The Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa with it's three volcanic cones "Kibo", "Mawenzi" & "Shira". We climbed the Mt. Kibo with a height of 5,895 meters.
It definitely has been one of the toughest things I've done in my life.
My wife Julia and I arrived at night at the Kilimanjaro International Airport and we took an interesting bus ride to Moshi through Tanzania. We were a little scared because we couldn't see that much of what was going on, and the drive took an hour in a broken car with a constant reminder in the back of our heads that traffic is one of the most dangerous things here. Of course we were stopped by the police for a little chat.
For a few nights we stayed in a nice place called "More than a drop". It's a hostel owned by Swiss people who try to teach young girls about many important things in life. It is as a school and the girls help with housekeeping tasks and learn talking to guests and how service in Europe works. Those who leave the school have good job opportunities and I think this a good concept of helping them become independent.
We also met our mountain-team for the first time and went through all of our equipment to see if something was missing. We then had the chance to rent a few things, like a sleeping bag, hiking poles and some big heavy gloves for the summit day.
As we sat there on the second evening, the clouds cleared and we saw the peak of the Kilimanjaro for the first time. It was a stunning experience but we also had some serious doubts about making it to the top.
We chose the Marangu-Route. The starting point was almost an hour away. It's a gate, where we paid the park-fee, filled out some paperwork and started our hike at around 1800m. We felt well prepared and were very excited to finally do this.
The vegetation with all its different colors and massive variety of plants was awesome to hike through. There are so many noises in the trees and there's life everywhere. If you're lucky, unlike us, you might even see some Antilopes.
As you can see we've had two guides walking up with us, Rojas and Daudi. Our six porters (carrying our main baggage, food for all of us and their own stuff) and the cook took a shorter route to get to the same hut. They started preparing food and hot water for us as soon as they arrived.
On the second day the vegetation changed drastically. We came from the jungle but the number of trees thinned out fast. We hiked through steppe for a while, then it got greener again. I was really happy about my hiking poles, as I used them for the first time and I felt a great relief in my knees. I often have minor problems with my knees, which has been my only concern since we left Germany. But so far it was fine.
Further down you can see a plant you'll only find on the Kilimanjaro - Senecio Kilimanjari. You can estimate the age of each plant by counting the dead leaves along the trunk.
We had some nice conversations about life in Tanzania and learned some basic words in Swahili. People there are thinking very positively all the time.
"Hakuna Matata!"
~ "No trouble, no worries!"
We wanted to see our cook in action so we visited him. The food we got on the mountain was great, varied and always plenty. We were told to eat as much as possible, because the appetite would become less the further we go up.
Luckily we chose to stay in huts instead of tents. Even though it's been a very tiny space for four people it was quite more comfortable. Especially with the wind and all the noises we were glad to have thin wooden walls around us. We even had a mattress and a pillow!
Our hike on day 3 was the one with the best views. Of course I liked the vegetation with all the jungle feeling further down, but later that day we saw the alpine-desert and we were way above the clouds. There was so much purple in the sky, it seemed like we were walking on a foreign planet and it felt great.
We regained energy with porridge and some fruits. After that first 'course' of the meal we always got loads of toast, with cheese and scrambled eggs. It was plenty, more than enough for us. Shazi was one of our porters and our waiter at the same time. He's a very calm and friendly guy and told us he likes the 'German Bundesliga'.
We made a little detour to the Zebra Rocks.
Then, we finally caught a first glimpse of the peak of Mt. Kibo and the shrinking glacier(!). Just a little later I shot the title image. In the right picture below you can see the path and even the hut we walked to this day. We thought we'd be right there in time for lunch, but it took so long and I realized I still have a lot to learn about estimating distances.
Due to the rising height everything changed a lot. Temperature, vegetation and the thin air. The weather was wonderful and also the path was very enjoyable. I was surprised by the strength of the porters and crew members. They walked up there in very worn out shoes with almost no tech-wear and a lot more weight on their shoulders and heads. But they were happy and very nice all the time, and taught us the Swahili way of saying Hi!
I have so much respect for all of them. Thanks guys!
"Mambo?" - "Poa!"
~ "What's up?" - "All good."
In this wide landscape, the people reminded me of ants.
Doesn't this look like another planet?
