Day 6 - On top of Africa

We have limited information at this point. The team set for the summit at midnight - and  made it to the summit!! More details will be posted when the team arrives back in Moshi within the next 24 hours! Stay tuned!

Day 5 - ready for the roof!!

Quick update from the mountain - Team has made it to base camp (Barafu) and everyone is healthy. Leila and Fayaz are a little tired - but very up beat and ready to conquer the mighty Kili. In approximately 3 hours, the team set off for the summit. Keep the team in your prayers.

More soon!!

Day 5 - ready for the roof!!

Quick update from the mountain - Team has made it to base camp (Barafu) and everyone is healthy. Leila and Fayaz are a little tired - but very up beat and ready to conquer the mighty Kili. In approximately 3 hours, the team set off for the summit. Keep the team in your prayers.

More soon - as we find out

Day 3 and Day 4 - Is Africa's cold really tame?

We have made it to Karanga camp on Day 4 after the great Barranco wall (I will blog about that when I am back down). All has been well - getting glimpse of the summit onces in a while. Snow-capped, Kili stands magestic as ever. I hope the Mountain let's us experience the sunrise on the roof of Africa! The crew at camp is healthy with high spirits. The food is awesome - we just had fried chicken with fries. I need to talk to the chef to find out how he can make such delicious food where there are no basic amenities like running water and electricity at 15,000+ feet altitude.

We have missed the rain - but it has been freeeeezzzziinggg at night. I thought being from Chicago, the cold would be tame here. That hasn't been the case - getting sleep at night has been a premium. We head to base camp (Barafu) in the morning. Then off to the summit at midnight - tomorrow is a huge day and Fayaz and I need all your support and prayers we can get!

More later - some sleep right now. :)

Day 2 - Shira camp ...check!

The word from the team is that they have made it to Shira Camp (camp 2). Everyone is up beat and healthy. More from Kili as soon as we connect with them!!

Go team!!

Day 1 - no view yet!

After a good night sleep at the Sal Saneiro hotel in Moshi, Fayaz and I are eagerly awaiting for our guide. Moshi is absolutely gorgeous with the lush greenery and prominent mountain ranges. Looking at the overcast skies, it seems like we will be hiking in our rain great for a good  fraction of the day. We simply can't wait to start out start our climb. More to follow once we get to our first base camp!!!

Update: Finally at the Machame gate! It is so misty that we cannot see anything beyond 50 meters. We were hoping to get a glimpse of the mountain on our way to the gate entrance, but no avail. I guess we will first see the peak when we are actually standing on it! More to follow from the first camp.

Keep tuned.. more fun to come..

- Leila and Fayaz (Kili 2011)

48 hours to go - we are on an adrenaline high!!

Less than 48 hours to go before we start our ascent to the top of Africa!!!  Fayaz and I are bouncing off the walls as we make the final preparations before we set off to Moshi, Tanzania.  We have made the final checks of our gear and have ended up with a small list of items that we need to get – mainly energy supplements.

The shuttle service that will take us from Nairobi to Moshi has also been confirmed.  We set off from Nairobi at 7.45am on our 8 hour ride to Moshi.  On Wednesday May 25^th, we start our climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro!

We are on an adrenaline high as we prepare for the most challenging experiences of our lives.

More to follow from Moshi….!!!

- Leila and Fayaz