Day 1,
Well! As I am now relaxing on the ?TXC994L? Tenerife to East Midlands / Nottingham, I can start my day by day account of our once in a lifetime adventure to Kilimanjaro Africa.

11am
A very emotionally charged moment, as I had to say bon voyage, or should I say Ana Maria and Rafael (aged 6 months) had to say Bon Voyage to their husband & Papa! I am trying to put a brave face on, but every time I think back to saying Goodbye I start filling up. Rafa who had just woken from his mid morning snooze was as always smiling from ear to ear. I gave him a big kiss in his Chicco pushchair. I turned to my beautiful wife who was already in floods of tears, I gave her a big hug and kiss & a few words of comfort. The weather in Las Moraditas was once again stunning as I climbed into Kims car to head to the airport.

I love my family with every cell I have!

11.20am Las Chafiras (close to the airport)

No sign of Troy!!
We should have checked in by now!

Kim, Callum & I are awaiting Troys presence at the Las Chafiras turn off. I am trying to put a ?chilled, not panicky face on? As the minutes tick by, I had to slope off to the nearest bar to have a quick beer (Cobra).
Finally Troy turns up then heads into the bank, after a couple of minutes we are on our way to the airport, Late!!
We quickly located our check in desk to find hundreds of Thomas Cook fellow travelers. Kim grabbed the nearest badge carrying employee & after a couple of blurbed sentences we were whisked off to a last minute check in desk only to find we were not on the list!!!
So not only are we late we were missing in action. Ok chill now Douglas, do not panic I repeat? Eventually we sorted everything out at the Thomas Cook desk! A man mountain of a guy, signed a couple of documents and away we sprinted to the security check point, not forgetting time to say goodbye to Kim (Troys wife) & Callum (Troys boy).

1.30pm
I had earlier in the day had visions of having a nice chilled cerveza in the Bill Bentley pub in Departures, but as soon as we passed security, the plane had already started to board. This of course was no deterrent, we ran to the pub to find massive queue to get to the bar. We ran to the nearest coffee bar & grabbed a couple of ?ca?as?, we quickly downed our ?halfs? and headed off to our bus with wings.

4.20 pm
Now I have to say well done Troy ?why I hear you ask?? well do you know them exit seats that cost a small fortune, we are at this very moment stretching our soon to be very tired legs & having a glass of vino in our free exit seats.

Tuesday 8th December 2009

8.41pm Marangogate
Ok where do I start? Since the last entry, we have stayed at Troys mums house (brilliant). We had complementary drinks in First Class on our Virgin flight to Kenya (bliss), thanks to Drea & Ward.
We all checked into a dodgy ?Meriden? hotel, had a fabulous curry, followed by a nine hour journey on a rickety bus to the Springlands hotel in Moshi Tanzania (no roads almost), that?s where we met up with James & Karen. Oh yes and also started to walk the worlds largest free standing mountain!
We walked through the forest today about 8.5k. We met our guide & mentor ?the teacher himself? a local legend who as walked Kilimanjaro 495 times!! He is also a teacher to 145 very poor kids & he is opening an orphanage for 32 kids, a great man.
The walk today was not difficult, none of our six showed any sign of altitude sickness. The forest was so lush so green.

The day started at our local hotel Springlands, we had a fantastic breakfast of omlette and sausage, then we gathered our kit together paid our $150 goverment fees and proceeded to our second rickety bus. Two hours later we arrived at the Marango gate to start our adventure , after a briefing from our friend ?Teacher? we headed off up the track in good spirit. I soon struck up a DMC (deep, meaningful conversation) with our teacher. What an amazing human being he is. He is only 32 & he has set up a school on his own & is opening an orphanage. A completely Selfless man.

We are climbing this mountain to raise funds and awareness for our ?INGANE YAMI? orphanage protect in South Africa, that we are so proud of. When you see the conditions people live in over here it is shocking. We in the west spend Zillions on the arms race and think nothing of what our fellow human beings must be going through. We can live with dignity, free health care, they cannot!
I do not want to get on my soap box.

As I write now in the pitch black, with my headlamp on, I have mixed emotions. I miss my wife & Family. My beautiful Ana Maria & my beam of love Rafael so much, but also realizing what a great moment in time this is. We have not seen the majestic peak of Kilimanjaro as yet but this is due to it being very cloudy. But I have been told on good authority by Teacher, that when we get woken up at 6.10am she should be cloud free and beautiful, I cannot wait.

We are all sleeping in an area of less than ten square meters of each other. Troy is already starting to snore, it is so dark outside you cannot see your hand. Also it is so quiet, apart from some very strange animal noises. These huts are minus five star believe me.
I really need to pump due to all the carbs we have consumed today, but cannot bring myself to do it with everyone listening. So if I do not blow up through the night, I will hopefully make an entry tomorrow evening!!

