If it’s African wildlife you’re excited about seeing, you’re in luck in that you’ll already be in a country with some excellent wildlife viewing opportunities. When you’re looking at a list of the adventure trips in Tanzania, they’re essentially broken down into two categories – Kili treks or safaris – so it’s really easy to combine the two into one trip to Tanzania. You can book safari trips through the Serengeti at any time of year, but obviously the animals that you’ll see will vary depending on when you go. And even though there are rough estimates of when animals will be in certain places, they don’t operate on a calendar – so for things like the great African wildebeest migration, if that’s on your wish-list, you’ll have to plan to be fairly flexible with how long you stay in the area.

In addition to climbing treks on Kili and safari trips through the Serengeti, there are other fantastic once-in-a-lifetime adventures you can add to your Africa trip. From Tanzania, it’s not too far to head north into Kenya for a Nairobi to Victoria Falls adventure. You’re also not far from Rwanda and Uganda, both of which are known for their gorilla treks. If, after a trip up Kilimanjaro, you want something really different, there’s always the island nation of Madagascar off Africa’s coast. A wildlife tour on Madagascar is sure to delight kids of all ages.

Before you can experience any of the natural wonders of the continent, however, you’ve got to get there first. Here’s where to look for flights to Africa.

photo by appenz

World War One only probably has a handful of years left before its slips completely beyond the realm of living memory. Among those like me who have gleaned the story through History Channel or snippets of information that I have picked up in my travels, it might come as a surprise to know that some of the most iconic battles of the War were fought in the area immediately surrounding Kilimanjaro.

As one example, Ndarakwai Camp in Western Kilimanjaro, a popular apre climb safari destination, has a number of old trench systems that served both the British and the Germans in the campaign for control of the country during the difficult years of 1914 – 1918.

Colonial Struggle…

The nation of Tanzania began life as an outpost of the German colonial empire. It was known then as German East Africa, or Tanganyika, and was a close neighbor to Kenya, or British East Africa, which at that time also included Uganda. When war broke out between Britain and Germany in 1914, it was not long before war broke out between German and British East Africa. The railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi and beyond became the focus of German attacks, and later the railway line from Moshi to the Indian Ocean port of Tanga became the German line of retreat once the colony had been invaded.

The Kilimanjaro district, with its coffee farms, pleasant climate and clean altitude had long been the main focus of white settlement in German East Africa. Besides this the geography of flat plains interspersed with low and isolated hills was the perfect defensive landscape for both sides. A number of important battles were fought east and west of Kilimanjaro, and the towns of Moshi and Arusha the headquarters of the German High Command.

Colonial Brigades…

Another interesting aspect of the War in East Africa was that it was fought by British and Commonwealth forces. This by definition meant fighting men drawn from every colony or former colony (except America) in the Empire. Much of the heavy fighting was done in the early stages by men of Indian origin, and in later stages by local black levies and various native colonial regiments from all over the continent.

Lost History…

You would definitely draw blank looks from your climb or safari guides in Tanzania if you brought up the subject of World War One around the campfire or in the mess tent. The subject is not widely taught and the old battle sites are neither preserved nor marked in any particular way. However a little bit of background reading, and a keen sense of geography, will help you pick out some of the more notable sites on Google Maps which in turn will lead you to them. A good place to start is at Ndarakwai Camp where their chief game scout Thomas is surprisingly knowledgeable about the colonial coming and goings in the region.

In a land where the last vestiges of colonial history have been scrubbed off the landscape, it is sometimes interesting to imagine a place like Tanzania as a pawn in the global/strategic games of a by-gone era. Scratching around the battle sites of the period is definitely something worth doing if you get a chance…

If you are interested in the battlefields of East Africa, and you would like some pointers drop me a line…

As a budget traveler for most of my youth I did tend to throw caution to the wind, put faith in the Gods and hope for the best when I set off. Fortunately I never had any problems, but in my days on the road I have known many that have. Some incidences were bizarre: an Aussie overlander having a 17-ton truck drop off its axel and shatter his spine. Others more pedestrian: countless instances of malaria in difficult places, and more than one car accident that left victims in hospitals and clinics in very questionable locations across Africa.

>>All in all Travel Insurance is worth the expense….

In the case of Kilimanjaro these are the risks and benefits:

The nearest hospital is situated in Moshi, and my information is that it is one of the best hospitals in the region, and being airlifted to Nairobi as an alternative offers no tangible advantage.

Kili is not a particularly dangerous mountain to climb, but the risks are there. The risks consist mainly of altitude related issues, but physical injury is also not infrequent.

Search and rescue on Kilimanjaro is by international standards good, and by African standards excellent. You need not, therefore, worry too much about being plunged into some ghastly third world nightmare upon the slightest injury, however you would still be very well advised to add a little first world certainty to the mix.

>>Check out the facts of Search & Rescue on Kilimanjaro

BootsnAll Travel Insurance offers an excellent selection of travel insurance options available on the site, but recommended for Kilimanjaro is our ihi Bupa International Travel Insurance which offers comprehensive medical and evacuation insurance, emergency evacuation and travel assistance. All venture sports excluding motorsports are covered, and in the event of a terrorist related emergency you are likewise covered. Trip cancellation, delay and lost baggage are, however, not covered.

Neither is protection against your foreign or local operator or outfitter folding into bankruptcy. However if you have booked through a western outfitter these risks are automatically, or at least they should be automatically, covered.

For more comprehensive general coverage consider our Travelex Travel Select which covers everything from medical evacuation, to the repatriation of remains, all trip delay and cancellation, labour related delays and cancellations, luggage loss and delay, and in fact just about everything a discerning traveller could possibly need.

For a more comprehensive casualty evacuation program – and this would work for special needs climbers, vulnerable groups or those that simply want unshakable security – then we offer MedJet Assist which is underwritten by Lloyds of London and offers a no-qibble medical evacuation from anywhere in the world. This means no stop-off at any developing world hospitals anywhere, just a direct line to the nearest A-list medical facility.

