Kilimanjaro – Flashback – Day 3 – Shira Camp > Barranco Camp

Day 3 of trekking on Kilimanjaro, still in high spirits we set off for another day of walking.  The walk today was fairly flat in comparison to the previous day, not particularly strenuous.

We hiked until lunchtime (hairy chicken legs on the menu again today!) and came to a cross-road on the trail…Do we go right and go straight to camp or left and head to the lava tower which involves slightly more walking?

Most decided to go via the Lava Tower while a few who were struggling with altitude sickness decided to head straight to camp.

The base of the lava tower is the highest point we will get today, it’s a 300 ft tall formation that juts out on the side of Kilimanjaro created by cooling Lava many years ago.

We stayed here for around 30 minutes to take in the views and go for a quick scramble around some of the rocks surrounding the tower, we then headed downwards towards Barranco camp.  The terrain was quite loose under-foot and you can imagine that these gulleys were once the exit point for the lava that used to come from the mountain.

Also, the vegetation returned and what is known as the ‘Garden of the Senecios‘ which are these weird and wonderful plants.

In the distance, we could see the camp and to our left would be part of the Barranco wall that we would be attempting to climb the following day.

This day is a particularly important day as we started at 12355 ft hiked up to the lava tower at 15229ft and then down to Barranco camp at 13066 ft, this is very good for acclimation and the climb high, sleep low rule.

As the sun went down, we caught one last glimpse at the Barranco wall we will be facing tomorrow and went to bed in excitement for the challenge that lay ahead!