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On 8th April we set off from Cotonou in Benin to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We had arranged to rejoin the overland tour in Kano in northern Nigeria. After considering our schedule carefully we decided that we would fly from Lagos up to Kano since the journey sounded boring and time consuming. On arrival at the domestic airport in Lagos we found that there was a flight to Kano leaving in twenty minutes. We frantically rushed around to change money on the black market and buy the tickets. A few minutes before the scheduled departure time Paula and I were running across the tarmac to get to the waiting jet before they pulled away the boarding stairs. Exhausted we rushed up the stairs, the crew closed the main door behind us and before we could find our seats the plane was taxiing to the runway - only in Africa!
1992 Diary - Africa (Part 2)
Gjcmcclurg2005-12-23 14:25:40
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I agreed a price of $290 for the 6 day climb - all inclusive. This turned out to be the best deal that anyone had found so I coordinated the trip for the ten of us.
Day 1. At midday on 15th July my group of 10 assembled with the guides and porters at the gates to the Kilimanjaro Park at an altitude of 1,980m. We took a group foto shot and then began our hike towards the summit - an almost 4000m accent! The trail first took us through lush equatorial rainforest, with moss draped trees. After 3 hours we reached our first station, Mandara Hut at 2,730m, where we would spend the night.
Day 2 we climbed slowly up through tussock grassland and giant heather moorland. After an arduous 5 hours we reached the second station, Horombo Hut at 3,780m. We spent 2 nights at this level with the hope of acclimatizing our bodies to the altitude. Unfortunately the weather had closed in so there wasn't really much to do other than rest.
Day 4. The weather had cleared by the time we set off at 08.30, so we had spectacular views of the plains below - we already seemed a long way up. We could see the Kibo peak in the distance - we still had a good climb ahead! The trail continued through the grasslands and then gave way to high altitude desert as we reached the saddle between the two major peaks. At 15.00 we reached the 3rd station, Kibo Hut at 4,710m. We could all certainly feel the altitude now and as I lay resting I took my pulse which was running at 120 beats per minute! After a little food we all tried to bed down at 18.00 as we had a very early start the next day.
Day 5. At 00.30 we all began to drag ourselves out of the sleeping bags ready for the 01.30 set off time. The Kibo Hut was very basic and without light, so we all fumbled around in the cold trying to prepare to leave. We set off by moonlight towards the Kibo Peak on schedule - it was around -20 degrees Celsius! After
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See photographs from:
Zambia Gallery
,
Tanzania Gallery
,
Malawi Gallery
,
Kenya Gallery
,
Zimbabwe Gallery
,
Cameroon Gallery
,
Burundi Gallery
,
Botswana Gallery
,
Nigeria Gallery