If this still does not satisfy you then the top of the range is Global Rescue. Global Rescue prides itself on emergency evacuation from anywhere, anytime and against any odds. From the top of Mount Everest to the middle of Death Valley, you are guaranteed a trip from mountain top to clean hospital linen in as short a time as it is humanly possibly to achieve…

Get in touch with a BootsnAll Travel Insurance rep today for up-date facts and info…

In most cases a handful of routes are used that cram the budget climbers along heavily trammeled trails and into littered and congested campsites. Kilimanjaro increasingly these days is becoming a venture travel machine.

I was very fortunate in Sept of 2009 to be invited on a little experimental climb to explore the seldom used Northern Circuit of Kilimanjaro. This turned out to be one of the rarest experiences on the mountain – five days of almost completed undisturbed hiking in a remote and unexpectedly beautiful quarter of the Kilimanjaro National Park.

Rongai and the Northern Circuit

Rongai is certainly back-end of Kilimanjaro, and with a complex entry arrangement and a long journey to the gate, it is not particularly popular with budget outfitters. This is the main drawback, but another is the fact that the scenic tableau is not quite as dramatic as on the more popular Southern Circuit. Another factor that weighs heavily against Rongai is that after a couple of days it links up with the Marangu Route at which point it becomes a zoo.

The Northern Circuit, however, peels off at about 2 o’clock and veers westward to circumnavigate Kibo Crater along it northern extremity. From that point we saw not another soul. Our group, three old climbing buddies and a last minute addition, enjoyed three nights at superbly located campsites entirely by ourselves. The clean campsites and narrow trails all attested to the fact that very few people make this particular journey.

The landscape of the Northern Circuit differs distinctly from the south It is drier, more moon-like and on occasions bleakly forbidding. To the north the countrysides diminishes through a slow progression of undulations towards the vast expanse of the Masai Steppe and Ambroseli and Tsavo National Parks in Kenya. Kibo Crater is ever present with almost no sign of the glaciers that overflow the southern slopes. Fields of paper dry everlasting daises are almost all can adapt to grow on these hostile boulder fields and lifeless plains of slate and dry stone. Water is hard to find and campsites are widely spaced. There is a deep and eerie silence everywhere that is broken abruptly as the trail swings suddenly southwards and we stumble into Moir Camp.

Here the trail from Shira to Lava Tower passes, and suddenly there are hundreds of porters like a huge flock of starlings moving forwards and back along a meter wide channel that is the trail. Lava Tower Camp has that all to familiar stink of human excrement and is crowded with tents, seething with porters and festooned with litter. Strangely it hardly matters. At this point our minds are focused less on the aesthetics than the hard business of altitude and fatigue, and the pending challenge of the Western Breach.

The Western Breach

The summit experience begins at Lava Tower, and continues at Arrow Glacier just a few hundred meters and a kilometer or so distant. The Western Breach seems less than it is. Through the most all that is visible is a nearly perpendicular skree that is obscured by perspective. When we begin the climb it is a case of one step in front of the other. Pole-pole…the defining mantra of any meaningful Kilimanjaro climb. A few selected porter pass up and continue upwards towards Crater Camp. Seven hours of solid but unremarkable climbing see us over the lip of the crater and at the end of the Furtwangler Glacier.

At this altitude the sun shines, it is surprisingly warm and the porters, although a little less gregarious, are still joyfully exuberant. A few of them are collecting water from the glacier runoff and they congratulate us as we pass by on our way towards Crater Camp.

For me this was the only real disappointment of the expedition. Crater Camp was a shit-hole…see my article on The Beginning of the End of Crater Camp. It was a case of grin and bear the horror for the last few hundred meters to the summit, a little tomfoolery for the sake of photographs, and a scramble down to collapse in the sunshine and try and level the metabolism gasping at 19000ft…

Homeward…

We had big plans to explore the Ash Pit but as dawn broke on our penultimate day the temperature was horrifying and the lack of basic motivation at such altitudes had us directing our noses south and plunging down towards the more accommodating altitude of Mweka Camp….

In conclusion I would recommend Rongai Route to anyone. If you can afford a few dollars more, and do your homework to make sure you sign up with a good outfitter, it is the way to climb this beautiful mountain. Get in touch with me if you need any more info on this climb, or any other pointers in getting up and down Kilimanjaro…

Crater Camp is touted as the last word in isolation on the slightly over-trammeled Kilimanjaro circuit. There is no doubt that getting up there, particularly via the famous Western Breach, is a large undertaking, and spending the night at over 5500m is not for lightweights, but isolated Crater Camp is not!

We made the trip up from Arrow Glacier Camp in about 7-hours of fairly solid slogging up the middle of the Western Breach. Scrambling over the edge of the crater the first sight that greets one is the rather diminutive – not much more than a huge ice-cube – Furtwangler Glacier. After the obligatory photograph against the ice mass – ‘say Fartwanker!’ – we trudged over the ash colored sand that lines the crater floor towards camp situated about 500 meters distant. As usual the porters had arrived before us and were setting up camp, and besides them we were alone on this beautiful and desolate spot.

Litter and worse…

However it was difficult to ignore a carpet of detritus littering the extremities of the camp, a collection of oddments including discarded tampons, teabags, hand-warmers and the usual debris associated with the human condition. I took my camera and set off to photograph the hidden piles of kitchen waste and portable toilet dumps that were the most obvious signs, but pretty soon I was reeling at the sheer volume of crap – literally – that littered the camp surrounds.

Behind every rock, and even some way up the trail towards the summit, hundred and hundreds of human turds lay un-decomposed as might be expected under these conditions of temperature and altitude. It was the most revolting sight imaginable in an otherwise pristinely beautiful natural space.

