DESTINATIONS KILIMANJARO AFRICA


TO PACK It gets cold on Kilimanjaro with temperatures as low as -20C at the summit. Here are some of the key things clients will need:  Sleeping


bag rated to a minimum -10C  Hiking boots  Down jacket  Waterproof jacket


 Fleece


 Thermal leggings


 Thermal tops  Hiking socks  Warm gloves  Daypack (30 litres )


WHAT


But those guides kept us going, singing Swahili songs and motivating us with positive words of wisdom when it got a little tougher. Porters carried our luggage, food and tents, darting past us with enviable speed and greeting us with a friendly ‘jambo’ (‘hello’ in Swahili), so that when we arrived at each campsite, everything had already been set up. We quickly fell into a routine – each


evening we’d be given a bowl of hot water for washing, then ‘afternoon tea’ (normally popcorn, cocoa and steaming mugs of coffee) would be dished up in the communal tent to warm our ice-block hands. After that, we’d eat dinner together before flopping to bed at a wholesome 9pm, a blanket of stars twinkling overhead like diamonds on a vast, black canvas. Mornings consisted of 6am wakeup


calls, 7.30am communal breakfasts and 8.30am departures. Then it was off to explore the remote, empty landscapes,


“Forget everything you’ve heard


Living in the here and now was invigorating – but even more uplifting was the attitude of everyone around us


thoughts floating away in a peaceful daze, crisp air filling our lungs and dramatic, hazy slopes stretching off into the distance.


 HAKUNA MATATA Living in the here and now was invigorating – but even more powerful and uplifting for me was the attitude of everyone around us. ‘Hakuna matata’ (‘no worries’) came to define our trip, and PMA (‘positive mental attitude’) was a phrase I got used to hearing from our guides.


before,” said Makeke the night before summitting. “Nothing is too big a problem if you just take it as it comes.” Those words echoed through my head every step of the way on that final night, and I’ve no doubt they helped motivate me when I was slumped on the side of that rock at 3am. But they’ve stayed with me beyond the mountain too. And despite the tougher parts, I often think about being back there, watching the sun rise and set above the peaks, exploring a place where cars, the internet and technology haven’t reached. Finding such peace and simplicity


is rare, and for clients wanting the adventure of a lifetime where the rest of the world fades away for a few days, this is the real deal. Book it: Exodus’s 10-day Kilimanjaro Climb Rongai Route starts at £2,949 including two nights’ B&B in a hotel (one at the start and one at the end), five nights’ full-service camping in three-man tents (shared between two), with all meals, Kilimanjaro park fee, the services of a tour leader, guides and porters, plus transport and flights from London. exodus.co.uk


68travelweekly.co.uk14 March 2019


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