01 Jul 2025
This is a great family experience if you have older children. It will leave you with a sense of "we did it" as you trek, - pretty vertically - up and down the mountainside. Some things to be aware of: 1. the first part of the hike will be on paths right next to the road, where zillions of jeeps come up with tourists who have booked the Sunrise jeep tours. The fumes and noise makes it feel much like walking on a motorway during peak. Bring something to cover mouth and nose if you don't love that smell of petrol in the morning. After you reach the "jeep point" it gets a lot better. 2. The hike is 1-2 hours straight up, with little to no flat, and a lot of it is vulcanic gravel/stone. Wear good shoes. All the guides seem to use a pretty "urgent" tempo, stick to your own and be vocal about how many stops you need and you'll be fine (3/5 of our family could follow the guide, 2 of us just did our own tempo. The guide made sure to stop and wait at regular intervals 3. It is cold and windy on the top, bring a backpack with extra clothes or you will be uncomfortable. I had 3-4 layers (t-shirt, thermal base layer, fleece and thin windbreaker. Long running thights and windbreaker trousers) and was still a little chilly. Warm hat and buff recommended. They will rent out blankets at the top, but I wouldn't count on their sole effect - many people looked very, very cold. 4. Bring cash for a warm drink at the top 5. The breakfast is simple: 1 hardboilded egg, banana sandwiches and a sweet
, - make sure you eat beforehand or pack something if you require more. There are stalls on the way up where you can buy snacks and drinks, but not really food (at least I didn't notice).
All in all I would recommend this activity for a family with reasonable fitnesslevel and stamina: the views are amazing and especially beautiful on the way down (sun up=you can see ????). We're happy we went.