Goodnight Ana & Rafa xxxxxxxxx

6.10am Wednesday 9th December
Bad night of sleep due to sleeping on what felt like concrete, Troy snoring & Ward also, I definitely snored too as I woke myself up a few times! The porters have just brought us some hot black tea, Kenyan style in Tanszania. Nobody has let rip as of yet!!!

Walking to 3.720 meters today, just a bit higher than the peak of our magnificent ?Mount Teide?

8.12pm
Just had our supper consisting of white rice cabbage & pea sauce!! James, Karen, Ward & Drea have gone to bed in our six sleep hut about the size of a mini van! Troy & I are sat in the mess room after a long days walking.
We left our camp at 8am, we headed straight into the dense lush forest. Teacher pointed out the ?Impatient Kilimanjaro Flower? this magnificent flower only grows on Kilimanjaro, he also pointed out some more exclusive to kill vegetation.
The weather was perfect for walking. Unfortunately we have still not seen the peak of Kilimanjaro due to some high cloud covering her beauty.

Teacher our guide was setting the pace today, we were a little over excited on our first day. Especially Troy, who had to be reined in a couple of times. The pace was so slow, he wants us not to dispel too much of our stored energy. We will definitely need it on ?Summit Day? in a couple of days time that is for sure.

We were chatting to a lot of people who had or had not reached the Uhuru Peak that morning. They were on their way down, some looking very ill or very elated. Most people seem to make it, so as a group we are starting to feel confident. Our inexperience showed a couple of times today. It is very showery at this height and the weather can change in a second. So as soon as a shower appeared, off came our day packs out with the ponchos and other waterproof hats, trousers, bag covers, head covers & covers for covers?. As soon as we, well I say we but because I am traveling very light to say the least, Troy & I were not involved with the Melee. So as soon as they were water, wind snow & frost tight the sun popped out. Then here we go again, wet gear had to come off sun hats, sun creams, shorts & sunglasses came out. I am not joking here, five minutes later it started raining again! And yes you are correct off came the sun clothes etc, etc, etc? This went on for about 2 hours, you had to just laugh & be positive. Being positive is definitely thee most important goal you need here in Africa. We are so used to hot water, clean toilets, good food etc. This is a third world Country and you either adapt & accept or you will soon get negative. Especially with the hygiene & food you have to live with day in, day out.
I believe over & above everything, that you have to tune yourself into the mountains way of life, respect mother earth. Accepting that we humans are the guests and it is not the other way round!

I eat the food, drink the water directly from the mountain, totally respect my surroundings, my western ways of no use up here. I cannot wait until we summit on Saturday. The peak has had a lot of snow this week so it will be a truly great sight.

Troy has now given up trying to play patience with Spanish cards, it is time to go to bed. Goodnight. Oh one more thing during the walk today I found a big basket in the bush, I was at the back of the group, so I decided to do a porter impression. All day the porters are carrying supplies up & down the mountain on their heads, So I popped it on my head & shouted ?Traffic? and pushed myself through are group, when they all realized it was me, we all laughed our heads off, a good moment.

9.31pm 10th December 22, 2009
Happy day for me
Horombo Camp. My second anniversary!!!
We started the day as usual, the porters always bring us hot sugary tea at 6am. The sunrise was incredible, the view over Africa was breath taking. Then they bring three hot bowles of water to wash in . After washing you head for breakfast, today was a lovely porridge, followed by eggs & Vienna sausages & tea or coffee. We all call the Vienna sausage the all day breakfast because it repeats on you all day!
After Breakfast we got our day kit together & trekked just under 6k to zebra rock & then a viewing point of Kili in all her glory.

Today was acclimatization day. We walked up to 4300 meters to see how all the group handled 20 to 30% less oxygen. Glad to say we were all ok. Without doubt the best moment happened when we arrived at the viewing point. There was not a cloud in the sky, Kilimanjaro looked unbelievable. No clouds, blue sky awesome. We got back down to camp for a day of chillaxing as we were going to need all our energy walking to the kibo camp 4709 meters tomorrow. We should get there around 13.00, eat & then hopefully sleep as we walk to the summit from midnight the same day. This without doubt is going to be the biggest challenge to date, temperatures have dropped to minus 20 up there this week.

We have finally sussed out Dreas Spanish cards she brought over. We played jim rummy at lunch I took the honours. We played just now & Troy was triumphant.
The last word today goes to my wife, she made me the happiest man in the world two years ago today! Sorry I cannot be there my darling, I love you with all that I am. Home soon xxx

Goodnight.

