BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello,

We made the summit on March 7 at noon (6th day of the Lemosho Route). It went quite well, the original plan was to have day 6 to acclimatize and then summit at midnight of the 7th day but we decided to go up at 6am on day six instead. I really enjoyed the Lemosho route, there were only three groups at our camps at Big Tree, Shira and Moir; unlike the mini-city scene at Barranco.

I think we did the right thing leaving in the morning instead of at midnight because we basically had the summit to ourselves (except for the cleaning guy that showed up around 1pm) and we got some great pictures of Mawenzi, Kibo, Stella and the glaciers on the way up. The only down part was that we did not get a picture of Meru from the summit, but I did get some pictures of it at Millenium the next morning.

The one thing that we did do before starting on Kili, that I would recommend to anyone, was to climb Meru. There were hardly any people on the trail (there was 9 people that attempted to summit the night we went up), we saw way more animals, got some great pictures of Kili and saw an active volcano erupting on summit night. Plus I think the 3 days we spent at altitude on Meru made Kili way easier.

We did both trips with Leonard Soloman through DAT and were very impressed with Leonard's professionalism. Would recommend him to anyone.

If I were to do anything different I should have brought my own coffee press and some fresh ground - I have a Montana Bistro trail coffee press. The Africans seem to favour instant and it is just not the same.

Cheers,

Tim

Hi Tim

Congratulations, sounds like you had a fantastic trip.

I'm trekking Meru and then Kilimanjaro in September, and reading your post has just made me even more excited. Counting the months/days now!

I'm hoping that climbing Meru first will make Kilimanjaro easier due to the aclimbatisation, as I've not yet had any experience at altitude. Although I have read that Meru can be even more strenuous than Kilimanjaro, so I'd best keep going down the gym I guess!

Richard

Thanks Richard,

Meru is a fairly steep walk, but as long as you go pole pole you should be ok. If I remember correctly the gain is 1000m on the first day, 1000m on the second and then another 1000 when you get up at 2am for summit. We also went up Little Meru when we got to Saddle Huts on day 2.

Make sure you bring your camera, we saw lots of animals and got some great pictures. There is a small balcony/porch off the east side of the dining hall in Miriakamba, go out there at sunrise for pictures of Kili. Also make sure you take both routes from Miriakamba to Momela Gate. We took the short route up to Miriakamba and the long route on the way back.

Cheers,

Tim

Thanks for the advice Tim.

I shall be taking 3 cameras! My good camera, a backup camera and if all else fails I will have the camera on my phone!

I'm actually almost looking forward to Meru more, because of the wildlife. Actually, I'm looking forward to the whole thing. Should have done this years ago!

Cheers,

Richard

When are you going in September and exactly who are you going with? I am hoping to go in September as well.....

Kyle