Tuesday 22nd September, Barranco Hut

Overnight Tom had been ill and he decided to return to Moshi with a local guide. Shortly after leaving camp we had another client, James, take ill who also returned to Moshi. Our plan for the day was to walk up to the Lava Tower, approx 4500m, before dropping back down to Barranco Hut, at 3950m, to spend the evening and help with our acclimatisation.

On the trail we meet another group, some of them had some wonderful hats.

Below: George teaching Howard how to navigate on Kili, follow the signs.

We stopped at the Lava Tower for lunch and a well earned rest. Dr Alice held surgery with a few clients who were beginning to suffer from the effects of altitude sickness.

After lunch we descended down the lush valley, passing large quantities of Senecio and Lobelia to our camp at Barranco Hut. We also got our first views of the imposing 300m high Barranco or Breakfast Wall that we would need to ascend tomorrow morning to continue our journey.

On the final approach to camp, Viv slid on lose stones and badly jarred her back and a previous injury. After an amazing effort by Viv we managed to get her back to camp to rest for the evening whilst we planned her evacuation from the mountain. This is usually a very cold camp and it lived up to expectation with Simon measuring a temp of -7oC in our tent overnight.