And so we begin! It’s official now that we have tracked down all of our bags (one was temporarily lost in the mysterious happenings of international airline baggage handling). Everything has been unpacked, repacked, weighed (15kg max in the portered bag) and we are on the bus to the Machame Gate.

After we tear through the various layers of bureaucracy, proclaiming that we do not in fact have any drones, we will be on our way. If all of this sounds a bit hectic, well, it is. I have this sense that day one of every expedition is one of the longest days, involving packing, logistics, driving to a trailhead and then finally hitting the trail. But it’s also a calming feeling to have all of the pent-up anxiety and nerves melt away as we finally get to do what we came to do, which in this case is climb Kilimanjaro! Pole pole.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier