Mount Kilimanjaro is of volcanic origin and was formed as part of the Great Rift Valley which starts with the river Nile in the North of the continent. Apart from being the highest freestanding mountain in the world Kilimanjaro is also particularly unusual in that despite being located virtually on the equator it has an icy snow capped glacial summit for most of the year.
The vast range of temperature and climatic zones which it encompasses mean that a climber experiences a wide variety of interesting environmental zones.
The first days walk starts at the Tanzanian National Park gate at 1800m above mean sea level and is through the dense rain forest, which forms the hem of the mountain skirt, and includes giant yellowwoods, camphor trees and macaranga trees all festooned with creepers and the silky ferns of many varieties of lichens. The forest floor is carpeted with moss and damp grasses which muffle most sounds and give one an opportunity to spot the distinctive and rare colobus monkey with its black body and distinctive white mane and long white hair enshrouding the face.
Day two sees one above the 3,000m altitude and into the Heather and Moreland zones which are far more open with heather, ericas, proteas and large aloe like plants adorning the landscape, all rather reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands. The Heather zone blends into the more desolate moreland as one approaches 4000 meters where the giant lobelias (see picture 4) are particularly striking.
Above 4,000m one moves into the highland desert zone which is far more desolate but still strewn with boulders from the volcanic eruptions and with patches strewn with shards of black volcanic glass from the solidified ancient lava evident all around.
On the fifth day we arrived at the final camp at about 4,800m altitude, which is the level from which one leaves at midnight to make the steep slow climb to the summit by the light of the moon and ones head torch so as to reach the summit around day break before the wind on top becomes too strong and so as to have enough strength left in the legs for the knee buckling descent back down to around the 3000m altitude.
Reaching the peak of a climb is the reward for the effort and this was made particularly worthwhile by the breathtaking (literally in the 30 knot wind) aura on the summit where we stood at -10 degrees in the sunshine, on the snow, surrounded by glacial iceand with the sea of cloud below.
This was a great hike and tough climb made easier by good guides and local porters who are totally acclimatized to the altitude and carry the food, heavy baggage and tents as far as the upper camp. I was fortunate to have joined a particularly social group who generally did not know each other prior to the climb and comprised 5 girls and 5 guys including the leader, Sean Wisedale who had made the climb several times before and gave us plenty of good advice.
The main discomforts are the headaches and nausea caused by the altitude and lack of oxygen but these can be overcome with some will power and plenty of water to drink and some forced feeding through the nausea and I can recommend the trip to any fairly fit person with a healthy pair of lungs and no heart problems who should be able to really enjoy this unusual venture to the snow capped icy oasis rising above the equatorial plains of Africa.
Having lived and worked in Africa for the last 40 odd years and with an ongoing interest in hiking ever since my army training in the Welsh Brecken Beacons I decided in January this year that I should get to the top of the African continent. Then armed with the knowledge that George Everest, a founder of Davis Langdon and Everest (the past name of our firm) carried out an originally survey of Mount Everest and that Bear Grylls, representing Davis Langdon became the youngest Briton to summit Everest and return alive in 1998, I decided to carry on the tradition and take the Davis Langdon banner to the Top of Africa.
