Each Great Journey Begins with the First Step.

And the journey up Kilimanjaro was no different. The overall trip, which included Kilimanjaro, Serengeti Safaris and trek up to Everest Base Camp (EBC), was organized by Wexas Travel. The portions of the trip up Kilimanjaro and to EBC were with Exodus and

this trip was my first with Exodus. We were a group of 13 with 2 main guides and about 20 support staff - porters and cooks. We took the Lemosho Route up the mountain.

On 29 August we arrived at our hotel called Comfortable Hotel in Arusha and that night met the others on tour. We had a briefing over drinks and met the others on the trek. Turned out everyone else on the tour was from the UK and that Exodus caters to UK clients.

This is a photo of the fireplace in my room.

We started our trek from the Londorossi Gate, with night stops at the Lemosho Forest Camp, Shira One, Shira Hut, Great Barranco Valley, Karanga, and Barafu before ascending to Uhuru Peak (the Top).

The tour included "7 nights of full service camping" - everyone stayed in 2-man tents. I paid extra so I could have my own. There were also luxury toilet tents at each stop:)

Our trip began on August 30. From the itinerary:

To Londorossi; Begin the ascent to Lemosho Forest (2650m) In the morning we transfer to Londorossi (2250 m), passing between the slopes of Kilimanjaro and the horseshoe-shaped volcanic crater of Mt. Meru (a distance of about 120 km). After completing the necessary registration formalities, we drive on for a short distance through farmland and plantations to reach the Lemosho roadhead.

The last 5 km of the road to the park gate is of poor quality, particularly after rain, and the drive there should be considered part of the adventure. We often have our lunch in the glades before starting to walk. It is an easy day of walking up a small path through beautiful and lush forest, this area has a variety of game including buffalo. We camp at Lemosho Forest camp (2650 m). Approx 3- 4 hours walking. 4 miles of walking

We drove first to the Londorossi Gate where we registered and had some photo ops. Along the way I saw a huge harvest of carrots on a truck going to market. You can almost see the big orange blob on the above photo.

From registration we drove over to a lunch spot and the trail head where I saw a huge raven scavenging at the garbage can. We had a few final photos before starting up through the forest.

Through the beautiful forest we saw several wonderful monkeys, but no buffalo, as we meandered up to our first stop: Mti Mkubma Camp 2650M elevation. It was so dusty I was glad I had my gaiters.

We also had an extra guest at the camp who was fun to watch: