Tanzania Travels: Day 13

This is a short walk, today, and just as well as we have to climb the Great Barranco Wall. This is a scramble up to 4,200m - tough, steep and in some places on the precipitous edge. Not nice for A who manages those bits very well. We could see some people had already started when we were having breakfast as they were going straight to Barafu, but we have an extra day for acclimatisation at Karanga. They were strung out in zigzag lines up the wall of rock 250m high. We scrambled for an hour, then had a water stop from where we could see a wonderful view of Mt Meru, Tanzania's other mountain - only 4566m. About 1/2hr later we reached the top of the ridge, only to have our photos taken by some guys - was this another ageist thing, that we were somehow different to them? Don't know, but all a bit strange.

We had water and raisins to keep us going, then Hashim led us over the other side and down. We descended, ascended and descended a long way, then ascended again, quite steeply before finally reaching our camp, Karanga. On the second descent a chap in front of us really twisted his ankle, not too good, but he thought it would be OK as long as he didn't take his boot off. We got to camp at 12.15 and Manas served us tea and little buns. We set up the tent and about an hour later, Manas announced that lunch was ready - amazingly, zucchini soup, chicken and chips and fruit! What a feast. Then the mist rolled in and the wind got up. We spent the afternoon resting and reading, and as evening came on, the mist cleared again. We dined and then retired. There will be little sleep for a couple of days after this.