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One of the trucks that will take us to the start of the trek
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Cris waiting for the trucks to be loaded up
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Fay and Russel doing some last minute packing, lobby of the Kilimanjaro Mountain Resort
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Gear going up onto the trucks
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Cris and the woman on her own from Atlanta (she was in the other group, of 10, we were the group of 12)
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Road to the start, just after it turned back to tarmac, another truck in the distance
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The view from the tourists' starting hut, down into the village where some of the porters live
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Tourists hut at the start: Fay, Sophie, Dutch guy in group of 10, Russell, Julie, then more from the group of 10
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View toward where the porters were staging our bags, with red topped box lunch on the sill
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Tourists shelter, Juliet in the pink, part of the group of 10, then Cris, Martina, Olivier, Marie, Natacha in the right corner
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View from the tourists shelter, b&w bird
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View from the tourists shelter, b&w bird (we saw some just below the summit, as well!)
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Starting!!! Here there be dragons...
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Get in your marching order: Cris, Russell, Fay, Phillip, Natacha's legs, Julie, Marie, Juliet, Sophie
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Dried up corn, grown between trees next to the path
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Very dusty path, the sand was like flour. Fay, Russel, Juliet, Cris and Natacha fwd, Sophie
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More corn, Phillip's back
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Piles of corn husks, Russell taking a picture. It was warm!
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At the break by the pile of corn, Cris with hat, water, hiking pole, and pack
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Invisible monkey!
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Colobus monkey! It's massive!
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Colobus monkey, we ventured off the path into the rain forest to get a view
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Next stop, still in the forest. Martina, Dutch girl?, Marie, Natacha, Fay, Russell, Sophie, then others from the group of 10
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At the stop, the permanent toilet (aka a hut around a hole in the ground). I used it, since I didn't want to dare the jungle life long enough to get cover.
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A monkey was in the tree right above where we stopped
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Two of the group of 10 looking up at the monkey in the tree overhead
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Monkey in the tree over head
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Almost time to start again: Cris, Marie, Steve or Mark, Franklin, Sohpie, then group of 10 members
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Back on the trail, Martina and Olivier
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Coming out of the forest into the moorland
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Low bushes in the moorland
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Break in the moorland: Franklin, Cris, woman from Atlanta who's name I really have to figure out! Cris says it's Ann...
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Cris just after a bridge, that we thought was the one close to our first camp, but not so much...
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Climbing up to camp, our guide Justin, two of the group of 10 on the trail, and Jonas one of the assistant guides
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On the trail to camp, Cris and Russell.
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They told me which animal scrapes up the tree while climbing into it, but I forgot... leopard?
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Day 2! Packing up our gear so the porters can carry it on ahead. Russel with his head missing, Phillip and Julie. The yellow-green pack is Cris's, the dark green big bag is my porter bag.
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Fay and Russel sorting out water, our packs lined up ready to go (mine's the bottom right one)
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We'd done an acclimatisation hike up a couple 100m the night before, this shot of Mawenze (the secondary peak of Kilimanjaro) was taken in the morning when I had time to pause.
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Hiking up, Julie and Phillip from the back, still in moorland
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View from the trail.
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View up the trail, you can see the line of porters ahead. Juliet is in front of me, Russel in front of her, Natacha is up off the line
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View from the trail
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View from the trail
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View from the trail
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Rest stop: Fay and Russel fixing poles, Martina, Marie and Olivier together, Cris by our packs
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View from the trail
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Porters on the trail ahead of us, lunch is over the ridge
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View from the trail
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View from the trail, with porter
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Natacha ready for action
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Trail's getting steeper, Cris is just ahead, Fay to his left
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Rocks, you can start to see volcanic evidence now
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Volcanic rocks
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View from the trail
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View from the trail
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Another rest break: Russell, Sophie, Cris, Julie, Natacha hiding behind her, Phillip, Martina, Olivier, Marie.
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Cave! Phillip's inside sticking his head through a hole, Natacha sits in front
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Fay, Russell, and Sophie in the cave mouth
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Me and Cris in the cave mouth
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Inside the cave
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Inside the cave
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On the trail again, Martina, Olivier, Julie's hat, Phillip, Fay's elbow, Jonas with the big pack
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Lunch stop! You can just see Russell, Faye, Marie?, Julie and Martina
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Second cave! View from the lunch stop.
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View from the lunch stop
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View from the lunch stop
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Al fresco dining! Usually all this was set up inside the green mess tent. The tall toilet tent is in the background, a wooden seat over a bucket.
