The time had come - climbing to the Roof of Africa. With our bags packed and our guides, porters and cook ready we arrived at the gate of Kilimanjaro we were registered and were ready to set off. The first day is a short 3 hour hike to Mandara Hut (2700m) and is along a trail through the rain forest. On arrival you sign in and are allocated the hut you stay in for the night. The hut's have 4 beds in so depending on the numbers in you group you have to share with other hikers. The following day it was up early, breakfast and then the approx. 6 hour hike. Again we passed through some of the rain forest and saw the trees suffused with mist and dripping with beards of moss. The scenery then changes after a while to moorland until you reach Horombo Hut (3720m).

We spent 2 nights at Horombo Hut, the extra day was for acclimatization. At this point you get to meet up with other hikers who are arriving after descending from the summit as you send your last night here. It is great and also scary hearing some of the stories from those who have made it and those who were not so lucky! For the acclimatization day we talk a short walk to an altitude of 4200m and then back down to Horombo to rest for the remainder of the day. The whole hike from the start the guides keep telling you "pole-pole" (pronounced poley-poley) which means slowly and this is almost slower than a snails pace! From Horombo you are also able to see the glacier glistening in the sun!

The next day you walk for approx. 6 hours through mostly alpine desert habitat and as the walk is pretty flat you are able to see the trail to Kibo Hut (4700m). Kibo Hut is where we would spend our final few hours of rest before awaking for the summit attempt in the early hours of the morning. When you arrive you are filled with excitement and nerves as you know that the time is here but also you see how steep the gradient is up to Gillman's Point (5681m). All along the walk up you come across those climbers who are descending and depending on the direction in which you are heading you pass along well wishes or congratulations to each other. You are also told if you get to Gillman's just keep going as it is easy from there on out.

So to bed early to rise at 23.30pm that night to have some tea and biscuits before heading off at midnight. It was such a bright evening that we did not even use our head torches however as we walked up and looked back we could see a snake of people coming up behind us with their head torches on. The walk up to Gillman's takes approx. 5 hours and is a very slow walk all the way up. On the way up to Gillman's I (Charlene) felt so tired I could have slept on the spot if I was allowed, but as this was a result of the altitude our guide Freddy and Jamie just kept pushing me. Eventually 15 min's from Gillman's I said I was turning around but as our guide was having none of it he literally grabbed my hand and dragged me up to Gillman's. We reached Gillman's at 5.15 am. As we got there I had a burst of energy and could have run to Uhuru Peak but Jamie began to feel the effects and needed to take it a bit slow, this time at least I was able to push him along and we continued to walk along to Uhuru through snow and ice, needless to say it was freezing and you could not feel your toes or fingers despite all the layers!

We made it Uhuru Peak (5895m) at 6.45am and what an awesome view. We were so filled with emotion, I (Charlene) burst into tears with Jamie nearly following! We spent approx. 40 mins at the top just taking in the view and getting some pics. After that it was time to descend and needless to say from the time we turned around all to the time we exited the gate of the park we were practically running. It was such an amazing week and something that we are so happy we managed to achieve even though it may have been one of the most difficult challenges we have set ourselves. To the great team who made it all possible - Thank you all so very much, without you we would never have made it.

We would highly recommend High Peaks Expeditions for climbing Mt Kenya or Mt Kilimanjaro, they are a professional outfit & have great people, which makes dealing with them such a pleasure. They went out of their way to ensure we could achieve our goals of climbing both peaks & seeing the sights & sounds of Tanzania & Kenya.