Kilimanjaro Day 1: Let the expedition begin

I know I had always wanted to do an adventure expedition with my dad, and many times he had spoken about doing some small things back in South Africa. We both came up with the idea to combine the most epic adventure to do in Africa, and do it together! Mount Kilimanjaro.

Flying over Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru just before landing for a connecting flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport

The trip planning started up relatively easily!  I connected with my old friends from Kenya who owned and adventure company. They really made the process such a pleasure by explaining all the ins and outs as well as all the major budgeting we would need to do. I booked the trip, we secured the flights picked up some of the gear essentials we would need from Cape Union Mart and Kway and only then did we start doing a little more research on the mountain.

I started to read a book about a man who had summited Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro several times by the name of Henry Stedman. He gave a comprehensive guide to the mountain in his book: Kilimanjaro: The trekking guide to Africa's highest mountain. The book gave me some really cool insights into the planned adventure and also, quite frankly, scared the crap out of me.
I had heard about altitude sickness before but thought it was something only for those elite climbers who tackled Everest and Dinali and massive peaks like that, but it seemed that Kilimanjaro had its fair share of challenges.

During the planning there was a terrible loss for all South Africans when Gugu Zulu died on the mountain from complications from flu and altitude sickness. This sent shivers down my spine as well as my moms apparently who became quite un nerved about what my dad and I were planning to undertake. We dug into some serious research and found out that only 44 percent of all who attempted to climb the mountain ever summited and that 4 deaths happened on average a year.

Things were getting quite serious.

We slogged through all the planning, chose our route which we decided would be the Northern Rongai 6 Day route that passed the Mawenzi peak and started to do short hikes to prepare our bodies for the trip. The day after my final CrossFit Open Workout, we flew to Tanzania!

My Dad ready for Tanzania!

The Kibo Slopes driver picked us up and transported us to what felt like forever into Kenya, up some hills and to an altitude of 1700m Above Sea Level where we would spend the night acclimatizing before we would start the hike the next day. The border posts proved quite tricky as my dad and I had both forgotten our yellow fever vaccination card at home. We had thought up all sorts of scenarios to explain our dilemma only to find out we didn't get asked for the cards once!

The Kibo Cottages where incredibly beautiful and tucked away from modern civilization, it was a special time for my dad and I to share a great meal and a local Tusker beer and catch up on many months of conversation. Both having busy lives, we would come to appreciate these moments more and more as the trip marched forward.

Packed and ready to spend the first night in the hills on the slopes of Africa's highest mountain

The next day we would start on day one of an epic club up and epic mountain.... (Check the blog for day 2)