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View from the trail.
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It got chilly after lunch. Juliet, Sophie, Russell, Fay, Jonas.
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Mawenzi off to the side of the trail, hidden in clouds. Juliet, Sophie, Russell, Fay, Jonas.
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View from the trail.
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View from the trail, you can see the others getting ahead of me as I slow down due to the altitude.
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View from the trail, a volcanic ridge, with I think Mawenzi hidden by clouds
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Short break (camera shutter started not opening all the way here). Jonas, Justin, Mussa on their cell phones. Natacha, Oliver, Gerald, Martina
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View from the trail.
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View from the trail, Mawenzi off to the right.
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View from the trail, Mawenzi hidden by clouds
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Cris with Mawenzi in the background, my pack in front.
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Justin found a chameleon!
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Hiking through an area that had a fire
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Mawenzi comes out of the clouds, foreground is an area that was burned
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View from the trail, Mawenzi in scattered clouds
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Tents! OMG we can stop!!! Russell, Faye, Jonas
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Mawenzi from camp
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Mawenzi from camp
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Kibo from camp, sunset
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Kibo from camp, sunset
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Camp, with clouds *below* us (omgwtf???)
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Sunset from camp
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Morning! Kibo from camp. We're going up to the top!
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Mawenzi in the morning, behind our tent
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Packing up again...
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Heading out, we're going *points* there. Sophie, Juliet, Fay, Cris
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A gully on the way down to the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo
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Gully, you can see some of the volcanic rocks
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Mawenzi receding in the distance as we head toward Kibo
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View on the trail, porters leading us. Russell's back, Martina's head, Fay's cap and shoulder.
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Cris and Mawenzi
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Gully
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Gully and the trail
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Me and Mawenzi, it was a bit cooler today (we were over 3km up, but my wool top was perfect)
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Getting ready to walk again. Marie and Juliet talking to Justin in the background, Martina and Julie in the pink tops.
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View from the trail.
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Juliet and Sophie
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Jonas, Justin, and Gerald
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View back toward Mawenzi
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Inukshuks! Jonas said that some of the other guides made cairns to communicate with each other. Cris, then Fay, Phillip, Julie, Martina
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Climbing up into the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo, clouds below us
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The trail...
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Low bushes with flowers, getting into the arctic desert
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Low bushes with flowers
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Climbing up to the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo
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Climbing up to the saddle between Mawenzi and Kibo
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Kibo in clouds
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Another inukshuk, marking the trail
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More inukshuks, at camp this time, I think.
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Inukshuk
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More inukshuks
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View down the mountain
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Rest break, Natacha, Jonas and Justin in the background, Cris
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Camp, my poor abused feet and my hiking poles
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View from the tent door.
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Cris's hiking boots and pole, just inside our tent lobby
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We were *right* under Mawenzi at this camp, we did a climb up a volcanic ridge for acclimatisation purposes, and the sun played peekaboo with the clouds, tha's Fay's cap.
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Mawenzi in clouds, Russell's head
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The two in the background were a couple climbing on their own. Then Cris and ?.
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That's the camp, that's how far up we climbed after walking all day.
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For a few seconds you could see a rainbow around my and Fay's shadows, projected with the sun behind us and the cloud under the ridge below us
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Clouds rolling in as we rested on the ridge
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Clouds rolling in as we rested on the ridge
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Back to camp, time to rest. Juliet, Fay, Russel, Julie, Justin
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A frosty morning! Mawenzi without cloud cover.
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Frosty camp, in the morning.
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You can see the moon over the ridge behind camp. Star watching the night before was amazing.
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Frost on our tent in the morning.
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Caves next to our camp site.
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Mawenzi.
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Heading off over the saddle. Phillip, Russel, Faye, porters, Marie, Martina, Natacha, Julie
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The gry streak was a river in the wet season. This is looking back toward camp.
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View from the trail, with the grey streak from an old river.
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View from the trail, looking over the saddle toward Kibo
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Russell surveying his domain, Mawenzi in clouds in the background
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Cris backlit
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Bit of a climb, I think camp was back there somewhere
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Looking out over the saddle, Fay and Phillip's caps, Sophie and Juliet, Natacha, then Marie in front.
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Olivier taking a break.
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Looking down the mountain from the saddle between Kibo and Mawenzi
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Low plants growing from the soil collected in rock cracks
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The trail leads that-a-way, tonight's camp is in the clouds. Sophie, Julie and Gerald.
