See the picture gallery of Franz about the TOPtoTOP Kili Expedition.
You tube film from Mount Meru; – a small doc coming soon!
Hot news from the TOPtoTOP Kilimanjaro Clean up Expedition 2011:
sunrise from Mount Meru, looking towards Mount Kilimanjaro

On the 27th of July 2011 at 06.00 a.m. and 07.15 a.m. 13 TOPtoTOP members (Kalanga, Carl, Veronika, Carl J., Nicole, Gabi, Johanna, Marie-Louise, Robert, Dario, Stepane, Oliver and Franz) summited Mount Kilimanjaro.
It was the 5th TOP of the “1st expedition over the 7 Seas to the 7 Summits only by human power and nature’s force”.

Carl junior was with 11 years the youngest in the team.

Kalanga became the 1st Maasai cycling from the Indian Ocean together with Dario and climbing to the very TOP of Africa. He sets an example with his clean climb and will be our TOPtoTOP ambassandor inTanzania. His goal is to visit as many shools as possible and share his experience and his important message to protect the unique environment.

From the very TOP of Kilimanjaro to the base 150 kg of garbadge was collected thanks to the support of many local guides and porters.
Before the 6-day trek around – and to the TOP of Kilimanjaro, 25 kg of trash were collected on Mount Meru.
This expedition report is supported by Ngorongoro Farm House.
Go to the gallery for more pictures.
More about the TOPtoTOP Clean Up Kilimanjaro Expedition from Nicole and Johanna:
Mount Meru
We started in Arusha, 1450 asl. From there we drove to the Arusha National Park, where we started to walk. It was amazing how many animals we could spot such as giraffes, buffalos, monkeys, zebras and differents kinds of birds. The first night we slept in the Miriakamba hut, 2500 asl. After we climbed a 1ooo stairways and left the misty mysterious rainforest and got the first glimps on Mount little Meru, 3810 asl. At night we started from to the top of Mount Meru, 4562 asl.While we were waiting for the sun to rise we were frizing. The sun was rising just next to the next top of our expedition / Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Meru has one of the worlds highest big walls. It’s 2000 meters high. Within twoo days we got back to the gate on 1500 asl during this time we were collecting little litter we could find. We set a good exemple for our fellow hikers. Some dutch people, our porters and our ranger helped for collect.
Mount Kilimanjaro
The expedition for the Kili began at the Londorossi gate. There the porters were controlled whether their equipment had the right standard for the Kilimanjaro, that they had enough warm clothing and a proper sleeping bag. Not only that was checked but also the weight of 20kg that they had to carry up in addition to their private belongings. In total we had 33 porters this was necessary for the tent, the food, for us but also the porters since they needed food too. Unforunately that is not a standard for Kilimanjaro. After 2 deaths of porters last spring our organisation decided to introduce basic equipment and to distribute food on a daily basis to the porters.
We hope that in the future this measurment will be regarded as normal and that tourists will be willing to pay this additional money for the wellbeing of the porters.
Thanks to our long route we could adjuste well to the high altitude. Nobody had serious difficulty with high altitude sickness but rather with the coldness.
In our last camp we had to leave our beds in the hut because the hikers from “coca cola route” had priority.
Just before we went to bed for the short night the chances of reaching the top were reduced due to hail and snow. Nevertheless at midnight we left with a beautiful stary sky.
The talus to Gilman’s point (5685 asl) was our biggest challange. It seemed not to end. It was two steps forward and one step backwards at a time. We didn’t believe to ever see the top. But with the support of our group and the songs from the guids we finally made the top but not for the view because it was clowdy and very windy.
We were relieved that we actually reached the top of the hightest mountain of Africa. The bad conditions up there were forcing us to get down immediately.
On the way down we met people whom we doubted that they have ever reached the top because of their equipment and their late departure.
While we were collecting litter on the way down we got positive feedbacks.
In our last night on our trip we collected all the nice memories such as the winding down from everyday life, the being out of connection with the world, the moment when we reached the foot of Mount Meru with all the giraffes and zebras next to us and in the background the two tops of Mount Meru and Little Meru, that many of us could enjoy this trip with their families which made it all the more special but this was not the case for poor Dario, the amazing bright star sky where you get a graspe of the uniqueness of our planet and of course much more that we cannot describe in words or show in pictures.
When we were walking through the rainforest to the Mweka gate the Kilimanjaro presented himself in all his greatness with a sparkling snowdress and told us goodbye.