We have come into Arusha, 25km from our campsite in Meserani to seek out wifi so we can finally upload the blog we've written off-line whilst on the mountain. Our new campsite has a snake park and educates local people so they can recognise snake species. It also treats over 1000 snakebites per month at its clinic. The profits from its now famous bar on the overlanding circuit funds the clinic and buys uniforms for local kids so that they can attend school. The £1.20 we pay for a large kilimanjaro beer is going to a good cause so having a few seems quite essential! We've seen amongst others, black mamba's, pythons and cobra's eat cute little yellow fluffy chicks alive! I had to turn my head away after watching in fascination as the snakes slithered towards their dinner.
Anyhow, enough about our campsite. Coffee and cake in hand, we've found wifi. Enjoy our Kilimanjaro climb instalment

Leanne & Tony xx

Kilimanjaro
I'm starting to write the kili blog at 2.20pm on day 2 of our climb. We've just arrived at camp and are sat in our communal tent which has just been erected by the porters, eating lunch; sweet potatoes and pumpkin soup with oranges for dessert. We're at 3850m, we've climbed up from our camp this morning which was at 3000m. We've definitely embraced 'pole-pole', Swahili for slowly slowly. We awoke at 7, had breakfast of porridge, sausage, egg and salad and set off at 8.40am. 5 hrs to go 7km.... It has all been up hill!! Yesterday we trekked the same height as Nevis. We would normally get up that in 3 hrs. Yesterday took 6!!
We have a good climbing group- so important when spending 7 days together. Jemima is an Irish medical student who's been working at a hospital in Tanzania, Owen & Mollie are father and daughter from Ireland. Mollie has raised £2500 for the 'Moving Mountains' charity that our trekking company Adventure Alternative set up. Jay is a Kenyan student who's lived in London and Wells is a London based student. Then there is Tony and I. The not so typical honeymooning couple! We all met on Friday and went shopping in the local town, Moshi, and had dinner and a couple of beers together so the camaraderie was there before we set off.

We should have been afforded good views today but we're still in cloud cover. Yesterday was cloud and rain forest so we couldn't see anything but I really enjoyed it as it was even ground, minimising the chance of ankle accidents! Today it's more scrambling uphill over boulders....including one bit across a tiny cliff face which I panicked about and ended up in tears. I'm not good when there is a drop below me.

We arrived at camp to blue skies and an amazing view of the summit- which we'll reach in 3.5 days with the final push commencing at midnight. Nothing to lift tired spirits like a fabulous view of the snow clad summit... well the promise of lunch helped too! The clouds have come in again now and it's chilly. It appears we have still all caught the sun despite thick cloud and drizzle! I didn't slap on the factor 50 until late climb, by which point it was clearly too late.
We're going to ascend a further 200m or so later this afternoon to acclimatise and then come back down to sleep at the lower altitude. We all know it's the sensible approach to climbing but we still don't want to go- we're tired. Thankfully we're not setting off until 5pm so time for a rest first.
Jay is really struggling with the altitude. He's been sick several times, has the headaches and his legs are hurting too. Tony and I have had a bit of dizziness but generally feeling ok. I just hope this continues and we don't get sick as we climb higher. Baby Oleg is fine. He's been sat looking out of my rucksack so his little legs aren't even tired!! The rest of the group are ok, if a little tired. Not sure we'll be playing pictionary tonight either. I reckon it will be walk, dinner and bed at 8pm. Last night we all lasted until 9.15.
The porters and guides are amazing! They storm past us carrying tents, cooking equipment, food, our bags and wearing only basic kit- often just trainers and set up camp before we arrive. I feel pampered and guilty. I wish we had kit to leave for them but due to heading to Nepal and trekking for 2 weeks to EBC we need everything. The cook prepares amazing food even on a tiny stove in a tent. Last night was courgette soup, beef curry, potatoes, ratatouille, a spinach like vegetable- yay, spinach is my absolute fave, and avocado for dessert.
I don't feel pampered using the squat toilets!! Oh the smell! After we'd all used the little hut for the entire night, one of the porters told us it was the porters loo and our toilet was actually down the track and was nicer! It was a concrete block with tiling and even elevated out of the ground western style so I guess that is an improvement. The smell is still there though as they aren't plumbed. The toilets at camp 2 are in a similar style building but are squats. Think I prefer going behind a bush! Definitely smells better.
It's only day 2 and I'm filthy. It seems no matter where in Africa we are, we can't escape the dust. All our clothes, our rucksacks, inside our tent, our hair, our faces, my contact lenses ... everything is covered in dust and we have 5 more days to go without a shower. We're both still smiling though. Not sure we will be on day 7!! Well actually day 7 we will be, we'll be back at the start ready to head to our hotel with hot running water, pizza and beer and a swimming pool! Albeit the swimming pool isn't exactly clean! It's midnight on day 5 we won't be smiling.
Hopefully I'll write again before the end of the climb- depends how I/we fare the higher we climb. We've another 2000m to ascend over the next few days.