High altitude lethargy…

Basically the problem is this: It is ecologically unsound to dig pit latrines at this altitude thanks to the fact that no degeneration will take place and what is deposited will remain effectively forever. The use of portable toilets is the alternative, but few porters care to portage filled units down so they simply dump the contents onto the sand. Moreover the porters themselves have no facilities so have no choice but to defecate out in the open and it is this that accounts for the colossal amount of human waste in evidence everywhere.

The end of Crater Camp

As soon as I was back in Moshi I was on the phone to the local head of KINAPA who told me that the situation at Crater Camp had been of concern to the parks authority for some time, and that in fact the decision had recently been taken to shut the facility down altogether. This effectively means that any Western Breach Summit will end at Barafu Camp and that only by special license can anyone in future make use of the crater floor.

As far as current obligations are concerned, pre-existing bookings will be honored, but within a year the facility will be cleaned up and left to nature. It is a very sad fact that the state of human commerce on the mountain is so reckless and indifferent, but the fact remains. Although very sad it is probably for the best. So for those of you booked to climb via Crater Camp, hold your nose, watch your step and make the most of being the last of any of us to make the journey.

For each person who signs up for a commercial climb at least three accompanying support staff are included. Once the practical business of climbing the mountain begins the down-to-earth implications of this volume of traffic with regards to where these people all ‘go’ becomes no small matter.

Standards vary from camp to camp…

Depending on the trail you choose the nature and standard of the toilets on offer vary enormously. I have noticed that the higher the altitude the less inviting are the facilities. This probably has much to do with the degree to which one’s energy diminishes at altitude, leading those unfortunate souls charged with the responsibility of maintaining these structures losing interest at altitudes above 12000ft.

The best ablution facilities can be found along the highly commercial routes such as Marangu, and to a lesser extent Machame. The standard of service available at Shira 2 Camp, for example, at the point where Lemosho Route and Machame Route merge is very high. However, far more commonly, services are offered in crudely built and shallowly dug ‘long drop’ potties that are heavily utilized and that offer a less-that-delightful aroma if your porter happens to site your tent downwind.

Facilities are circulated as much as possible…

The good news is that these amenities are regularly circulated so that the build-up of atmospheric toxins is ameliorated somewhat. There are also usually quite a few of them available at any one camp, so one can be selective about which among the many to visit.

Whatt is unavoidable, however, is that they are almost exclusively squat toilets and a degree of dexterity and accuracy are required to effectively use them. Sadly evidence abounds to suggest that these skills are surprisingly rare in the climb fraternity.

The Barafu bog consipracy…

The worst concentration of toilets I have found are at Barafu Camp, although I invite comparison from anyone who cares to disagree.

Barafu enjoys a number of signature disadvantages as a camp. It consists of a bleak and waterless ridge that was clearly chosen with more practical than aesthetic considerations in mind. It is the point at which a number of trails merge, and being as there is but one summit, and this is the last staging point for a good many climb parties, it is crowded, messy and it stinks.

It is evident that the local national parks authority is trying as best it can to keep ahead of the demand, and things could definitely be worse, but there is no pleasure in satisfying your fundamental needs here.

Bring your own if you can afford it…

Most of the higher-end outfitters nowadays offer a version of the portable sailing toilets that are carried skyward up the mountain on the heads of local porters. For women in particular these devises are a godsend and the extra few dollars they cost are definitely worthwhile.

It is easy to overlook this when considering price options for your climb, but remember when the day comes that you have to stand in the freezing wind, toilet-roll in hand, looking at a dozen possibilities, each one less inviting than the last, you will without doubt appreciate the extra expense.

Or keep it bottled up until you get to lower altitude…

The good news is that the Kilimanjaro National Park Authority (KINAPA) is gradually working towards a general improvement. There are always going to be remote camps at high altitude where the practicalities of camp maintenance are very difficult, but certain entrepots…for example Shira 2, Mweka Camp and the hutted camps along Marangu … offer a much higher standard of facility that for most punctuates and relieves the overall unpleasantness of that signature windswept hut on a cold and lonely mountainside.

It may come as a surprise to many to learn that the victims of scams on Kilimanjaro are not always the paid clients, and it always comes as an unpleasant shock for climbers to discover the willingness of the guides, who form the backbone of the Kilimanjaro mountain community, to turn on their porters and other guides for the sake of a few bucks.

Common advice given in the matter of tipping…

Never give the money directly to the lead guide of any climb to distribute to the support guides and porters, even though you will often come under relentless pressure to do this.

The reason for this is that invariably the money will remain in the possession of the guide, or if distributed at all, it will be distributed very unfairly. It is always better to either hand the money out yourself, or hand it to your tour operator at base to share out. Although, of course, in the case of some operators this might simply mean the money will find its way to neither the guides nor the porters, so watch out for that too!

Lastly beware of a finely tuned talent for playing on your sympathies to squeeze extra money out of your pocket. This can range form the usual pleas of poverty, suffering and mistreatment to actual tears. Give what you feel the job has been worth and no more.

At the very bottom of the heap on every climb is the lowly porter…

Porters are drawn from a pool of lowland workers who sign up for a trip or two to earn a few extra bucks. They are itinerant, usually not particularly mountain orientated, and often illiterate. They are limited by park regulations to a portage weight of less than 25 kilograms, or 55 lbs, but are often willing to carry much more for the opportunity to work.

Operators are always keen to save money by loading more than this on the heads and backs of their porters, despite park regulations. How this is done is to provide the correct legal number of porters at the gate, but then as soon as the porters are beyond the gate, doubling up on the loads of a few with the rest leaving the park by pathways known only to themselves.

Clients are rarely ever the wiser to this, and a few credulous and unfortunate porters end up with crippling loads to carry up to dangerous altitudes. To complete the deception the ‘disappeared’ porters will reappear a few hours before the end of the trip and reclaim their loads for the triumphant march out of the park.

