Our Guide

Aside from being with my brother, the most important thing that made the trip endurable and almost enjoyable was the patience and demeanor of our guide, Nicholas. I’ve always known that Bob and I are either way over-blessed or just plain lucky. Having Nicholas as our guide was further proof. Nicholas is soft-spoken and not fully fluent in english but he knew how to handle us and keep us going. He is well known and liked by the other guides and amongst them he is known as ‘sungura‘ – which means ‘rabbit’ in swahili. He told us he once guided someone up and down Kilimanjaro in 2 days. He found a pace that suited us well and would vary it depending on the terrain. When the going got steep, he’d slow down. We rarely needed to take a break other than for lunch or for scenery. He has an honest smile and I was further impressed when we noticed him picking up trash on the trail.

Nicholas, our guide

Our Porters

We weren’t the only ones attacking the mountain at the time. There were other groups of various sizes. There were 3 Canadians in one group and another canadian that was hiking with 3 Bulgarians in another group. There was a group of 5 or so Germans and a large group of about 20 Japanese of all ages, half of whom smoked. There was also a single old Englishman in his sixties that had his own guide that was almost as old as he. Each group had their own guides and porters. The Japanese had about 50 porters. We’d all pass each other at various points along the trail and we all would see each other in the dining hall eating at our assigned table settings.

Me and Nicholas at the Marangu Gate

Stay out of the way of the porters
No Dice

Sartoris Navigation Bar

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Aside from being with my brother, the most important thing that made the trip endurable and almost enjoyable was the patience and demeanor of our guide, Nicholas. I’ve always known that Bob and I are either way over-blessed or just plain lucky. Having Nicholas as our guide was further proof. Nicholas is soft-spoken and not fully fluent in english but he knew how to handle us and keep us going. He is well known and liked by the other guides and amongst them he is known as ‘sungura‘ – which means ‘rabbit’ in swahili. He told us he once guided someone up and down Kilimanjaro in 2 days. He found a pace that suited us well and would vary it depending on the terrain. When the going got steep, he’d slow down. We rarely needed to take a break other than for lunch or for scenery. He has an honest smile and I was further impressed when we noticed him picking up trash on the trail.
	We weren’t the only ones attacking the mountain at the time. There were other groups of various sizes. There were 3 Canadians in one group and another canadian that was hiking with 3 Bulgarians in another group. There was a group of 5 or so Germans and a large group of about 20 Japanese of all ages, half of whom smoked. There was also a single old Englishman in his sixties that had his own guide that was almost as old as he. Each group had their own guides and porters. The Japanese had about 50 porters. We’d all pass each other at various points along the trail and we all would see each other in the dining hall eating at our assigned table settings.