Category: Kilimanjaro

April 2, 2006

360 degree panoramic view of Uhuru Peak, Kilimanjaro

I came across this site the other day which provides you with a 360 degree panoramic view of Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro. It shows the Western Breach, Reusch Crater and Mawenzi.

You’ll also find the story of the climbers who took the pictures here.

Another really good panoramic view of the summit is available here. According to the web site:

This was taken on top of Mount Kilimanjaro on November 2, 2001. The locals call the mountain "Kibo", and the summit "Uhuru" which means "freedom". It's 19,345 feet tall, making it the tallest peak on the continent of Africa (and hence one of the "seven summits" of the world). If you want to see more pictures from my journey, check out the trip journal. The sign in the picture says:

Congratulations. You are now at Uhuru Peak, Tanzania, 5895m AMSL.
Africa's highest point.
World's highest free-standing mountain.
One of the world's largest volcanoes.
Welcome.

It's a Quicktime VR movie, which means you can click and drag in it to "look around". Try it!

What's really nice about this summit view is that you can zoom in and out and also move the picture up and down. Pretty clever stuff

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January 25, 2006

Back from Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar

I’m back from a rather enjoyable 2 week break spent in Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The main purpose of the trip was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and then relax and recuperate in Zanzibar.

The climb was an experience of a lifetime and I enjoyed most of the days with the exception of day 5 – Summit day. I didn’t make it all the way to the top, myself and Pierre got to 5,431m and had to turn back because of altitude sickness. The remaining 9 out of the 11 team members made it to Gillmans Point which is on the crater rim at 5,681m (I missed Gillmans Point by 250m). Still, I’m happy that I made it to the 5,400m mark which is officially classified as extreme altitude i.e. only 50% oxygen - Everest base camp is 5,360m so at least I know I can make it that far!!

Of the team of eleven, two made it to the true peak, Uhuru (5,895m) the rest of the team decided to turn back at Gillman’s point as most of them were suffering from the effects of the altitude. The summit climb on day 5 was pretty much a puking contest all the way up and down, not particularly great fun although apparently quite normal at the altitudes we were at.

I’ll be writing a day by day account of the trip over the next couple of weeks but in the mean time I’ve uploaded plenty of pics to Flickr as follows:

I’ve also created a Google Earth KML for Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. Also check out all the Kili links I’ve accumulated to date on del.icio.us.

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January 8, 2006

Kilimanjaro Team says Goodbye

This morning the Kilimanjaro team said goodbye to friends and family in style. Firstly we had a farewell at Jubilee Church and afterwards ended up posing for a picture which will be going in the Kent Messenger.

Pictured from Left to Right: Hilary Griffin, Pierre Celliers, Michael Puffett, Barry Monaghan, John Cable, Keith Motram, Richard Byrom, Tony Forza, Marc Davidson and Alistair Campbell.

This was followed by lunch at Nandos Maidstone after which we hopped into the Year of Training bus and headed for Heathrow.

Check-in went smoothly at Heathrow airport and I’m now busy enjoying a hot chocolate at Costa Coffee and uploading blog entries and pics. Will be blogging on the other side if there’s decent Internet Access. More pics of the farewell as usual here on flickr.

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