Hi from Shira Camp at 12,500 ft on Kilimanjaro. It's currently raining cats and dogs! We started the day under clear blue skies, had a great breakfast and were hiking by 8:30 in the morning. The clouds started to build at around 9:30 but we had sun breaks for our whole hike. The terrain was fairly steep right from the start but every one handled it well. The vegetation was very different from the lush rain forest we were in yesterday. As we gained altitude the fauna had a more alpine feel that corresponds to our high elevation. After we arrived at camp the cooks made a great lunch and while we were eating the rain started. It is nice to be in camp for it so we can rest and relax with the sound of raindrops on the tents. One of our climbers would like to say hello to Mrs. Price's second grade class. Thanks for following along with our climb. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Jambo! We are all up at our first camp and everyone is doing good. Dinner ended a little while ago and the team has headed off to the tents for a long night of rest. We got an early start this morning with breakfast at 6:30 and we were on the road just after 7:30. It took us about two hours to drive to the national park gate where we spent some time getting organized and sorting out the climbing permit. Once we were all checked in, we started our trek through the rain forest. Everyone on the team was excited to get going and we spent the next several hours hiking and chatting as we gained about 4,000 vertical feet. Everything went smoothly except for about five minutes of rain right before we hit camp. That's no problem for this team though and anyway our tents were nice and dry inside when we arrived. Tomorrow we climb up to the Shira Plateau. I'll check in again from up there. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

Hi, Seth here. We are all finished with dinner and everyone is off to their rooms to finish the last bit of packing before we head out to the mountain tomorrow morning. The plan is to meet up for breakfast at 6:30am and be ready to go by 7:30. We have a couple hours of driving to the national park entrance and it's good to be early. All the gear looks good and tents and food are all set to go. The team is starting to get excited. We are all looking forward to getting the trek under way. I will check in again tomorrow from Camp 1. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

Jambo! I've just returned from the airport with the last of the arriving climbers for our first Kilimanjaro Climb of 2016! Everyone has made it and although there were some delays along the way all the bags are here. The crew is a mix of folks on their own and some that have been friends for a long time. Either way we will all be turning into a big team starting with a meeting and gear check in the morning. After that we are off to the mountain. Wish us luck. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall