Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

July 26, 2010 – Heading up to Snowcap Cottages

This is Elizabeth Dubois calling with our first dispatch. My friend Andrea and I are preparing to climb Kilimanjaro on the Rongai Route tomorrow morning.

We've now been in Tanzania for two days. After a 30-hour flight we arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where it was great to see some friendly faces who escorted us to our hotel for the night. The next day we headed out for a great hike throughout the city of Arusha and to visit a waterfall on Mt Meru. It was an exciting day on our feet and by the end of it we were feeling a little bit tired and happy to see our hotel.

Today we travelled a couple hours by vehicle to the base of Kilimanjaro which is where we are calling from now. We're now doing some last-minute preparations for tomorrow's hike, which should be great!

Our Berg Adventures Jeep threads the needle through a giant tree on the way to the mountain.

Some of the luscious vegetation that is all around us here.

A diorama of Mt. Meru in the Arusha National Park.