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Sunlight on the saddle, with the trail. Sophie, Julie, Gerald
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Justin (or is it Mussa?) at the rest stop, group of 10 passing us on the trail.
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Martina taking a break on the saddle, arctic desert
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Cris at the break on the saddle, arctic desert
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Taking a break on the saddle, arctic desert. We hiked over to those rocks for a bathroom break, omg far, esp, at 4km above sea level.
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Taking a break on the saddle, arctic desert.
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Taking a break on the saddle, Gerard
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Getting close to Kibo! Olivier.
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Getting close to Kibo.
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Taking a break on the saddle.
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The clouds rolled over the saddle, it was awesome. Gerald, Julie all wrapped up, Jonas
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Just a second, we're climbing WHERE???? That grey path. Right...
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You can see tiny people on the path over to camp, the green things on the left. Then the grey path is the route up to the peak...
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Cris heading up to camp, you can see a bit of the glacier on the top of Kibo.
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Kibo from the saddle.
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Me on the saddle, with Kibo in the background. It's a bit chilly and quite windy
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Last camp before the summit, Kibo Huts.
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View down the trail from Kibo Huts
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View up toward the summit trail, Kibo Huts
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After leaving camp at midnight, sunrise at 6:30, just below Gilman's Point, looking back at Mawenzi.
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Sunrise over Mawenzi
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Russel and Fay and I were the last of our group to reach Gilman's Point, but we made it!
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Gerald, me, and Patroquet at sunrise, just below Gilman's Point
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Gerald, me, and Patroquet at sunrise, just below Gilman's Point
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Looking down the trail, across the saddle, and over to Mawenzi. You can't really get a sense of the distance here, though...
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Made it to Gilman's Point on the crater rim!
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View into the crater from Gilman's Point on the crater rim
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View into the crater from Gilman's Point on the crater rim
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View back toward Mawenzi from Gilman's Point
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View down the mountain from Gilman's Point
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Me and Cris at Gilman's Point, he waited for me, but I was only about 10mins behind
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Me and Cris at Gilman's Point
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Me and Cris at Gilman's Point, my pack in the foreground (Patroquet had to carry it for me, I had too much water in it)
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Glacier, from the crater rim
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Glacier, from the crater rim
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Walking along the crater rim, toward Uhuru Peak, glacier in the distance
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Cris on the crater rim, glacier and lots of air behind him
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View back along the crater rim, inside the crater and Mawenzi
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View inside the crater, from the rim
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View inside the crater, from the rim, you can see one of the other approach trails
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View inside the crater, from the rim
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Patroquet on the crater rim
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OMG we made it! Uhuru Peak!
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Cris and me at Uhuru Peak
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Patroquet, me, Cris, Gerald at Uhuru Peak
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View from the crater rim, back toward Mawenzi
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Glaciers, from the crater rim
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Heading down, Cris on the crater rim
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Heading down. This sucked, I slipped so many times in the scree...
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We had a bit of rest, a bit of soup, and then had to walk to Horombo Hut for the night's camp, another 9km+. Julie coming back from a rest break.
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Rest break on the way to Horombo Hut, Juliet, Olivier, Russel, Sophie
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On the way to Horombo Hut, looking back at Kibo and the glacier. We were there on top just a few hours ago...
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On the way to Horombo Hut, looking back at Kibo and the glacier
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Going down the Marangu route, two toilets in the arctic desert. Russell and Juliet.
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Going down the Marangu route, looking back at Kibo
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Going down the Marangu route, looking back at a plateau
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Out of the desert and back into moorland
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Horombo huts! Gorgeous location, pity my camera shutter wasn't opening all the way...
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Horombo huts
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View from the Marangu route
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View from the Marangu route
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Horombo huts
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Low growing plants
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Looking back at Kibo from Horombo huts
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View from Horombo huts, Juliet in the foreground
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View from Horombo huts
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Camping at Horombo huts
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Last morning! All the porters and guides
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All the porters and guides
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Group shot of the group of 12 + crew! Front row: Patroquet(?), Cris, Natacha, Phillip, Julie, Russell, Fay, Justin, Sophie, me with Olivier standing behind, Martina, Maire, Juliet(?)
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Moon over the landscape, coming down Marangu
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View from the trail
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View from the trail
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Trail with porters leading the way.
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Back down in the rain forest.
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Cris was getting a bit punchy by now...
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Back in the rain forest
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Rain forest.
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Rain forest.
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DONE!!!! Marangu gate, Cris and me.