Day3
Wow- it's 6.45am and I'm watching a gorgeous sunrise over the shira plateau from my tent. Tony has gone out to take photos. The rocks are bright red and beneath us, as we are above the clouds, is a pillow of cotton wool. It's a pretty nice sight to wake to after a bad night freezing cold sleep- or lack of sleep. The wind was blowing and icicles formed in the porchway of the tent. There was no way I could face heading to the loo at 1am when I awoke- that probably explains why I then didn't get back to sleep! As we went to bed ( at 8pm!!) the skies were clear and you could see the stars in all their glory. The Milky Way was ablaze. I hadn't seen it since I was on Easter Island when travelling South America in 2008. It's still as beautiful.
Breakfast will be served soon ready for 7 hours of hiking. We're heading to 4600m today but heading back down to sleep low at 3900m for further acclimatisation. I need to stop writing as I can't feel my fingers. When getting dressed i pulled out another base layer to wear- it's clean and smells of washing powder and home. It was a nice feeling!

Day4- The Barranco Wall and the panic attack
Yesterday's walk was lovely.. Up until the 4500m mark and 5 hrs in. It was a gentle incline, clear blue skies, amazing views of the kili summit and in the sun. We had a packed lunch at 4500m before heading up to our highest point-4600m which is when the altitude decided to kick in. I didn't feel nauseous or tired, I just felt weird and had pins and needles. The long steep descent back down to 3940m was in cloud, and then rain. We arrived at camp in the cold and soaked through. Spirits were definitely low. We were all in bed by 8pm huddled in the sleeping bags trying to get warm.
This morning the sun didn't hit our camp until after we had all woken and as such we were still cold. When the sun did hit us though I put my clothes out to dry and warm through. I then looked up at the amazing view which we hadn't had the benefit of the night before. A close up of the summit in all its snow clad glory. Amazing! Owen then pointed out the barranco wall we would be navigating to reach our next camp....Jesus! For someone that is scared of traversing cliff edges where there are significant drops and any chance of a fall it was a nightmare sight. I could just make out tiny people climbing the wall. The fear set in and got worse. By the point I was crossing the worst section I had a panic attack with Kammande, our lead guide, having to pull me across as I refused to move. Oh well, at least I got used to a further lack of oxygen when my breathing went erratic!
I was assured that was the worst bit and it was. The next 3 hours were fine trekking up and down the mountain paths to where we are now for lunch, Karanga camp at 3940m. Yes, 4 hours of walking and our camp is actually 10m lower than last night! We're heading out later for another climb. First though, a rest after our chicken, chips and salad lunch. I kid you not, they really made us that for lunch, at this altitude, in a tent!!
Jemima has entertained us with her recent medical textbook learning over lunch with her stories of syphillis and leprosy! Owen set her the task last night of advising us on the impact of syphillis on leprosy patients. She duly obliged and over lunch regaled us with a story from her recent work at the leprosarium. One male patient used to go in for treatment and sleep with other leprosy patients whilst there, the result being regular bouts of syphillis. 'Why' I asked. Well, he had no fingers as a result of the leprosy so couldn't roll a condom on!! My advice, which was the same Jemima urged when treating him, was find a female patient with fingers who could roll it on for him!
I guess there can't be many travel blogs where you obtain such insightful information on leprosy!!

Day 5. It's 4.30pm, we arrived at Barafu camp at 4700m at 2pm, had lunch of potato and banana soup and went to bed. We've just woken. We'll have dinner at 6pm ish, back to bed and then set off for the summit at midnight. We won't then get to bed until some time late tomorrow afternoon when we reach our final camp at 3000m. Hopefully it will be warmer! Can't wait to get back to Moshi and sleep in a real bed that is clean & where I'm not on a slope. It will also be easier to go to the bathroom as we won't have to put on more layers, fight with the zip on the tent ( most are broken) and head 100m in the sub zero temperatures up hill to a little hut!

