Day 5 - Barafu Camp

Another early start today, but a much shorter hike, just 4km from the camp at Baranco to Barafu, which will be our base camp before tonight. 

By now it was very barren at this height, just a few whisps of grass, and nothing else.  There was a real excitement in our group tonight, as we began counting in hours until our summit attempt, rather than days!! 

With it being a much shorter route today, we were able to complete our hike today as 1 group, which was nice.  In fact, we arrived at Barafu even before lunch-time, at just 10:30am.   Dominic thought it was a good idea for us to get some final acclimatisation before lunch, when we could then relax throughout the afternoon, and save our energy. 

Spot the Long Drop toilets at the
extreme right of the camp? 
Would you trust squatting here?

So, after a very short rest, most of the group dumped their bags and we set off for about 75 minutes through the Barafu camp, and on up the summit path that we would be walking later in the dark.  The camp at Barafu is much bigger than any we had been in before, but our tents were in a very private area right in the bottom corner of the site, away from the hustle of other hikers who were now arriving from both directions.... last night's arrivals returning from the summit, and todays, who would be filled equally with excitement, and butterflies!

I was really glad that we'd taken the chance to go ahead this morning, up through the camp, which took 20 minutes alone to clear completely, and on up a very steep path, with many obstacles, and quite rocky too.  I think this would be quite a shock to do for the 1st time in the dark!!

On our right we pass by Mawenzi, Kilimanjaro's third peak, and the 2nd highest of the 3 summits.  It's a dramatic mountain volcano, the top of which looks like craggy shards of rock, split by previous explosions. 

I think we probably gained about 300 meters, which would help us to sleep this afternoon, and we didn't have to spend long before we returned down, back to Barafu for lunch of spaghetti omelette, with a carrot & bean stew.  Today would be a complete overload of carbs..... our last chance to build up some reserves for when we would need them. 

During the afternoon, I sorted through my day bag for the final time, removing everything that I thought would not be needed tonight.  In fact, the only things remaining were my camera, and my water... (Not that this was very effective...as you will read later). 

Whilst I was lazing about this afternoon, Loman was called into some unexpected action. Unfortunately one of our porter group was taken ill, and seemed to be in some pain in the tent opposite mine.  Loman settled him down, and had to assist him with some painkilling injections.  We thought he may have possibly had some difficulty with appendix, but for sure his trip was over, and later he would be escorted quickly down the mountain and to safety.