Today’s destination is Mawenzi Tarn at 4330m, a tiny little lake at the base of Mawenzi. We are now hiking above the clouds and it is amazing to look down on them moving in below us.

Nico and I with the Scenecios to add a sense of scale.

On our acclimitaztion walk, we enter the valley of Giant Scenecios. These beautiful trees grow only on Kilimanjaro and only in a few places. They are absolutely stunning.

Jeanine will be proud that Nicolai is diligent about completing his summer reading assignment while resting between climbs.

White-necked ravens can be found at almost every camp site cleaning up the little morsels left by climbers.

Beauty abounds and I am overwhelmed with subjects without having to hike more than 5 minutes in any direction.

We arrive at our 3600m high camp site at Kikelelwa Cave by 1PM. By now you will recognize our tent. The large tent is the mess tent and where all the porters sleep. The dome shaped blue tent is where the guides sleep, and the green rectangular tent is our portable out house. There was an additional fee for the later but it was worth every penny, affording us a small measure of convenience and comfort. Almost every day begins with clear skys and then by late morning the clouds roll in. Generally by late afternoon the skies clear again.

During a snack break, Nico offers his father a soft lap in an environment of hard rocks. My knee has been holding up fairly well until today. One missed foot plant and I tweaked it rather badly. It will bother me for the next two days but will not hurt on the day we attempt to summit.

Assistant guide Zablon. Everyone calls him Marieson.

Even though our destination is Kibo, we will climb for two more days to reach the base of Mawenzi pictured here.

The flowers remain exquisite and I only wish I had noted the names for each variety.

Assistant guide Last. Everyone calls him Lasti (Lastee).

Our main guide, Charles. 

On the path our assistant guide Lasti spots chameleons left and right. Here Nico poses with one that is in the process of molting.