Trip Reports

Kilimanjaro - Lemosho Glades - 11 to 20 August '18

Written by Leader Mungo Ross, August 2018

Opening this report with Alun Richardson’s closing lines of his recent trip summary to Elbrus feels like a very appropriate place to start this account of Jagged Globe’s latest team ascent of Kilimanjaro by quoting Colin Kirkus - “Going to the right place at the right time, with the right people is all that matters: what one does is purely incidental”.

We had already lost two of the group due to an unfortunate last-minute cancellation (it’s OK, Kilimanjaro isn’t going anywhere in a hurry), so there were only five of us (plus of course the twenty four support crew) left to enjoy ten days together for the walk to the highest point in Africa.

Of course it is easy to say that “it is all about the journey, not the destination” – in the sentiment of Kirkus – but whenever committing to climbing a mountain, especially a mountain as charismatic as Kilimanjaro, reaching the summit being important is difficult to deny. Being the highest mountain on the African continent, one of the seven summits, and having a media reputation of being “easy” (no such thing as an “easy” 6000 meter mountain), Kili is attracting an ever increasing number of folk questing it’s summit sign-post. So while the summit is the literal high-point of the climb, it is in the details of the trek there and back down that makes an ascent so interesting and provides a plethora of high-points; from sub-tropical rain forest to Arctic tundra, through a variety of vegetation zones, though varied volcanic and glacial landscapes, accompanied by the people who live and work there – that is what makes a trip to Kilimanjaro so worthwhile. And exactly what this group have just experienced, appreciated and enjoyed.

It was unfortunate timing that we coincided on the summit Plateau with the only challenging weather that we experienced – dense cloud (so no views) and a strong, very cold wind (brrrrr). Only Alan (one of the group) made it all the way with Clemance (one of our guides), to Uhuru Peak - the very highest point, the other three turning back from Stella Point (a mere 139 meters lower). However, all had gone well past their previous altitude PBs, dug deeper than they had ever had to dig before, risen to the physical and mental challenge of expeditioning, but more importantly had got on well together and marvelled at everything that there is to be marvelled about on the slopes of Kilimanjaro: giant groundsel and lobelia, heather 5 meters high, everlasting helichrysums and senecios, blue monkeys and salamanders; roche moutonnees, striations, erratic blocks, lava flows and ash beds……………..it was difficult to take a step without someone noticing something else, something we hadn’t seen already, something to take another photo of.

This group have all gone home with much more than a certificate to say that they have stood on the roof of Africa – we have shared a genuine “walk on the wild side”, a journey of learning and discovery.

Thank you for being such good company; thank you Jagged Globe for the usual (kind of taken for granted) seamless service; and thank you Thomas and his fantastic team of guides, porters, camping and kitchen crew.

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