We pushed back our wake-up and starting times this morning in order to let a few of the surrounding teams get out on the trail first.  The Barranco Wall has a few tight passages along rock ledges where we’d just as soon miss the traffic jams.  That meant a leisurely pace to rolling out of bed and packing up.  It was cool in the shadow of the mountain though, and a relief -during breakfast- when the sun hit. We marched toward the base of the wall at 9 AM with perhaps a few butterflies in some stomachs as folks wondered how it would all work out.  From below, the Great Barranco Wall looks very much like a Great Wall… intimidating.  But as we started winding up the trail and came to grips with the tricky parts, most began to relax. Our local guides -John, Tom, Naiman and Philibet were at every difficult move, pointing out hand and footholds and managing porter traffic.  Before long we’d cruised past the narrowest ledges and gotten to easier -though still steep- trail sections in the middle of the wall.  There were still a few places requiring both hands on the rock near the top, but then we popped out onto flat ground about 1200 ft higher than where we’d begun.  We took a well-deserved break and snapped a few pictures of the spectacular South Face of Kilimanjaro.  The rest of the walk to Karanga was easy in comparison to the Wall.  Just a few valleys to traverse, and lots of sights to see as much of the lower cloud melted away.  We sat down to lunch in our new camp at 13,100 ft.  The afternoon was a chance for resting and rehydrating.  As the sun set, John -our lead guide- led the team in an impromptu dance session on the concrete heli-pad adjacent to camp.  We sat down to dinner in our well lit dining tent and then came out to another beautiful night scene, this time with the lights of Moshi (the city at Kili’s Southeast corner) spread out far below. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn