I woke at 5:30 am needing the loo. So I braved it alone. With my torch. The stars were still out it was so nice. I had a really good sleep last night these little beds were comfy and the sleeping bags were warm. Our guide is bringing us a cup of tea in bed at 6:30 do that will be nice to wake up to. Then we pack our rucksacks ready for the day and go for breakfast.

All packed up on the bus to Kilimanjaro. Such a beautuful day for it. I have my hiking boots on which the guide has kindly borrowed me. Bit nervous but very excited. We met Christina who is climbing some if the way with us. She is from Seattle she is very nice. We drove for couple hours and got to know Christina.

Today is a special day it is Cary's birthday ( i have moon pigged him a card but its not the same) and as I can't celebrate with him I have decided to climb Mount Killimanjaro for him ( and for me). Sure its something nobody has ever done for him before and neither of us will forget. It is something I have wanted to do on this trip and didn't think I had time. But as my nurse is so lovely she has allowed me time off placement to do the climb. After a couple of h...

We arrived at the the Mandara camp at 16:30. What a trek it was well worth the effort. Beautiful forestry and natural steps and paths. All a bit tired but relieved to see the huts. We signed in and got our key. We was shown out hut and it had 3 beds on the floor and one above. It was a wooden hut and was very cosy. A porter came round with 2 bowls hot water to wash in. It was nice washing outside in the elements. After that our guide said we could go into the din...

Tonight before dinner our guides took us to the crater. It was such a breathing view you could see all the Kilimanjaro forest and in The distance you could see Kenya and Malaui landscape. We gazed at it for ages it was stunning. We walked around the crater then into the crater. That was an experience when Joni slipped down the hill. We saw some flowers which we thought was nice only to find out they were Dead ( this got us laughing and we laughed all the way bac...