Shira

Now I'm stealing wholesale from the Ultimate Kilimanjaro website: "We leave the glades of the rain forest and continue on an ascending path up to a steep, rocky ridge. On the Shira Plateau, we pass through heather and open moorlands, then cross a large river gorge to Shira 2 Camp."

I remember a channel of boulders bisecting a forest with stunted trees – no higher than me. Said channel was a straight uphill climb, from rock to rock. I pictured it being a river cum waterfall during the rainy season.

The advantage of this hike, vs the rainforest, was more of a view, including of a nearby mountain that I believe is called Meru.

Below we have our first view of the Kilimanjaro peak. That's Ciaran, an architect from Cookstown, in the front. He was unflailingly upbeat and funny. His tentmate, Padraig from North Cork, was also a funny man – they were like a comedy duo and sort of the heart of the trip.

Today was another 5.5-hour day, climging from 9,350 ft to 12,500 ft. By the end, I was quite nauseous and feeling exhausted. Air is thinner at 12,000 and my lungs weren't adapting well. I went right to my tent when we got to Shira camp to sleep. Everyone else walked to Shira Cave, maybe an hour each way. Here are Paul and Karen at the camp sign.

At this point I stopped eating and that night was very cold, so the next day I was hiking on no food, no sleep and declining oxygen. Our amazing porters sang a song that night in a big circle. I'm sorry to say I was too weak to go over and listen. We have 5 guides and 25 porters. They carry our tents, sleeping bags, extra clothes and food, three toilets, a massive tent/table/chairs for us to eat breakfast and dinner.

All day long on the trail they pass us (they have to break down camp after we leave and get ahead of us to set up camp before we arrive). They have massive bundles on their shoulders and, like the water women of Moshi, carry their burdens handsfree. I was mesmerised by their shoes – generally not up to the job of carrying 20-30 kg on their shoulders. I left my brand new boots behind for Wini, our only female guide. You can't go home with fancy boots when the guide and porters are wearing sneakers.

A final photo of Cathy, Karen, Paul and Ann – our photogenic leadership team.

1 Dec.