The bottom line is take more control over the situation yourself…

These types of problems happen mainly at the bottom end of the market where trips are sold below cost and corners have to be cut.

A few things to avoid:

Never hand the tip money over to the lead guide to distribute

Get proactive in greeting and getting to know your porters

Don’t take the word of any one on your crew at face value

Don’t hand your kit over at the end of the trip to guides pleading poverty.

The Kilimanjaro guides are arguably some of the best supplied developing world mountain guides on the planet, and what will frequently happen is the boots or the fleece that gave you a warm fuzzy feeling to give away will not be given to the nearest needy porters, but sold to him, or someone else, which is probably not what you had in mind

East Africa is one of the most corrupt regions of the world. Tanzania is not as bad as Kenya is as an example, and inland it is not as bad as it is at the coast, but tourists are usually an easy mark, and if you want the game played fairly the best thing to do is to act as ref yourself.

Hard times always bring out the creativity in man. Necessity is the mother of invention. There are a slough of offers across the internet for cut price Kilimanjaro climbs being tendered by the lower two-thirds of climb market in Tanzania. This is the strata that caters for the bulk of the venture climb traffic.

This dovetails very neatly into the need for cheap climb options. Without these many would be unable in this economic climate to climb. However if a trip is offered below cost, and if economic survival is the key, then corners will be cut, and here are a few ways this is being achieved.

Short trips

This is a trick that has surfaced and submerged often over the years. Currently it is back at the surface and breathing new life into the ailing bottom feeders who have always occupied the fringe of respectable Kili business. It is very simple, and here is how it works:

You pay for an 8-day trip and upon check-in at the national parks gate, usually with connivance of one of more TANAPA officials, your operator pays for only a 6-day trip. The crew are then under instructions to ensure that as many members of party as possible succumb to AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) within those 6-days, which can be achieved in any number of ways, particularly among novice climbers. These are then hustled off the mountain which allows the outfitting company to retain the parks fees, not only for those paying packs themselves, but also the porters and guides for whom fees will also have been charged but not paid.

The obvious way to guard against this is to make sure that the correct monies are paid at the gate and the correct registration completed. This not easy, particularly if a TANAPA official is in on it, but it is a precaution.

It is also worthwhile – particularly if you have been given younger guides whose attitude is less one of professionalism than random teenagers taking any job they can – not taking as rote everything you are told. The signs of this type of guide are usually that they remain plugged into their MP3 player or transistor radios from beginning to end, have no particular answers to any queries, and are more interested in what kit they can beg from you than your well-being or enjoyment.

If you find yourself with this type of guide you need to take more control of your circumstances. If you are suffering obvious health problems and your guide’s advice is go, go, go! … then pause and assert your status as a paying client and lay down the law. Do not be coerced or bulldozed into side excursions that you do not feel fit for, and do not adhere to any suggestions of short cuts, truncated days or any other creative route finding that strays from the written itinerary.

Short Staffed

A very common sight on the final stretch of the climb are climbers clearly on their last legs, fading in and out of consciousness, retching and weaving, but being pushed forward by their guides. This might on the surface seem inspirational, but is in reality extremely poor practice. Here is why:

It is essential when setting off from Barafu Camp towards the summit to have with your group enough personnel qualified or experienced at high altitude to ensure that everyone has a shot of getting to the summit. Out of a group of ten packs it is possible that half might drop out at various stages and need to be escorted down by someone who knows what they are doing. The remainder are then able to continue up with another guide, usually the lead guide, who also knows what he or she is doing.

If a group of 10 packs is sent up on the last 6-hour slog to the summit with just one, or maybe two guides, obviously, in order that the whole group are not forced to return alongside the first casualty, the ailing member is put under enormous, and extremely dangerous pressure to continue. It is usually a very irritated party of climbers that has to return short of the summit thanks to the incapacity of one, or maybe two climbers.

Any climb outfitter worth its salt will provide a ratio of guides-to-climbers of three packs to one guide. Usually this is arranged so that the party is led by a ‘lead’ guide whose age and experience is sufficient to undertake the task. He will be supported by an assistant guide, or two, who are licensed, but gaining experience under the tutelage of the master.

Supporting these will be a clique of porters with ambitions to go through the licensing system who usually undertake the tasks of cook, camp manager and quartermaster, with the capacity to escort injured or weakened members of the climb party down if necessary, and otherwise to stand in as emergency guides in a crisis.

It is worth remembering the bulk of the porters you will have on your trip are part of the bottom rung of the climb fraternity, and for the most part they are an itinerant workforce with little mountain experience who do a trip or two when they need the cash and otherwise are lowland farmers or share croppers accustomed to the steppe. These are not men capable of any degree of professional mountaineering, and very much bring up the rear.

Another point worth remember is that there is a local industry is second hand kit, and your guides and porters will have their eye on what your might be relieved of from the onset. Requests for kit and tearful distress at low tips are a common feature of Kili, arm yourself with fore-knowledge, and do not give away kit you do not want to give away just because your petitioner looks like he might need it. Chances are he intends to sell it.

>>Here are some more common scams...

So these are just a couple of popular scams, let me know if you have experienced any others and I would be happy to compile a rogues gallery of naughty boys that do this kind of stuff.

Some people say Kilimanjaro is easy, and some people would agree, but anyone who has done it will tell you it is no walk in the park. However it does have no technical aspects to speak of, and if you are looking for something just a little bit left of center, a little bit more challenging than the norm, and if you think you a too tough for any of the standard Kilimanjaro routes then this one might be for you.

This is a 8 day trip, starting off at the Rongai Trailhead, Approaching the Western Breach via the Northern Circuit and approaching the summit via Crater Camp. It will be a small group, exclusive and fully guided and supported option.

