Hey everyone, and welcome to World Heritage Journey.
For today's video, we're at Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania.
One of the world's most famous mountains, Kilimanjaro
stands at 5,895 metres above sea level, making it the tallest mountain in Africa.
It's on the World Heritage List for both its impressive beauty, and its varied plants
and animals.
A few years ago, before we started the World Heritage Journey, we actually climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro all the way to the summit, and so for today's video I'd like to show you
through our experience.
Let's get started!
Kilimanjaro is located in the north of Tanzania, east Africa, not far from the border with
Kenya.
Rising gracefully above the savanna, perennially snow-capped and frequently ringed with cloud,
the dormant volcano that is Kilimanjaro is a genuinely inspiring and uplifting sight.
But what's it like to actually climb?
A few years ago, we decided to find out.
After a night in the nearby town of Moshi we drove to the Machame Gate, starting point
for our six day trek.
Although there were only five people in our group, we had a small army of porters lugging
gear and supplies for us.
They're the true heroes here, and I just want to take a moment to acknowledge them, and thank them.
Setting off from Machame gate, elevation 1700 metres, we immediately headed into the rainforest
along a wide, well travelled path.
Lots of beautiful tall trees and thick rainforest vegetation in this area, with ferns, moss,
lichen, and of course chirping birds everywhere.
The trail gets narrower, muddier, and almost always climbing.
Eventually the rainforest gave way to bushlands, and we reached Machame Hut at 3000 metres
elevation, where we camped for the night.
Next morning we set off through a steep section of boulders, and the bushlands gradually faded
below us.
Following the trail, up and up, we climbed into the alpine moorlands, with short hardy
grass and lots of moss-covered rocks.
This was our second camp, Shira Hut, elevation 3760 metres.
Day three took us higher, up out of the moorlands and into the alpine desert, where it's basically
just rocks.
The only trees in this area are the unusual Senecio plants, which look like odd palm trees
but are actually related to sunflowers!
Around lunchtime we reached the Lava Tower landmark at 4600 metres elevation, then descended
through the desert zone to Barranco camp at about 4000 metres.
Day four started with the steepest section of the whole climb, the Barranco Wall.
It's half-clambering and half-scrambling up a steep rock wall, and since you tackle it
first thing the guides all call it the Breakfast Wall.
After conquering that, we carried on trekking across the alpine moonscape where it's basically
just rocks again.
Big rocks, little rocks, and dust.
Eventually we reached the high camp at Barafu, 4645 metres, resting up over the afternoon
and evening.
Day five, summit day, started at about 11pm on day 4.
It had started snowing around dinner time, and by the time we set off for the summit
the snow was a few inches deep.
I don't remember much of the climb, and I didn't take any photos as it was completely
dark!
But we made the summit, before dawn, and grabbed our obligatory photos with the sign.
No views unfortunately, since it was dark and cloudy!
But we'd made it.
We tackled the return trek over the rest of that day and the following day: descending
through the alpine desert, moorlands, forest, and eventually the humid rainforest again.
The only thing remaining was to celebrate with a Kilimanjaro beer!
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We'll see you next time.