Day 7. It's 6.15am- solid sleep from 8.30pm. Our first one yet. Probably something to do with how shattered we were. Yesterday starting at midnight we completed our kili climb, arriving back at camp at 11.15am. As if ascending from 4700-5895m and then descending wasn't enough, we had lunch and then had to descend another 1700m to our new camp for the night. Our knees and hips and done in. We'd descended over 3000m in one day, the same as coming down Helvellyn 3 times over!
The kili climb was probably the most challenging thing I've ever done and one I said I would never repeat again.... until I was reminded me have our Everest base camp trek in about 9 weeks time. I don't think that will be anywhere near as hard and it's over 12 days so better acclimatisation.
Around 2.30am with the light of the half moon guiding us,I turned to Tony to sing ' and the moon is the only light we see' a line from Ben E Kings, Stand By Me; our first dance at the wedding. Unfortunately Tony was struggling to breathe so the moment was lost!
The altitude really hit me hard at about 3.30am when I was climbing and I wasn't in a good way; hallucinating, double vision, forgetting where I was, feeling sick and wanting to literally sleep on the spot as my head rolled around and my eyes couldn't focus on anything. Extreme cold also set in and I was sat in a spot literally shivering head to foot until a really kind gentleman and his daughter saw me and quickly, unselfishly, pulled out their heat pads and put one in each glove and in the inside pockets of the now 8 or 9 layers I was wearing. I told Tony to go on without me as there was no way I could make it in that state. Tony however wouldn't leave me and told Jemma and Wells to go on and he would stay with me. He really implemented his ' for better, for worse' vow.
Panfile, our guide literally dragged me up that mountain for the next few hrs until my symptoms lifted and I could walk unaided. I then started feeling ill again higher up and so did Tony. Panfile carried both of our rucksacks to the summit and back down to camp- he was a machine.
Watching the sun come up on the mountain should have been a beautiful experience as the sky turned from a tiny sliver of midnight blue and red on the ridge, turning to a blazing sphere of orange but it was at a time neither of us felt great and at a particularly unrelenting steep section and we couldn't be bothered to even take photos! The sun to me meant one thing- warmth!!
We reached Stellar Point at 5765m which is essentially the end of the climb and it was a rather emotional moment as neither of us had expected to see it considering how ill I'd gotten. We wouldn't have if it wasn't for our guide recognising I could make it if he could get me higher and for the kindness of complete strangers. Absolutely shattered we could have rested and then started our descent but we'd come that far and were not giving up so proceeded to drag our feet to Uruhu point, another 130m ascent, to the highest point in Africa, arriving around 45minutes later at 8.30am. The sight of the beautiful glaciers, which are unfortunately retreating and causing hardship further down the mountain, helped somewhat as did the encouragement of others who were heading down from the summit, including Jemima and Wells who had arrived shortly before us, advising we really weren't far and could make it. We duly had photos and ensured Oleg was the highest meercat in Africa and then started the long trek back, still feeling rather sick.

Now it's time to get up for our final breakfast before heading back to Moshi and cleanliness! This camp is muddy after we arrived soaked through in the rain so that shower and getting laundry done will be so welcome! Tonight the group are ordering pizza, drinking beer and playing pictionary which we've never managed yet in the 6 nights we've camped together as we've been either too tired or cold!
The group have been amazing & we'll be sad to say goodbye. We're already talking about a reunion.... I know that no matter which mountain we choose to climb for it, it can't be anywhere near as challenging as this one!

On our way into Moshi from Kili we witnessed a serious motorbike accident directly in front of our minivan. Jemima who you may recall qualifies as a doctor next year, jumped out to assist. The driver had been speeding with no helmet on, lost control on the wet road and he went one way and the bike the other. He landed in a ditch, barely conscious and bleeding. Jemima instructed no one move him, concerned if they did he would not walk again. Unfortunately they have no ambulance service here and as such, the local people picked him up to drive him to the hospital we had just passed. After working at a local hospital, Jemma knew that having basic tests and scans to identify bleeding etc is not widely available here. We've no idea what the outcome for him will be. It makes you realise that for all the problems the NHS has, we are lucky to have free access to such a service. It's a privilege many in developing countries could only wish for.

The day after, at 6am in the rain and in the midst of a power cut( very frequent in Africa!) we went with Mollie to the school project she has raised the £2500 funding for. It is in Marangu, the village where many of our guides, porters & cook live and it was really lovely when they came out of their homes to greet us and say 'welcome to our village'. The new school is a gift to the village from Adventure Alternative for all the hard work the staff put into the organisation.
At present the children walk miles to the nearest school, along the grass paths, cross the river which is often swollen in rainy season, and many do not have school shoes and so make the journey in bare feet. Some of these children are as young as 5 years old! The guides and porters advised us they didn't want their children to work on the mountain as life is so hard and therefore, attending school & getting an education is a priority for them.
It is hoped the school will be open next January. So far it has 2 classrooms, no windows and with a tin roof. They are waiting to establish how much installing a bathroom will cost and had just received a sample of the desks that a local carpenter can make. Unfortunately, building up in Marangu is expensive, materials almost double what you'd pay in many places due to its access, or lack of it, up in the hills! Again, in the developed world we take easy access to education for granted.