The Northern Circuit has fallen into disuse over recent years, and it is way off the beaten track, and of course the Western Breach is by no means the commonly used access to the high peaks. A feature of the trip is a night spent in Crater Camp at over 18 000ft which is not the granny version of camping. This will be a spectacular climb, but not for the faint hearted.

If this is the 2009 trip for you then get in touch with me as soon as you can for prices, detailed itinerary and other general information. Places are limited and time is short.

Contact BootsnAll at + 1 503 528 1005 or email me directly. Don’t waste time…the moment is now!

AFTER a delightful week with the Germans and the colonists of Moschi we made ready for an ascent of Kilimanjaro. We consulted with Sultan Sulima, and he procured for us sixteen of his strongest young men to carry our loads up the mountains. The chief guide was the famous Souho, who five months before had guided an expedition led by Dr. Ahlbory. They had reached the edge of the crater of Kibo, but on the way down had lost several of their men by the terrible cold on the bare, storm-swept slopes of the upper mountain. We took an abundant supply of chocolate, dried goats’ meat, and rice; also medicine, and four blankets each.

With the good wishes of the Sultan and his people we started up the mountain, July 6th, 1908. We had thirteen carriers and two tent men, all Wa-chagas, and our big headman, Mohamet, who was a Swahili from Zanzibar.

At first we were amid teeming tropic gardens on the hillside. The goats and flocks were feeding around the huts and the boys whistled and the birds sung in the soft air.

The good fellows who carried our burdens had forty pounds each, and we let them rest whenever they wished. Very beautiful birds were found as we came toward the higher slopes, resembling humming birds and sun birds. These little creatures may be noticed hovering around the long tubular flowers of certain labiate plants, and on their feathers pollen is conveyed long distances. Nature thus uses them as she does certain insects for purposes of fertilization.

The spoor of eland elephant and leopard were found, but none of lions. At an elevation of between 6000 and 7000 ft long drooping creepers lianas and moss hung from the trees. Great tree ferns were seen in graceful fronds along the valley. A brook followed our path most of the way. It was an artificial canal cut by the natives from the glaciers to their gardens. Rain came weeping from the clouds at two o clock and we encamped at about 9000ft above the sea. Here we found the remains of an old camp and our men cut down trees and brought in fire wood. I felt very much as if I were in the Adirondack Mountains. Soon three great fires were burning and Mr Dutkewich and I had a lordly lunch of hot tea and hard biscuits.

I kept a diary of each day of our trip and difficulties on Mt Kilimanjaro and perhaps I cannot do better than to quote here directly from it:

July 6th 1908 4 PM As I write this the men are seated about the fire or bringing in the wood. Our tents and beds are all arranged and Peter Dutkewich has gone into the forest with a guide to look for game. We are in an open space surrounded by trees one of which is a species of cedar.

July 7th 1908 It rained terribly all night and we put most of the Wachaga porters in our tent. It was rather distressing to the olfactory nerves but Peter Dutkewich is so Russian in his democracy that he must needs put the dusky crowd all under cover of a single tent. I was glad for them poor fellows protected only with a cotton rag from either nakedness or the bleak wind. We had a blanket for each of the porters but did not realize at first how bitterly cold the ascent was going to be. At 4 AM a leopard visited us but did not fancy our scent.

Peter MacQueen’s diary entry continues….

‘We broke camp at 8.45 and ascended through steep and bushy country to the Mué stream. Trees began to look spindling the bush and briar and thorn cut our hands and impeded our porters. Spoor of elephant disappeared but marks of wild boar eland and leopard were plentiful. The kudu, a beautiful antelope, ascends the mountain to fourteen thousand feet, and the wild buffalo comes nearly as high, probably attracted by the sweet perennial pasture. The gorgeous scarlet of the turaco lapped through the forest aisles and we heard the chatter of the hyrax a kind of squirrel whose voice in the trees sounds almost human.

By noon we were through the heavy dripping woods and out in a series of brown fields. We saw much evidence of boar and eland and sighted a paa about as large as a small lamb. In the afternoon the sky was hung with dense curtains of purple gray cloud, and the plain below lay in monotonous blue shadow, [and] only away to the west behind the pyramid of Meru the heavens exhibited one clear cloudless belt which the descending sun turned to refulgent gold and against this relief as on some antique illumination of decorative design the peak of Meru and the jagged hill tops at its base stood out in a simple tone of indigo. There was no end to the beauty and the wonder of the wild flowers. Small pink irises studded the ground in vast numbers and the crimson gladioli gleamed out brightly from the tufted grass. Along the pretty streams which flowed from the snowy crest of the mountain through deep ravines our path was gaily lit by the brilliant red leaf shoots of the protea shrub.

‘At one place where we crossed the stream the banks were shelving, and above the little ford the water fell in dainty cascades. About this spot the scenery lost much of its accustomed asperity. Strange sessile thistles grew here, and fairy-like lobelias. Other remarkable plants were the bright ultramarine flowers, and a peculiar arborescent plant, named Senecio Johnstoni, looking somewhat like a banana, but in reality consisting of a tall, black, smooth trunk, with a crown of broad leaves and yellow blossoms.

‘Tufts of chevril and patches of vivid green moss overhung the gleaming water, which itself was lovely in its pellucid clearness. At an altitude of 12000ft bees and wasps were still to be seen — their very presence seeming to account for the vivid colours of the flora. The fields were sprinkled with beautiful flowers, red and pink, blue and purple. Heather and gorse appeared. There were plenty of signs of game in this upland plateau. We were now up thirteen thousand feet.

‘We set up our tent in a hollow at the timber line, among long dry grass, with plenty of small cedar and cypress trees which could be used for fire wood. We made the Wachaga build a shelter and thatch it with grass close to us in case of wild beasts or rain, and also three fires against the cold.

