this is africa: Pole! Pole! Kilimanjaro

Day 3 Horombo Hut Acclimatization Day

It's a nice and clear morning. After breakfast, we went on a 2-hour hike up to the Zebra Rock, close to Mt. Mawenzi. We didn't get to see Mt. Kili though as when we were up at the view point where we are supposed to see one corner of the snow cap, it was covered by cloud. We returned at noon to have the first hot lunch at the Hut.

In the afternoon, I had nothing to do, so I started to read the book Steven brought along – Bad Lands by Tom Wheeler, the legendary trekker and Lonely Planet writer. The book is a collection of travel journals about countries that the western world considers "Bad", or around the "Axis of Evil", countries like North Korea, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. It doesn't include China though. I started from Cuba. It was a fun read and re-confirmed my interest to visit Cuba.

At dinner, we met one couple from EU (Spanish guy and Swiss lady) who made it to the top, and they told us to wear everything we have as it is freezing cold up there. They said it was a tough climb. They are both avid trekkers and their account made us nervous. A little bit over 24 hours later, we'll be in the -17 °C thin air for the final climb ourselves. Fingers crossed.