Broken Back Mountain

Altitude sickness, Diamox overdose, vasovagal syncope, two extremely sore backs and the kind of sunburn only possible if you were born north of Hadrian's Wall were the physical rewards of a week spent slogging up the Machame route of Mount Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. Thankfully, our efforts were not in vain as we managed to raise £1,166 for Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital. 

Thanks to everybody who sponsored us - every penny of the money will be spent improving the quality of maternal and child health here in south-western Uganda. We've already had sinks and hand gel dispensers installed on the wards in an effort to create a culture of hand hygiene (in line with WHO guidelines) and we are aiming to improve the availability of bednets, bedside privacy curtains and other basic medical supplies.

We've posted some photos below to prove that we made it, though God knows how we did. There's still time to donate (via this link) if you'd like to add to the total.

The Start - only 27 hours and 62 miles of walking to go...

The raven of death.

Day 2 - Shira 2 Camp at 3,810m above sea level.

Day 3 - Walking above the clouds and through the alpine desert at 4,000m

Day 4 - Barranco Camp at 3,976m

Rorschach, from The Watchmen, turned up on Day 5 at 4,673m 

The White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher remained sceptical that we could do it.

But we did - summiting at 5,895m on Day 6

The view from the top, looking into the volcanic crater and over the clouds towards Kenya.