Friday 11th December after another restless night in our 5 star luxury cabin, we were once again woken by our porters laden with fresh hot tea. It is 6am (3am uk time) and we are all packing our kit to walk 10k to base camp. Kibo sits at 4709 meters. We hurried along to porridge and pancakes, New York Delis watch out for this break through. Lots of tea & our egg omlette, with yet another Vienna sausage.
We set off 7am sharp to Kibo. We all definately had a spring in our step as this was the day that we started our ascent of the worlds largest free standing mountain Kilimanjaro 5895m.
On arrival at Kibo we checked in, in the usual shack / office and were allocated room 5. Ok now where is room 5? There was a big building / shack, we followed the hard working porters to room 5. we have stayed in some grotty places on this trip but I think Kibo takes the biscuit. Other walkers guests were already in their bunks, we quickly arranged who was sleeping where etc? At this point the porters had arranged our popcorn & biscuits with a flask of hot water. I thought I would brave the toilets. Let me tell you right now, the term toilet bares no resemblance to the ones we see at home or in our workplaces. I saw them in the distance one block for tourist and one for the staff etc.. there were three holes in the floor that?s it! No mens, no ladies just three holes in the floor separated by a bit of plywood. Well the stink was bad enough, it nearly knocked you out, but crowning glory was the hole it all landed in. The hole was about two meters deep & it was already about half full! No flush, no loo paper, basically hell on earth.
Anyway that aside we were all ready for our 11pm wake up call. The plan is to leave at 12 midnight. So my next entry we have either reached the Uhura peak, the highest point in Africa or we have been affected by altitude sickness that up to 40% of walkers experience

Wish us all luck, Goodnight.

5pm Sat night
WOW, WOW, WOW
5 out of six of us reached the summit. It was so difficult we have been awake for 18 plus hours walked 32k including a mountain up & down. What an incredible experience , unbelievable. It all started at midnight, the temperature outside was minus fifteen, snow had covered everywhere. We all had our headlamps on I felt like a miner!

The group atmosphere had definitely changed. Some were feeling a bit anxious, not surprisingly really, as we had never tested ourselves at this altitude before. The air has a massive 50% less oxygen at this height.
After a short while we were making a good pace. Unfortunately Karen was then first to feel nausea, a classic symptom of altitude sickness. She soldiered on up to 5300 meters and sadly for the group had to turn back for base camp.
We trundled on up the very, very steep peak, we have to take a criss cross route so not to fall down.
Drea was the next to get affected, sheer exhaustion took hold & she had to slow down & take many breaks to get her breath back.
Teacher our guide had climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro so many times. His experience was priceless. He kept our spirits up by singing & leading from the front. It was now 6am the sun was slowly rising above the majestic horizon. We had not reached Gilmans point yet, the third highest peak in Africa.
Teacher decided to have a break, we drank tea & I ate my kendall mint cake to give me an extra energy boost (thanks Julie & Gary). As the sun rose, what an incredible view, I will never forget the sheer jaw dropping beauty of Africa at dawn. I could not stop thinking about how lucky I am to have a beautiful family waiting for me at home in good ole Tenerife. I love them both so much.

Anyway we had to get up & get on , Drea was really struggling by now, she found some reserve energy from somewhere & carried on regardless. After a couple of hours we finally reached Gilmans (5861 meters).
We took another well needed break & some more tea & cake. It was then it hit me what a once in a lifetime moment this was. We were sat on the rim of the crater unbelievable views at every turn. The glazier was indescribable in its magnificence. The sun shone & the feeling that I was experiencing was out of this world . I was at one with mother earth!
Again we headed off this time for Uhuru peak 5895 meters, this walk was not so steep, but still very testing. The snow was very thick up here & we walked on a foot wide path with a sheer 150m drop into the crater on our right hand side. This was not a walk in the park I was expecting. I really was focused at this point as I making sure I got home in one piece. Once again the views were just indescribable as Uhuru peak finally came into view.
Drea, to her credit managed to keep going despite sheer exhaustion.
We all finally reached Uhuru peak at 10am Sunday 13th December, all very tired but very proud to make it. Well done guys, thanks to Teacher & his crew for making this moment happen. The days of slow walking had finally come to an end. We took the obligatory photos hugged & kissed and started our descent to the Horombo camp all feeling elated.

In no time at all we were all back at the Hormbo camp we sprinted and skied down that mountain so quick as it was time to get back home to hot water flushing toilets and a clean bed!
That?s it now folks I am now back home getting ready for Xmas. The memories will live with me forever. I am so happy to be home & back to Pearly Grey. There is so much goodwill here, we have a unique resort, with honest happy people at every turn.

Merry Xmas & I hope we all have a prosperous New Year.

Love to all
Douglas