Thursday 30th July 2015, 9.25am (day 1,435)
In no way was this climb of Kilimanjaro a solo effort, and I mean that beyond just the fact I went up as part of a group of walkers. We had four guides, then also a team of porters, who took most of our luggage up the mountain, not to mention the tents, cooking equipment and other such gear. These guys (and occasionally girls — saw two or three female porters during the week) put in an astonishing amount of work and without them the climb would not have been possible for us. Here, some of them are pictured on day 3, which was one of only two fully sunny days during the week. Kibo, the main peak of the Kili massif, is in the background — getting closer… We approached it today through this Mars-like landscape.
Being 42 