Kilimanjaro

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: The Machame route is only for going up for a number of reasons including avoiding two way traffic to make it easier for porters and for a more gradual climb to acclimatize. The return trail will be steeper.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: We gain enough altitude to ascend into the clouds that were once above us and it makes for a very surreal experience walking through the misty lush forest.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: Ferns are everywhere, Africa and the slopes of Kilimanjaro are no exception.

KILIMANJARO: Amy, our trip organizer, shows Nelson, our chief guide, the tracking route on her GPS.

KILIMANJARO: The moss is thick in the rain forest.

KILIMANJARO: Lots of new types of vegetation all over the place.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: After 5 hours of hiking, we gain enough altitude to break out from under the thick canopy of trees and we reach camp. We've also hiked up through the overcast cloud layer and find patches of blue sky above.

KILIMANJARO: Eric takes a moment to play with his camera before the golden hour of good light begins for photography.

KILIMANJARO: Can you believe this? A dining tent complete with chairs, a table and a table cloth! This was set up and ready for us to enjoy some hot drinks every day when we rolled into camp. What's more, it looks like this when we depart and it still beats us up to the next camp.

KILIMANJARO: Dinner is on. Our cook works in his tent to make us soup, pasta, rice, chicken and so much more, including packing us a lunch box each day to enjoy on the trail. Check out that stove. One of the boys had to carry that up. And it came all the way up to our highest camp at 4,600m.

KILIMANJARO: Finally, right at prime alpenglow time, the clouds clear just a bit more to get a good glimpse of the summit mound still 4 days away for us.

KILIMANJARO: The summit is being shy, but you can just make out some of the glaciers in the NW quadrant of the photo showing our camp. Eric and I are in the orange tent on the left while Amy and George are in the red tent poking in on the right. The orange and gray tent is a Japanese couple on a separate trek.

KILIMANJARO: The movement of the sun at the equator is nearly perpendicular to the horizon, so sunset and sunrise are noticeably faster. I only managed to fire a few frames off and the alpenglow was already gone!

KILIMANJARO: Looking the other way, the bands of light diminish into the horizon and we begin our first night on Kilimanjaro. The stars were amazing.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: The cooks are still busy at work cleaning up after an amazing dinner.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: Up by 7am, fed, packed and ready to roll before 9am we check in at Machame Hut not 50 meters from our camp before continuing up the mountain.

KILIMANJARO: We saw this so often one might think we would get used to seeing the porters carrying loads balanced on their heads like this, but it never ceased to amaze us.

KILIMANJARO: Nelson, aka "Mandela", sets a slow and steady pace. "PolŽ PolŽ" is Swahili for 'slow' or 'take it easy'. This was our mantra for the climb. A slow and easy pace is what will help us acclimate for the vast altitude to come.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: The flowers were amazing, including this red tube flower the Mackinder's Gladiolus (Gladiolus watsonioides), or just known as the Gladiolus.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: Even on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, communications technology is present. These porters get a gig like this once a month or so which takes them away from what ever other work they have. They are all drawn from a porters association which works much like a union and helps protect them from abuse and mistreatment.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa up the Machame route with Amy Andrews, George Andrews, Eric Bowers, Cameron Martindell starting on 11 September 2007. Six day climb. All made it to the summit: 5,895m.

KILIMANJARO: Commonly refered to as a Senica Tree, this unique plant is more properly described as a shrub that becomes very large. The scientific name is Senecio Kilimanjari in the family Asteraceae (sunflowers).