Yesterday at 5 P. M., Ther. 54° Fahr…. we felt the cold keenly in the woods, and slept little, with all our woolen clothes and four blankets apiece; we gave our mackintoshes to the black porters. Tonight, we are looking at a misty sun. This afternoon, we saw a wonderfully clear view of the foothills of Kilimanjaro. We could look upon an unbroken stretch of green ridges, fields and plains ; the Catholic mission at Kilima ; the houses of Marangu ; the Lutheran mission at Moschi, and that town itself.

‘A formation of clouds, the most peculiar I have ever seen, formed an archway under which we saw the near hills and far away plains, framed as in a picture. At 5 P. M. we were comfortably settled in the highest camp of Africa, and P. D. (Peter Dutke- wich) had gone to shoot wild boar.

July 8th, 19oS: Written in our camp above the clouds, at an elevation of 13000ft.

‘Last evening P. D. returned from boar-hunting, having twice fallen into native traps about eight feet deep. These traps are deep holes, being wide at the top and so narrow at the bottom that the animal cannot use its legs when once it falls in. The natives cover the hole so cleverly that, in the growing dusk, it was impossible to detect the natural ground from that covered by the trap. Hence Dut- kewich fell into the snare.

‘Between five and six last night the clouds parted, the mist drifted down into the valley and Kilimanjaro, the grandest peak in a whole continent, showed its white forehead. From our cots in the tent we could see this glowing wonder of eternal snow amid the eternal green. On the west gleamed the waning sun in a bed of old rose and amber, amid the scarred rocks of Mount Meru, eighty miles away. To the east the piled-up clouds were below us. At one place they were like castles in the air; at another like cities of jasper amid walls of gold; ending in one high mountain peak which leaned close against the Southern Cross and seemed to be the throne of God himself. Then slowly, softly, faded the pink and amber and Chrysoprase, and the light left hill and forest and cloud and far off fortifications and missions of the white man ; and the sky paled and then became aglow with the splendour of the moonlight, and all around was darkness over the land except where the proud Kilimanjaro on her silver throne shone silent and alone, the queen of all the Afric land.

‘We retired about 7 o’clock and were well wrapped, but we shivered all night, having come from 86° to 22° in two days. I was clothed thus : four pairs of socks, one pair of trousers, one pair of puttee leggings, one jersey-woollen, one woollen blue shirt, one negligee shirt, a suit of underwear, a khaki coat, a mackintosh, a skating cap and twoblankets, and yet I was ‘ acold.’ Shall put on a pair of boots up to my knees to-night.

‘We shall probably make the final attempt to reach the summit to-morrow. The height of Kibo is nearly twenty thousand feet. There is a ridge running from Mwenzi Mountain to Kibo. The saddle is sixteen thousand feet. Mwenzi and Kibo are the twin peaks that form the Kilimanjaro. We will get our guides up to the saddle and leave the rest of the men here. We hope by moonlight to walk all night and reach a point near the top of Kibo by daylight. Meanwhile we rest awhile. P. D. makes pictures and I collect all the flora I can for a picture. There are thousands of wild flowers on this plateau, Scotch heather, violets and immortelles.

July 9th, 19o8: Clear and bright this morning. We made pictures from the top of the hill above our camp. At 9 A. M. I started up to the snow line with my guide Souho. He did not seem to mind the rarefied air; but when we had risen a thousand feet I got dizzy; from that time onward for two thousand feet the dizziness continued, till up at the snow line, sixteen thousand feet, I became fearfully nauseated. My guide was as polite as Lord Chesterfield and kindly as the finest gentleman of the world could be. So I owe much to the bare-footed natives of this country, who patiently for eight cents a day bear the white man’s burden. On the wild, desolate uplands I thought of what the Scotchman said of the Kyles of Bute: ‘The works o’ God is hellish.’ For athwart the landscape are rocks, hills and mountains thrown in dreadful confusion, the wreckage of a former world.

‘To-night trouble and mutiny developed in camp. The Wachaga did not bring posho (corn) enough for more than a few days, whilst we had paid them to bring food for ten days. We began giving two heads of corn by the hand of Mohamet, our Swahili man. They all brought the corn to our door, and laid it down, declaring they would not go further with us. We made it three heads, but still discontent. Peter threatened that we would have the discontented flogged and he went out to get a whip. This brought the discontented to their senses.

July 11th, 1908: To-day foggy all day. I went up to fourteen thousand feet to try my weakened system. Was all O. K. except a bit of indigestion pain. Breathe easier after a number of days in high altitudes. The small boy, Moji, hunts rats. The rats are striped like chipmunks. They are very tame and clean.

‘The man we call Moses, an old bald headed fellow, has a fine name, Michili. He came back to-night from the foot of the mountain with a dress coat and we gave him a chicken which died on the way up. We have eaten up the goat and chickens sent us by Salima, King of the Wachagas. Food question alleviated by the arrival of more maize brought by Moses and four men.

‘They keep this posho money to buy wives. A wife costs ten goats. One of the boys said to me, ‘Ver hard on Wachaga to get wife, but when he get her she can make do plant corn, she make wash and cook and make do work for him. Ingreza (English) man very much money to spend. She wife no can wash, no plant corn, herd goats or cook. All money, much merkani (cloth), heap money, big dinner. She eat much posho. She no can cook dinner. She only make Safari and look. Porr, porr Ingreza man.’

July 12, 1908: We ascended in the afternoon with two guides and five men to cave at foot of Kibo. It was at first through dry grass, then through scrub and heather, on to one solitary cactus and huge rocks and stones in great cosmic confusion. Bright yellow euryops flowers studded the occasional patches of bare earth. Beyond rise Kibo and Mwenzi and on the plateau a few volcanic hills, just membra disjecta of the Creation.

