Woah! Altitude Walking

Well today we hit altitude, my first time.

We left the hut and were still walking in the rain forest for quite some time.  We got to about 3,500m and then it hit me, it was as if you’d be punched in the stomach and you were starved of oxygen.  I’m the only one in the group who has never been at altitude before.  We slowed it right down after that and it feels strange walking at a really slow pace, as our guides say “pole, pole.”

By the time we got to Saddle Hut our next overnight stop I went straight to sleep and took on some altitude sickness tablets, it helped a lot and I felt much better.  The rest of the group did the short climb to Little Meru to get further acclimatised.

We’re not going to get much time to rest, we go for the summit of Mount Meru at midnight.

This blip is a photo of Kilimanjaro from Saddle Camp.