Kibo is the tallest of the 3 mountain cones of Mount Kilimanjaro. After spending the night at third cave, we started early towards school hut, the base camp before we summit Kibo. My companions and I were in good spirit as we approached the mountain via the Rongai Route with Team Kilimanjaro. The mountain towered over us as we got closer to school hut, Kibo’s northern base camp. Prior to resting for the final ascent, we took a quick acclimatization hike. We were greeted with a nice view of Mawenzi peak. A quick nap was all we got as we prepared for the summit at 11:00pm that evening. With torches on our head, we scaled the mountain under the glow of the moon. We had to take many breaks on our way to the top due to a lack of oxygen. Dawn broke as we neared the top of the mountain, delivering one of the most breathtaking sunrises I’ve ever seen. While the air was thin and each step was labourious, we made it to Gilman’s Point soon after sunrise. We continued walking along the crater rim to get to the peak of the mountain. After nearly 9 hours of hiking, we finally reached Uhuru Peak, the highest peak of Mount Kilimanjaro at an altitude of 5895m.  We’ve finally reached the roof of Africa.

Exhaustion and altitude got the better of me, and taking photos was more challenging than anticipated at this altitude. But what I did catch near the top of the mountain are documented below.

Other posts related to Mount Kilimanjaro
Part 1 – Rongai to Mawenzi
Part 2 – Mawenzi to Kibo
Part 4 – Descent down Marangu trail  – coming soon