Day 4 to Day 6: Barranco Camp (12,990ft / 3960m) to Uhuru Peak (19,340ft / 5895m) to Mwega Gate (5,350ft / 1630m).

Day 4 started immediately by climbing the famed Barranco wall, or Breakfast wall. It was rock scrambling for about an hour, with an obligatory stop in the middle of it to “kiss the rock”. It was not as dangerous as it sounds, but we still had to be careful, as a fall there could have been disastrous. After a few hours, we had a quick lunch at Karanga camp, where most people stop for the day, in order to get more acclimatization time. We did not have this luxury, so we kept hiking in the afternoon until we reached Barafu camp, at 15,200ft / 4670m. The camp was scattered over a large area, and many people from different expeditions were already settling in. We were now in the alpine desert climate zone where there is no vegetation and the temperature is cold. Barafu is the last camp before the summit attempt, and you want to arrive there as early as possible. Because the next day is the big one. After a quick dinner – we could not eat much – Ravi and Fadhili gave us the daily briefing to go over our summit push. Wake-up call would be at 11pm and start at midnight. Despite the usual headache for Estelle and me, we did not have any other issue, and we were all confident and very excited about the next day. We prepared our backpacks and tried to get some sleep for a few hours.

A summit push on a big mountain is always special because you have to start in the middle of the night, usually between 11pm and 1am, and it is the last step between you and the goal of reaching the top. We barely slept but it did not matter because we felt so happy just being there, on Kilimanjaro, just a few hours from the peak. At midnight, we left Barafu camp and we saw in the distance a line of headlamps from climbers ahead of us. Early March is close to the end of the climbing season but still there were probably a hundred climbers that night going to the top. We passed many big groups that were going slow, as we were only six (two guides, one porter and us). We made good progress and we did not stop very often, as it was cold. Estelle and Damien were strong while I had some slight balancing issue from time to time, not to a point of falling but still annoying. About 30’ before reaching the crater rim at Stella point, we stopped for a break and Ravi measured my O2 saturation. To our surprise, it was at 61%. It was low, but I did not have any shortness of breath, dizziness, or mental confusion. Ravi told me that it would be better if I go down, but I decided against doing it, because we were now less than 90’ from the top, the hardest part of the climb was almost over, and I still felt very strong and fully aware of things. Therefore, we kept going up and reached Stella Point at 18,800ft (5739m) just before sunrise. With the first ray of light, we were able to see the entire crater of Kilimanjaro, remnant of few small glaciers that once crowned the entire summit, and an unobstructed 360° view. We still had one hour to go before reaching the top, but it was a very easy walk and at 7:15am, Estelle, Damien and I finally stood on top of Kilimanjaro. At that moment, we, along with maybe 30 other climbers, were standing on the roof of Africa. The view was breathtaking and emotions were running high, as it was a dream of mine to do this adventure with my children. After taking pictures and enjoying the moment for a little while, we left the peak and started to go down. The day was not over and I did not want to take any chance with my health. In 3 hours, we were back to Barafu for lunch. We all felt tired but were able to hike down in the afternoon to Mweka camp (12,800ft / 3900m), at the beginning of the rain forest. Before dinner, the entire team celebrated our success by singing and dancing for us. All of them worked incredibly hard so that we were in the best possible condition to get to the top. They made everything so much easier for us, that we just needed to put one foot in front of the other, and not worry about logistics. Finally, we checked one last time my O2 sat and it was back to normal, at 93%.

Day 6 was the last day on the mountain, and it started with another beautiful blue sky, and coffee served inside our tent by our devoted porter/waiter Godlisten. Before leaving camp and hike deep into the forest, we took some last pictures of Kilimanjaro, not fully realizing yet that we were at the very top just the day before. It took us only 3hrs to get to the Mweka gate (5,350ft / 1630m), the exit gate of the park. We signed the official registry book, received our certificate, and drank a well-deserved Kilimanjaro beer. Then, we drove away from the park and got back to our hotel in Moshi.
 
In conclusion, it took a lot of time, effort and perseverance, from the moment I dreamt of climbing Kilimanjaro with my children, to finally have all the stars aligned, and actually doing it. As the saying goes, “If it were easy, everyone would do it.” But after all these years of being patient, even though these 6 days went by so fast, it was all worth it and I will cherish this special time with Estelle and Damien for the rest of my life. As we flew away from Tanzania the next evening, we finally got the chance to see Kilimanjaro from above, in all her glory, as if she was waving us a final goodbye. 

​4 down, 11 to go...