It's Kili Time

At 10:20pm tonight Nathan arrives, and on Monday morning we're going to tackle Africa's highest mountain - Kilimanjaro.

Kili is 19,340 ft to the summit and we've decided to take the second most popular route: Machame. There are several routes to the top and this one is suppose to be the most scenic - that's why we picked it. Its nickname is the "Whiskey Route". The easiest route, Marangu, which most people take to the top, is known as the Coca-Cola route because people sell water, coke, etc all along the route. By contrast, they do not sell Whiskey all the way up Machame, instead I've heard it's nick-named that because Whiskey helps to dull the pain.

It's a serious hike. Not really because the route is physically difficult, but because of the altitude. You can't go too far too fast or you may end up with a serious case of Acute Altitude Sickness.

That being said, thousands of people get up the mountain safe and sound every year and we're going to be two of them. :) We've added an extra day for acclimatization and are both experienced hikers and mountain climbers.

How we're getting up the mountain is actually really funny. We have an entourage! You have to have a guide by law to climb the mountain and the vast majority of tour groups throw in a lot more people to help make the trip easier. We are not an exception. For just the two of us to get up, we have the following support team:

1 Guide
1 Assistant Guide
1 Cook
7 Porters

That's right, for just the two of us, we have a team of 10 people helping us get up! On any other hike I'd feel like we're cheating, but for this one, where it will be hard enough just to breath without a 40 lb pack on top of it, I'm pretty happy about the arrangement. Accommodations will be in tents the whole way up.

I've always wanted to climb Kilimanjaro, so I feel very lucky that my CSC assignment was just 60km from the base of the mountain! Stay tuned to see if we actually make it or not! :)