We had a very nice morning with a view of pink clouds and Mount Meru. Soon the first sun rays hit our tents. This was long-awaited after an unendless cold night. This night I put extra silk linens into my sleeping bag and I was sleeping on two sleeping mats. It was so cold outside that I did not risk to go out to pee during the night and used my pee bottle for the first time. Unfortunately, it was quite small (1.5 liters) to fit everything in. So I had to go out in the end.
After the breakfast we started to walk in a direction of our final camp before our summit night, Barafu camp. The views were getting more spectacular as we were slowly going up. We were crossing lava fields with no vegetation at all. Kibo got closer as well and we could see its glaciers in detail. On the right side the vast white desert of clouds was peacefully flowing like a soft blanket right before our feet. I had no high altitude symptoms at all. I was feeling well and this hike was definitely one of the easiest with a lot of long breaks for drinks, chats and pictures.
The whole trip took less than 4 hours and soon we could see the antenna and tents of Barafu camp. After ascending the last hill a stunning view of valleys below, of Kili and of Mount Mawenzi, the third volcano at Kilimanjaro opened up. We could not resist to take group photos here before having lunch and relaxing in the camp.
We had the whole rest of the day to relax properly before the summit night. Soon we will be there on top!
P.S. For more detailed overview of the day with pictures and videos, have a look at my Instagram stories titled “Kilimanjaro”.