In the photo on the left hand side you can see how steep our way up was on the next day. Just above the rocks you can see the roof of our hut for that night. The hike from where I've been standing to take that picture, to our arrival at the camp seen on the right picture, almost took us an hour I think. Walking got more exhausting with every single step.
This night was a very short one, because we went to bed at 9pm and started hiking again at midnight. In addition to that, altitude sickness started to kick in and my headache got worse to the point where it was tiring just to walk 50m to the toilet. Our appetite was nearly gone, but we tried our best to eat as much as we could. Yet I slept well, because the long hike of the day got me tired enough and I put my earplugs to good use again.
The scenery was amazing. I wish I could have spent more nights at this altitude.
We started walking up to the summit at midnight and were very excited to hopefully see the sunrise. Unfortunately it began to rain and snow immediately. It got colder constantly and I felt more and more uncomfortable. A few hours in, we wore almost all layers of clothing and we felt our power drop a little. We starting asking ourselves how far it is to the top. Several hours, with the tiny light from your headlight and the feet in front of you being all you can see. Every time I looked up I saw some headlights up on the mountain. And after another hour they still were way up. Just the thought of having to walk all the way up there as well was so energy-sapping. Our guides did a great job on motivating us by lying to us: "It's just around the corner!", "Just 20 more minutes to go!".
On the left you see us just after making it to the "Gilman's Point 5685m". Finally the sun started rising and it got brighter. But our fears came through - it got winter over night. Actually that was no surprise, as we had sleet in our faces for the last few hours. Many thanks to our guides for carrying our backpacks during the second half of this exhausting route.
Afterwards we were "just walking along the crater for a few more minutes" to the "Stella Point 5756m". I believed our guide Roja again and again. I didn't have a choice, right? The last few hundred meters after reaching the crater were so hard, you can't imagine. Julia and I thought a lot about turning back earlier, while walking in the dark with no end in sight. But we would never have turned back at this point, we were too close. And on the right picture you can see that we've actually made it to the top - "Uhuru Peak 5895m".
Sadly we couldn't stay longer than a few minutes at this mighty place because of the altitude sickness. It seems like this disease lags a little and it takes 2-3 hours for the body to adapt to the new height. So while descending again your body will never feel the total height. But to be honest, I didn't enjoy the view from the top that much and it was a little cold...
From the top we more or less slid down to the Kibo Hut because the path was so muddy and steep. Once more we realized how far up we walked because this difficult descent took a while. My knee began to hurt slightly by this stress.
In the Kibo Hut we had a little rest, ate a full meal for lunch and slept a few minutes. Unfortunately we had to hike further down, back to the Horombo Hut which meant another 10km. And the rain didn't stop yet. All our clothes were completely soaked and we didn't have dry clothes to change.
I can't remember the last time we've had such a long and eventful day. We had to share our hut with 2 other guys from Norway. And all our clothes were wet, so we all tried to hang them up to dry on a few nails. Wet floor, wet clothes, cold - but so happy that we've made it! We slept so well, so soundly.
It's a common ritual to sing together after making it to the top (or trying it - I guess). Unfortunately we still weren't too lucky with the weather. But as you can see we've had some fun in the morning of the last day before descending back to where we've started. We split with the biggest part of the group at this point and thanked everyone for their support again.
Back in the jungle.
On the last hundred meters we've found this beauty. Another endemic plant you will only find in the Kilimanjaro National Park. It's the Impatiens Kilimanjari.
It felt so good to be back at the first gate. We kept going, thinking we were almost there but in the end it took quite a while to reach the finish. But once we arrived, all our worries dissolved suddenly.
Now I feel the path in my feet, and I can see the way we went up on this miniature again. We had one more meal before leaving the National Park and heading back to Moshi.
What an adventure!
We got our certificate in the headoffice back in Moshi. We also gave back our rental equipment and then the crew drove us back to our stay.
It was hard to say goodbye to our new friends. I can truly say we had a great time and the shared experience bound us together. On the next day we already missed hiking up somewhere with our two super-guides. Thanks a ton Rojas and Daudi!
Thanks for all the awesome memories - we will never forget this adventure with you guys! Thanks for everyone who helped us making this experience smooth as butter.
We can highly recommend the "Monkey Adventures" crew!
Thanks for watching!
© 2026 Kai Bernstein
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