It’s that time of year again and we’ve got a team of trekkers on Kilimanjaro! They’ll be climbing the Lemosho Route, one of several “trekking” routes to the summit of the highest point in Africa at 19,341feet/5,895 meters. The team will be spending 8 days/7 nights on the mountain, trekking to increasingly higher camps each day, acclimatizing to the ever-increasing altitude until they are ready to push to the summit.
They’ll be traveling through varied landscapes with a ever-changing plant life, from lush rain forest down low with giant fern trees and monkeys scolding them, through the heath and into the high alpine environment where the last remnants of glaciers remain. Kilimanjaro is a striking peak, sitting prominently over the Serengeti plains below.
The team is led by senior Mountain Trip guide, Jacob Schmitz, and Marcus Bailado.
Today the team is starting their trek, but the adventure began several days ago as the trekkers packed their bags and headed for the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania, where we meet the crew. The first couple of nights are spent at a beautiful Safari-style luxury camp, located on a private game preserve. Everyone had a chance to relax and explore the game ranch, walking with a local guide and seeing some of the iconic animals that Africa is famous for. The team had a meeting with the guides from Mountain Trip and our local guide team of 8 to go over logistics and do the final gear check before heading up to the mountain this morning. The trek from the Kilimanjaro National Park entrance gate up to Camp 1, known as Big Trees, takes just a few hours, but it is a beautiful introduction to the mountain and a good warmup for bigger days ahead. Day 1 went great and everyone is settled in at camp for the night, listen to the “Audio Dispatch” by clicking the link below for today’s update from our guide, Marcus.
We’ll be getting daily updates here and you can listen to their audio expedition dispatches by clicking on the link in the post. Enjoy following the progress of the team and you can subscribe to the trip reports for their team so you get an update whenever they post the next dispatch. Keep in mind, they are calling in from a satellite phone and sometimes calls are dropped, but overall it works great.
Audio dispatch #1 – Kilimanjaro 2023
