Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch
January 28, 2010 – Lots to See and Do at Lava Tower
Jambo Marafikis!
This is Dave calling with my dispatch from the Lava Tower Camp at 4,600m/15,090ft. It is 10 degrees Celsius and some clouds are rolling in now, but the morning trek was beautiful with the sun shining on the glaciers of Kilimanjaro. We’re headed for the highest point in Africa and I’m very excited!
Home, sweet home at Lava Tower Camp
Later today, if the weather cooperates, Julius and I are going to try and climb the Lava Tower. From there, we should have an incredible view of Kili and the Shira Plateau, which we walked across yesterday. Tomorrow we descend about 600m/2,000ft throughout the day on our way to Karanga Valley Camp, which will be great for our acclimatization. We’re sleeping well and eating a little TOO well, thanks to our wonderful cook, Samwell, and Noel, our server. The meals have been incredible, and thankfully there have been no stomach issues. My prayers to the gastro-intestinal Gods have been answered favourably so far!!!
PS – Julius and the porters have given me a new name: "Ba Ba Daoud" (pronounced Ba Ba Dowdy) which means Father David in Swahili.
A couple of side notes:
Julius really enjoyed listening to Classic Rock, Reggae, and Country & Western on my iPod this morning!
We saw part of an elephant skull yesterday near our camp. It was huge!
My ‘going-up-the-mountain’ leg muscles have been excellent from day one and now I’m happy to say that ‘my going-down-the-mountain’ muscles have also decided to join the team! Much better!
The porters have been working very hard to teach me Swahili. More on that later.
Darcy, I hope that your Cultural Tour is excellent and that you are having an amazing time!
Ba Ba Dowdy
Arnold and Julius
Climbing up to get a better view.
Looking down on Lava Tower Camp from the top of the towe
Dave on top of Lava Tower