BAKER FAMILY KILIMANJARO CHALLENGE
Tuesday 22nd Dec: back safe and sound.
The trip did not start too well as our luggage was held up for 24 hours and did not arrive at the hotel in Moshi until late Saturday evening (12th) . On Sunday we were able to get going and with our team of guides reached Kibo hut on Tuesday afternoon at an altitude of 4,700 metres. On Wednesday morning we set off at midnight to make it to the top. Son David got all the way to Uhuru Peak with a young man called Anders from Sweden. Steve, Mike, Naomi, Helen and Laura ( all from Yeovil ) climbed in the dark for four hours, reaching 5,100 metres just below the cave and then sickness set in. We had a break, tried again but we were getting slower and slower. Our guide said that we did not really have time to reach the summit and get back down to Kibo. So we called it a day.
Mike, Laura, Helen and Naomi are all keen to have another go but the organiser feels that it is time to hang up his boots or at least confine his walking to Dartmoor, the Dorset coast and possibly the three peaks.
Stephen, Naomi and David Baker
