Adventures in Africa: Horombo Huts, Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

I woke up this morning early at my hotel in Moshi, and then my guide Dennis and the rest of the entourage picked me up. After a stop to buy some water, snacks, and fresh batteries we headed to the Kilimanjaro Kinapa HQ, about one hour from Moshi.

Here, I packed my day bag while Dennis completed some registration steps and organized the porters (it seems that mostly the porters are hired at the trailhead whereas the chef and waiter are hired beforehand). We were intending to climb Kili faster than is typical, so Dennis told me it was important to find a strong porter. The porters carry a maximum of 20 kg, whereas this was my bag, which surely even with my full water bottles barely breaks 5 kg!

The Marangu trail to the Kili summit is usually done over 5-6 days. This a map that shows the route in yellow and the chart below the map outlines what a 6 day climb would involve.

I was paying for a 5 day itinerary, which seems to be the official minimum. It is the same as the 6 day other than you skip day 3. But, because of my acclimatization on Mt Meru Dennis was comfortable doing a "double" day today which would mean going from the trailhead to Horombo Hut, skipping a night at Mandara Hut. Basically, merging Stage 1 and 2 in the chart above.

I liked this idea for a few reasons, including I was happy to reduce the number of nights I would need to spend on the mountain without a shower! But this also meant I was very eager to get going and was happy when we finally passed through the gate just before 10:00. At this point we were at 1879 metres and we would be climbing to around 3700. 

Although I have heard that the Marangu route is the most popular route to climb Kilimanjaro, for most of the climb today Dennis and I were very much alone, and at times he let me get well ahead such that I was peacefully hiking alone. Initially, we were in dense jungle. It was not too hot (the trail was shaded by the canopy!), but it was very humid. 

I saw some monkeys, including this fellow with quite the tail.

I also photographed a couple of porters who passed me. Look at how much they carry, and note that they passed me!

Along this stretch we passed a large group (maybe twenty) of Asian tourists who are doing a day climb. I did not realize this was an option, but apparently folks can do a day climb up to and down from Mandara Hut, which sounds like a nice and relatively easy way to experience Kilimanjaro. 

We reached Mandara Hut just after noon. We had climbed about 900 metres and 8 kilometres at this point.

We rested and ate lunch here before setting out again. Almost immediately we were into what is called the heath and moorland zone. Jungle was definitely behind us. After leaving Mandara Hut we did not encounter anyone else all the way up to Horombo Hut and this was definitely my favourite part of the day. The scenery was beautiful and very peaceful and Dennis let me get well ahead such that it often felt like it was just me and the mountain. Here are some photos.

We had one or two brief spells of light rain on this stretch, but the clouds came and went quickly.

There was a small herd of antelope up at about 3400 metres, you can see them in the middle of the photo below . . .

. . . and, albeit blurry, in this video.

At 17:00 we reached Horombo Hut. By now it was cold (about 10 C) and I was eager to wash up and change into warm, clean clothes, but the porter had not yet arrived. In fact, after waiting for a bit Dennis told me the porter was in trouble and needed help. So, another porter who was at Horombo Hut was sent back to support. I understand the porter's condition was not too serious, but obviously carrying that much weight for that distance could be challenging for most people. 

While I was waiting, a celebration began. The Kilimanjaro guides and support crews are famous for this type of thing, but as I sat there and watched I could not believe they have this much excess energy! I sure did not. 

After about an hour my bag arrived and I was able to get changed and more comfortable. I was assigned a bed in this hut, and I was able to move in. I had one roommate, a Kenyan maybe roughly my age who told me he was climbing with some older people and they are taking 8 days to do the Marangu route! Evidently, some people are more comfortable forgoing showers and sleeping without heat than I am!

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Around 19:00 I was served dinner, and as I headed to the dining hut this was the sunset view from camp.

At dinner, Dennis did a wellness check on me and confirmed he felt we should try to summit tomorrow. That would mean climbing to Kibo Hut (base camp) and then heading up to the summit, likely descending back to base camp in the dark. It would be roughly 2000 metres of climbing, similar to what we did today, but of course from 3700 to 5800 metres is much different than 1800 to 3700. Normally, climbers climb to Kibo Hut, sleep, and then get up to summit for sunrise, then descend to Horombo Hut. I definitely preferred to do what Dennis suggested, but I will admit I was feeling intimidated. Here are charts of the climbs, and you can see how much more significant the gradient is on the summit stretch versus the others stages.

After dinner, the cloud had cleared, at least briefly, and it was interesting to see the city lights far, far below.

Also, although it is not a good photo, I took the one below looking straight up at the sky in an attempt to capture the clear, dark, starlit sky which was actually breathtaking. 

I was into my sleeping bag before 21:00, and had no issue getting to sleep!