The next morning we are up at 6:30 a.m. for breakfast in the mess tent. Most everyone in our group has been awake much of the night, except for our kids. Everyone is still getting used to the effects of Diamox, which everyone in our group is taking. It is a drug that is supposed to improve the ability of your body to adjust to the altitude. It has significant side effects though, including being a strong diuretic.
We leave the Forest Camp around 9:00 a.m. We are headed to the next camp site on the Shira Plateau at 11,500 feet, a 7 hour, mostly uphill, hike. We start out hiking through the remaining rainforest towards the large Moorland zone. After a few hours of hiking, we leave the tall trees and dense foliage of the rainforest. We see mostly heather and other shrubs. There also are many grasses, flowers, and small bushes growing in the area. We do not see any large animals, but lots of birds. The Moorland zone has several plants growing that are found only on the sides of Kilimanjaro at this altitude. They include the Senecio kilimanjari and the lobelia. Photos of both are in the Kilimanjaro slideshow. There are few mammals that live in the Moorland zone. The few that appear there are just passing through. We do not see any. After lunch, which we eat on the trail, we hike up a very steep trail to reach the top of the Shira rim, where we get to see the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro for the first time. It looks very high and a long way off. Our campsite is downhill from the Shira ridge in the Shira plateau or crater about 1 hour away. We arrive at the campsite at about 4:00 p.m. Several in the group have not drunk enough water during the day (including Hal) and have dehydration headaches when we get to the camp. Our guides suggest that we drink 4 to 5 liters of water a day. Some in our group are drinking 8 to 9 liters a day. The Shira crater once was the third volcanic peak on the mountain but has since erupted and collapsed inward and now only part of the eroded crater rim remains. That night it is clear and very cold, well below freezing, and everything left outside the tents freezes. But as soon as the sun hits the campsite in the morning it warms up dramatically.
Cayuse 