Horombo Camp (Day 7)

As they say, “What goes up must come down.", and down our climb team went as Spencer, Salim and Safiya with their guides, trekked their way down from the peak but with one BIG difference. They were going down in pitch black darkness! Unlike many who’d started their ascent at night, in the dark, to catch the sunrise at the Peak, they’d ascended during the day and caught the sunset instead of the sunrise and now need to descend back to Kibo Hut in the dark, a reverse scenario.

Two things happens when the sun goes down, the temperature drops dramatically and it’s dark. There are no street lights to light the way for you at Uhuru Point. So, out come the headlamps to light the way down. The trek from Kibo Hut to summit Kilimanjaro at Uhuru Point took approximately 12 hrs. It was a slow and steady climb given the blowing wind, cold temperature and some altitude sickness. However, the trek down took only approximately 3 hrs! In spite of the need to be super careful with the footing and in the pitch black darkness of the mountain. Unfortunately, no pictures or videos could be taken given the darkness so no pictures or videos are available to document the climb down from Uhuru Point back to Kibo Hut where they spent the night before hiking down to Horombo camp at mid-mountin.

The original plan, when I descended from Kibo Hut, was for me to meet them at Horombo camp on their way down. However, when I arrived at Horombo camp, the Ranger at the camp decided that it was best for me to head all the way down to the bottom given my pulmonary edema which, in hindsight, was a good decision. This, in spite of my wanting to stay there and meet the rest of the team on their way down. Even at the lower Horombo camp elevation I was still in danger of fluid building in the lungs. As a consequence, I was not there to greet them when they arrived at Horombo camp the next day.

The following depicts their trek down from Kibo Hut to Horombo camp.

After resting overnight at Kibo Hut, the Climb Team is trekking down to Horombo camp.

As they hike further down the mountain the terrain has changed from a moon scape type of terrain to desert like terrain with desert like landscape and vegetation. The cactus like tree is called Giant Groundsel or Senecio tree and can be seen throughout the lower elevations on the mountain.

You can see Horombo camp coming in to view as they continue to hike down the mountain.

 

Finally! They’ve arrived at Horombo camp exhausted but with a feeling of having done something few have ever accomplished before.

 

A final descent and a job well done! Check out the next Blog post.