‘On upper plateau we made kinetoscope pictures; some stereos and a few fine 4 x 5’s also. Came to cave. Men cold. Passed two corpses of young men who died of exposure, a short time ago. The vultures had pecked out their eyes, the leopards had taken a leg from each. Nothing beautiful now save the beauty that comes from the sublimity of death. Made fire in cave. Guides looked weird, like some play of a theater. Slept a little, but feet cold in spite of heavy boots and several German army blankets.’

July 13th, 1908: At 6.30 A. M., After a cup of cocoa, a potato and some cold goat’s meat, we started for the glaciers of Mount Kibo, highest and grandest of all African mountains, nineteen thousand eight hundred feet. Mwenzi, the nineteen thousand feet neighbouring peak across the plateau to the east, showed its scarred, serrated head wrapped in a cap of white clouds. The moon was going out. The sun was filling this theatre of wonder, making a gallery and museum of things magnificent and grand.

‘Just when we reached the edge of the snow at 16,000 feet, our guides looked at the ice, picked up a few handfuls of the gleaming wonder, then ran away, exclaiming : Oh, masters, this is magic : this is water turned to burning wood. So the ascent was made more difficult ; for they carried away all our food.

‘By nine o’clock we made some panoramic views of the country at a height of 17000ft above the sea. About this height I began to breathe so hard I had nausea, which continued all day. P. D. carried cameras and plates. On we went over a scarified river where formerly the glacier was a burning coal, a river of lava, when the earth was just beginning.

For, before the eland and the elephant took shelter in her sacred heights, — reigned Kibo, Queen of Africa, Kibo, queen of white water, now crowned with gold in the sunrise and sunset. Clothed with ermine always, mysterious, inaccessible, unapproachable, Sovereign now of snow ; once of fire. Her glorious crown flashes back the ruby and the diamond to the sun; and in her diadem of snow were the purple of the jacinth, the blue of the amethystine fire, the brilliance of the emerald, the soft shining of the opal.

By 11 A. M. I noticed, at 18000ft, even stalwart Peter Dutkewich beginning to weaken in the breathing apparatus. At noon we were well nigh on the roof of Africa, photographing, from the very glacial throne of Kibo, the mighty, plains that stretch away towards Nairobi on the northeast, the great German steppe of Moschi, with the blue Parri Mountains in the far, fair, shining horizon, sixty or seventy miles away. At 1.30 we seemed to touch the very sky, we could not walk ten yards without stopping to breathe. I was excessively nauseated. At 19200ft we were struck by a snow storm. It chilled us to the marrow of our bones.

‘We decided to return to camp and try the ascent next day. We put a small American flag up in the snow at 19200ft, the highest point yet reached by English-speaking men in Africa, although the peak was ascended by Dr. Hans Meyer, a German, in 1889.

‘We came in safety almost to the cave when P. D. (Peter Dutkewich) fell on an Old glacial rock and fractured several ribs.

‘We hastened to-bring him down from the mountain and got lost in the rain and the clouds. We found our way to camp by the dead bodies of the men who died on Dr. Ahlbory’s expedition. Arrived at camp at 10 P. M. Got P. D. to bed. Slept fairly well but still cold.

July I4th, 1908: We are getting ready to move P. D. Men are around the camp fires, drying out their garments, only one cotton rag. not difficult; one is trying to dry my stockings. But it rains, and when one side is dry the good fellow turns it so that the dry side is rained upon and he makes no progress in the drying process. The air is very wet in this camp, which is just among the clouds. I question if there are any people in all Africa so highly situated as we are. Perhaps few are more uncomfortable. Rain, mist and fog, morning, noon and night. We shall get away to-morrow and then shake our fists at the worst the cruel Kibo can do to us. I read on my German map: ‘ Kibo, 6,010 meters; Mwenzi 5,353 meters.’ Ah, those careful, scientific Germans!

July 15th, 1908: We had a most awful time tonight. All had gone well with Peter Dutkewich till 6 P. M., when he gave signs of fainting and of heart failure. He had a fierce chill and called me to put a fire near him. We built a fire in the door of our tent; it suffocated him. Put it out and then the natives showed me how to arrange coals in three pans, one at his feet, one at his middle and one at his head. This I did every 20 minutes for 14 hours. His pulse would go 16 and then stop 4 beats. Temperature 102°. Rained and nearly put out the fire. My feelings as I thought fire was going out I cannot describe. It did not go out, and by 6 A. M. he slept an hour.

He awoke and told me to make a stretcher. I cut two long poles of cedar in the forest and then put two cross poles at each end, about two and a half feet long. First we rolled a blanket-waterproof around each of the long poles. These we secured by ropes and then we tied on the cross poles as they do in the army. Afterwards we put two good thick blankets in this improvised stretcher, and, placing P. D. on it, we threw four heavy ones over him, also a waterproof received from the German Bureau.

At 7.30 A. M. eight of the men took up the stretcher and the march down the mountain began. It was raining, and the long grass wet us and the cold dawn chilled us to the bone. When we had gone an hour, I saw three of our men cowering and shivering in the grass. Mohamet would not leave them behind. I had no heart to desert the poor, wretched, fever-stricken men. So I returned to where they lay and carried one on my back for a mile. The others could walk. I found my strength giving out, but ate chocolate and gave some to the sick men. Was revived.

‘Looking ahead I noticed that the stretcher with P. D. had been carried across the fields and that the carriers had entered the woods. For fear that I should lose Dutkewich in the forest, I left the sick man with two of his comrades to take care of him. I plunged through a thicket of trees and lianas and by calling to the men who were carrying Dutkewich I found the party had emerged upon a field.

‘We took the wounded man up to a knoll in the open space, and laid him down while I sent back after the shivering men left out in the grass. The strong men came through the wood without the sick comrade whom I had carried on my back. I gave them chocolate, as they could hardly stand upon their feet. The strongest one I sent back for the lost comrade. He soon returned and told me that he could not find him. The horror of the situation began to break upon me. This man was going to die; he was only half a mile away, and yet I could neither go for him myself nor send a man strong enough to bring him.

