KILIMANJARO

Day 2...Kikelewa Caves (3,600 m./11,880ft.)

Boxing Day 2003.  Morning tea, served on a silver platter, direct to our tent door by our friendly "Santa" porters.

Sunrise at Rongai Camp.  Not a cloud in the sky except for the one hovering over Kilimanjaro.

Washing my hands before entering the mesh tent for breakfast.  Our camp on the left and Kilimanjaro in the background.

Hiking towards Mawenzie Peak.

This morning we walked a steady ascent with superb views of the Eastern ice fields on the rim of Kibo, the youngest and highest of the three volcanoes that form the entire mountain.  After lunch we left the main trail and trekked out across the moorland on a smaller path towards the jagged peak of Mawenzi, the second of Kilimanjaro's volcanoes.  Our campsite, which we reached late in the afternoon, is in a sheltered valley near Kikelewa Caves.

Kikelewa Cave (I crawled through to the other side on my knees and stomach).

The earth is my mattress, a rock my pillow.