August 7th – Karanga Camp

We are at the Karanga Camp at 13000 feet. We had a wonderful walk from the Barranco Wall camp. When we left the camp we let the group know and assured them that the wall would not be too challenging and that it would be fun. As we got to the wall Woody kindly shared with us his story of a black mamba snake when on a safari adventure in southern Africa with his mother and brother. The black mamba snake flew home in Woody’s brothers bag and made it all the way to Boone, North Carolina via Atlanta, Georgia. The group laughed hilariously about what had happened, but we were very glad to know that they were not in black mamba country yet! As we reached the top of the great Barranco wall, of course the Heim Glacier just sat up there beautifully. We had a great lunch and that pretty much made the day!

We have most of the regular BAI chartered guide team with us including August Maleo, the chief guide, Beatrice and there is a new guide named Emanuel. Emanueal has really distinguished himself because he is the first Chagga guide that we have ever allowed to set the pace. For over nine years Wally has always said that the Chaaga guides walk too fast, so he would establish the pace himself. But Emanuel on the first day took over the role of pace setter and has done an excellent job the entire trip. I am looking forward to having him on the Lemosho trip later this month.

Remember that tomorrow night it will actually be the beginning of our summit attempt. We will go to high camp tomorrow, we will rest for a few hours and wake up at 11:00pm and begin our attempt to Kilimanjaro. We will have a briefing for the details of the climb preparation. Everyone in this group seems fit, acclimatized and in a good state of mind to undertake this climb.