Day Six b - Uhuru Peak to Millenium Camp

What goes up must come down.

I didn't want to leave the summit.  I wanted to stay there forever.  I had forgotten all about the 7-8 hours beforehand.  It was a distant memory, a necessary evil to get to the top.  And something, now, that I would absolutely do again.

We were basically dragged away by Jacob, Joseph and Faustin.  Each one given a designated trekker to get down safely.  As Susie was struggling with the altitude, Faustin stuck with her.  Joseph accompanied David and Bob.  As they had both been fine all the way up and were experienced trekkers they were left to get down alone, but Joseph stuck with them for a chat.

Deo held back a bit - he had jobs to do.  Firstly he had to find a phone signal and get notification back to everyone following our progress that we had all summitted successfully.  Then he had to make a call, based on our condition, as to which camp we were going to stay at that evening.  Whether we were in a fit enough state to walk for a few hours longer to get further down the mountain before setting up camp.  He had decided that we would stay at the nearer camp and so he then needed to get in touch with the team of porters to let them know so they could get the kit to the correct camp and set up ready for our arrival.

Meanwhile, I was with Jacob.  We walked back along the top of the mountain for a while until we reached what looked like a path that other climbers had used to get up.  The path was half way between the peak and Gilman's Point, called Stella Point,

What followed then was basically a 4.5km run down a massive pile of sand.  Jacob took one of my poles and took hold of the top of my arm and off we went.  It was really great fun but petrifying at the same time.  The object was to get to Bafuru camp as soon as possible - back to safe oxygen levels.

Jacob on the way back down

This 'quick walk' was quite an eye opener.  There were many trekkers being dragged down from the summit.  Not in the same way I was, but like the girl we saw on the way up.  I was shocked at how many people were actually willing to risk their life just to get to the top.  The poor porters were running, carry loads of weight and having to carry the trekkers down - I was actually getting really annoyed at just how stupid and selfish they were being.  There were some that had been wired up to oxygen just so they could reach the top, taking the oxygen away from someone that may really need it.  It was shameful.

Bafaru Camp - Kilimanjaro Base Camp

Bafaru Camp check in.  The busiest camp we visited, thankfully not one we stayed at for more than half an hour!

Once we had rested enough, at Bafaru Camp, Deo had caught us up and we had all had the first toilet break in about 14 hours, we set off.  Walking again like the whole summit experience never happened.  Susie was gradually getting back to her normal self - the effects of the high altitude were going as quick as they came.

The walk down was boring.  The photo below shows the view.  Dreary weather, dreary landscape.  Bob and Dave had walked ahead, they were on a mission.  The porters met us half way down with refreshments.  Lets just think about that...they had taken a call from Deo saying "please walk to Millennium Camp with all the kit and set up".  They had walked to the camp, set up all the tents and then walked back to meet us with refreshments....and we were complaining about sore knees and asking for a rest!

I made reference to a storm on the first day of the climb.  A really heavy tropical storm.  Well that was nothing compared to what was about to meet us on the way down.

Lets just say it rained, a lot.  When we eventually got to camp, soaking wet, tired, sore and still wanting to be all excited about reaching the top - we actually just wanted to flop in the tent.  But the hail storm wasn't going any time soon.  We got in the tent to find that everything, literally everything, was dripping wet.  The mattresses, the sleeping bags, the bags....and of course the ground was just one massive puddle, so we couldn't even take our boots off!  Who knew what we were going to wear the next day to get back down to the bus.  The porters did their best to keep the hail away from the tents but everything was leaking.  Make-shift washing lines were put up to try, unsuccessfully, to dry some clothes, it was just awful.  I hated camping.

The wet tents, with hail still on the wet, muddy ground 

We all had another early night tonight.  Not because we were being woken early again - but because we had walked all through the night.  The climb to the top was really hard, and then the walk down.  We were wet, tired, grumpy and still little bit in shock!  Tomorrow was the last day.  The final push back to the bus, the showers, the toilets and the bar.  Now the main event had happened we just wanted to be off the mountain.