"Trip of a Lifetime" - Janette & Harry's, Account of their Recent Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

We successfully climbed Mt Kilimanjaro via the Lemosho Route in 8 days with Majestic Kilimanjaro on October 19th. I can't praise the company and head guide Tumaini enough. He has just started this company but has been guiding for some time. Our total crew of 12 were a very happy lot and obviously enjoyed working with Tumaini.

Janette & Harry on the Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro with Tumaini & Leonard

He organised everything to perfection (including a 3 day safari) and he took great care of our well-being. We are aged 54 and a week off 57 when doing the trek. Food was excellent with often four courses most meals. Delicious soup twice a day (lunch and dinner) and it was never the same. Eggs every morning and fruit and vegetables every day. Plus plunger ground coffee in bed every morning! What more can you ask for?! We never had any tummy troubles.

Thick thermorest mats were provided but we took an extra one each as we like our comfort and this worked well. I mentioned I was cold at night, so a hot water bottle was produced the next evening using a heavy-duty water bottle!

Giant Groundsel (Dendrosenecio kilimanjari). Day 4 Lemosho route, Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Both Tumaini and assistant guide Leonard were very knowledgeable on the varied fauna and flora.
To acclimatize properly, Tumaini took us on extra walks such as via Shira Cathedral, to the 4000m mark above Shira 2 and the Lava Tower. As we weren't getting too many headaches we decided against taking Diamox. However, I took garlic tablets which I'd read about. Who knows if it helped but I got there!

Would recommend having a portable toilet - worth the extra expense. And definitely go in a small group. A group of 42 started the same day as us and the first camp was a nightmare - so overcrowded. Luckily they went ahead of us the next day.

Getting to the Top of Barranco Wall, Mount Kilimanjaro

The final stretch to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro

A bonus was that there is internet/phone access on the mountain, so Tumaini was able to keep our friends up-to-date with our progress on Facebook.

It was hard, especially that last section around the rim and coming down - hard on the knees and toes but definitely worth it if you have a reasonable level of fitness. We spent our last night at Millennium camp rather than the more popular Mweka which is lower down. This made our summit day slightly easier.
Only disappointments were the large number of people and the rubbish. However, we did see people employed to pick up rubbish in some areas.

We would definitely recommend the 8 day Lemosho Route with Majestic Kilimanjaro.

Janette & Harry Asche

This post was based on Janette & Harry's Tripadvisor review. To see this review Click Here

All photos are the property of Janette Asche. If you would like to see more of her photos, Click Here to be taken to Janette's Flickr page

View from the Top Of Mount Kilimanjaro