many people have died from not enough oxygen. 🤯 I decided to trudge down.

I arrived at the Horombo Huts exhausted — but relieved. I had an amazing night’s sleep and the hike down on Day 5 was a breeze.

In summary, climbing Kilimanjaro was an amazing experience. I highly recommend taking the altitude sickness medication to avoid the headaches and nausea, but the hike itself is not that treacherous.

Have you done it? Do you have questions about it? Drop me a comment!