Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

January 25, 2010 – Lemosho Glades: The Adventure Begins

It’s Dave reporting from the Lemosho Gate. Our driver Jacob and our guide Julius got us here in good shape and the weather is absolutely beautiful; 26 Celsius and sunny. It’s very pretty here on the west end of Kilimanjaro.

Darcy and I parted ways a little bit earlier in Arusha. She’s now on her way for a Culture Tour of native Tanzanian tribes with her guide, Clemence, and I’m very, very excited about starting my own trip to the summit of Kilimanjaro later this afternoon.

In a few minutes, Jacob will drive us to Lemosho Glades, the trail head at 2,100m/6,890ft and from there, Julius and I will hike up to Big Tree Camp at 2,804m/9,200ft. Tomorrow we will be on the Shira Plateau, up around 3,500m/11,450ft, which should be very interesting. I’m a little nervous but obviously very excited.

A couple of side notes here:

Brayden, Tanner, and Parker: On our drive to Lemosho Gate, we saw a Black Mambo snake about 7 - 8 feet long crossing the road. Even Julius and Jacob were impressed to see this bad boy which is apparently one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.

Toby and Tyler: Keep up the good work at hockey. I hope you win your tournaments this week.

Also, a big thanks to Jay and Jocelyn whom we met just by accident at the Arusha Hotel, following their Berg Adventures trip to the summit of Kili last week. They shared a lot of great information with us, which put me at ease. Many thanks!

And lastly, a bigger thanks to Berg Adventures. We’ve been treated like royalty. Everyone has a good word to say about Berg, so thanks very much Wally, Leila, Tracy, Kristy and Angel.

I think that’s everything. Bye!