‘Souho, the guide, I had sent on through the forest in the darkness of the night with a letter to Dr. Ahlbory, beseeching him to come and save us, if he could. We were making half a mile an hour; would we ever reach the German station? Or would half of us be alive when we did ?

‘So we kept moving slowly and painfully through the forest, over fallen trees, under the great tree-ferns, crossed the little streams that were coming from the glacial heights. The forest was one long, dank vista of gloom. At 4 P. м. we met Souho, the guide, who had carried the letter through to the German fort and returned bringing us two askaris and six new men to carry our stretcher.

‘Sent Souho back for the sick man; and he saved him, carrying him in next day on his back. The Germans sent also a hammock and a tent; and Herr Wolfe sent two bottles of champagne. I went ahead to look for a place to camp; got too far and was lost. Soon darkness came on in the gloom of the forest.

‘I got back in time to see P. D. lying on sloping ground, slipping off the stretcher, and in great pain. Small fire had been made under the root of a great tree. Rain soon came on and wiped out the fire. Tent was not put up and we were all in great misery. Men with tent lost in the darkness. Thought if the rain stopped we would go on in the moonlight. Rain did not stop.

Sat down beside P. D. in the mud. Gave him one bottle of champagne. Revived him greatly. An Askari gave me three thin blankets. Peter had four or five blankets over him, but the pain of his poor broken ribs was intense all night, and the unfortunate position of the stretcher, which I could not move, caused him to slip down constantly hurting him. Wet to my thighs for twelve hours.

‘Night came very dark; no moonlight. Soon the rain became a torrent and for fifteen hours we lay there in the mud. The poor Wachaga men were almost as badly off as ourselves, some were worse, and poor Mapandi, a carrier whom I had noticed shivering with fever for the last day or two, stiffened, grew cold and died beside me in the mud. We prayed for dawn. Again and again it seemed to brighten, but it was only the clouds getting thin near the face of the moon.

July 17th, 1908: At 8 o’clock this morning, I looked around upon the wretched camp; another man had died. Dutkewich was quiet and I thought at first he was dead. I had now been wet and chilled twenty-seven hours, no food, no fire, no warmth. A few chocolates left; I divided them with the men. Even the new carriers sent us by the Germans seemed utterly demoralized. We started the stretcher; it still poured rain, the men had no food. At 9.30 Mohamet, our Swahili man, deserted and ran away. He could stand the strain no longer.

‘I resolved to go for white help. Gave P. D. half a bottle of whiskey, and started down ahead to find the doctor in case some mistake had been made. Met a boy carrying hammock. Offered him three rupees to get me to Lutheran mission. On I went ; fell in the stream fainting. Took a little champagne from the second bottle sent me by Herr Wolfe. Got out of the stream; dragged myself onto my feet and began to repeat in German the words : ‘I will give any man 500 Marks who will bring my friend down from the hill to-day.’ Left Dutkewich at 9 o’clock, met Dr. Ahlbory and Mr. Mauck, one of the German officials from the boma, at n. At first I could not speak, but sat down on a fallen tree, quite overcome.

‘After a few minutes I recovered and was able to show the doctor the spot where Dutkewich was when I left him. The Germans went on and found Dutkewich entirely deserted, except for one of the askaris. The askari was helping him to stand upon his feet; another of the Wachagas had died. Dutkewich threw a blanket over him, as he crawled up toward the stretcher, trembling with cold and exposure. Shortly afterwards the stronger men came out of the woods where they had been hiding and took the blanket from the dying man, Kasungu. Then Kasungu died. The doctor gave Dutkewich hot tea and rum, with food. Upon examination he found three ribs crushed in over the heart.

‘I was taken to the German Lutheran mission where I was treated with great kindness by the missionary, Dr. Passman and his wife. Mr. Dutkewich was brought down to the German Hospital where he had to lie for ten weeks. He wrote me later that the German Dr. Ahlbory treated him as if he had been a brother and that all the white residents of Moschi had helped and cheered him in his long and dangerous illness.

‘Thus ends a really tragic incident that came near wiping out our expedition.’

There are a few particulars of the ascent that I have not mentioned. At the height of fourteen thousand feet I saw the kudu antelope. At the same place I made a note of a brown Stonechat bird who sang to us a cheery note and kept us company amid the chilling mists. Moreover, in our camp at over 13,000 feet, there were many field rats of which I have read no mention in the books of other travellers, and which might well be named Rodcntis Macquccnicnsis. These mountain rats were very tame and came almost up to the table to eat. They were striped like chipmunks but had tails like rats.

I quote again some leaves from my diary: July 19th, Sunday: Lutheran Mission, Moschi, 4800ft. It was a calm and restful day to me after an exciting week. Dr. Passman and I had breakfasted together. Then to church. Two hundred clean, well-dressed Wachaga went to service. Seemed glad to go to the House of God. Singing good and vespers sounded sweetly in the quiet Sabbath hush. In the afternoon I looked for signs of my camp followers from the mountain, but they came not. Slept again. In the evening looked over the scene. Very striking one. Sun sets over Mount Meru, 12000 feet in elevation. Plain is very green after the rain. Small volcanoes on the plains and the Parri mountains in a blue haze on the horizon. Streams flow, birds sing before they repair to rest. The Wachaga cattle graze peacefully. Glorious are the streams of light: tints of brightness, blues, mauves, — opalescent, glistening. Garden smells of wild flowers. Chirp of insects. Great Kibo covered up in mist. I hear songs of praise from German church. The whole scene sings itself into my memory for ever. Limes, pears, nasturtiums, bananas, the pawpaw. Respectful attitudes of the people. Mission folk look better than other natives.