Tuesday, 1 October Elevation: 2,700 m (Horombo Hut) / 4310 m (Mawenzi Hut), moorland / alpine terrain A slightly different day today. Planned to be an acclimatisation day but difficult to acclimatise at 2,700 metres. Didn’t really seem high enough. None of us had any sorts of problems even at the upper end of the hike just above Zebra rocks. The interesting bit was the snow storm we hiked through. And this is when we had a lovely sunny morning.

Monday, 30 September Elevation: 3,720 m, moorland terrain Spirits very high we started our mountain hut routine. Woken up by one of the porter for coffee and tea and then the “wishy washy” was brought which was basically a small bucket of warm water each and some soap. This was the same in the evenings and allowed us a little bit of hygiene. This bit of “luxury” was omitted at the highest - Kibo hut.

Sunday, 29 September Elevation: 2,700 m, forest terrain We had a quick meeting at reception and we were given water, we also gave the 9kg luggage to the porters by putting them in special numbered green bags. I had one numbered no. 10 and it was “mine” for the rest of the trip. I would always have the same porter, his name was Jaffa and I think he also carried another hiker’s green bag.

Saturday, 28 September Elevation: 1,860 m, forest terrain (Marangu gate) Leaving Mto Wan Mbu and hitting the road, dropped off a group at Arusha airport and some us at a hotel in Arusha. The rest heading towards Nairobi. Had a weird interaction with the driver who when we asked him for a toilet stop dismissed the option flat out. We were taken aback a little but he soon realised that this might not be the right course of action and stopped at a petrol station.

Friday, 27 September Just woke up going to the loo only to realise there is a large herd of zebras right besides the tents. I pitched up on the outside edge of the other tents so at one point they were only a metre or so away. Today we changed vehicles and switched to 4x4 Toyota Land cruisers. We had 4 but one of them had a problem so their passengers had to get into the other three.

Thursday, 26 September Another interesting night in regards to the local wildlife but this time we knew what to expect. Again hienas trashed our rubbish bins, one of or fellow hikers got kinda chased round the toilet block by a hiena. It might have happened slightly differently but this is how I’m serving it and I suggest you believe it. 😉 Also the lion roars and zebras giving out weird sounds were the repeat repertoire.

Wednesday, 25 September What a night! Sleeping in the tent and surrounded by sounds of the Serengeti wildlife. At one point I had a zebra come right close to the tent. It must have been just 10 feet or so away. Then the there was a constant vocalising of the hienas who actually had a field day on the bin belonging to the other group that was in the same campsite.

Tuesday, 24 September Still being under the impression of the stunning sunset over lake Victoria the night before, we started again with an early breakfast and a couple of quick stops in town to get more supplies. We also managed to source some ice that we put in a chiller box with all our beers. The road took us slightly south towards Seronera. We then made a right into the western entrance to the Serengeti national park.

Monday, 23 September Had some technical problems with the truck last night. Just as we were getting to the resort there was a loud bang under the truck and seems it was some sort of suspension issue. They had parts in Nairobi that two guys had to get to us and the only way was by road. They were working on the repairs most of the night. Got the truck sorted out but we were about 1.

Sunday, September 22nd Started the day really early. I think I set my alarm to 4:15am. Which is basically 2:15am on my internal British clock. We had some breakfast in the hotel and packed our stuff in the bus, which is actually a modified truck. We headed out of Nairobi and towards Kisii. It’s a long drive. About 8 to 9h as the itinerary warned but we did stop a few times which helped break up the otherwise arduous journey quite a bit.