Karanga Valley - Kilimanjaro

4 100 meters

- 2 degrees C

21:39

Had it not been for the first day in the mud, this would by far have been the toughest day on the mountain. Climbing up from Shira encampment at 3 900 m, we climbed via Lava Tower at 4 650m and have now descended again and are currently camped out directly below the South face of Kilimanjaro. As expected, several members of the group had their first taste of altitude sickness today, but now, camped at lower altitude again, the whole group is fine.

The day started at 07:00 and we arrived at camp at around 18:30. Huddled up in our tent, it seems surreal to transmit these notes from the slopes of Kilimanjaro. A few minutes ago, an avalanche created a bit of a stir in camp as it thundered down on the higher slopes on the mountain. It's literally full moon and the silver light reflecting from the glaciers above us is straight out of a fairy tale. It's cold and most of the group are already in bed.

We're still battling getting our digital camera link to operate and will download pics as soon as the problem is sorted out.

The plan is to start out again tomorrow morning at 08:00 and head directly for Barafu Hut at 4 750m. The day should culminate in the final ascent on the summit and should prove to present good conditions with lots of snow around the crater rim and at the summit.

Our next transmission will be tomorrow from Barafu Hut.

If you'd like to listen to live chats with us on Kilimanjaro, please listen in on the David O'Sullivan show on Radio 702 at around 16:15 every day.

Lance and Dawie are in good spirits and everything is going well with High on Africa. Naturally we'd like to keep our reserves up, but Kilimanjaro might take more than we've been planning for. Our communications equipment is functioning fine up to now and we'll be getting back as much information as possible.

Regards from Kilimanjaro