Karibu! You made it! Virtual Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(virtual)
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The top of Kilimanjaro.
After 5 days of hiking, I reached this spot and marked it on my 30th birthday. This is Kilimanjaro’s Uhuru peak, the highest point on the tallest mountain in Africa. Can’t put a real cache here -- no place to hide it, too many people around, and no one will want to stay long enough to find it. However, I think you’ll agree that although this may be one of the toughest virtuals you’ve ever done, standing on top is well worth the trip.
To claim credit for this cache go to the coordinates at the top of the mountain. (Let me stress that: please ACTUALLY GO to those coordinates and don't just pretend you went there. I can't stop people from logging this cache (or any cache) if they are determined to fake it, but I'm hoping that people will be honest enough to not log unless they were actually there. I'm sorry to have to say this so explicitly, but it seems that it's become an issue. It's an enormous task to climb this mountain, and it's unfair to those who accomplished it to log without actually making the trip. If I have to, I'll make a scanned copy of the certificate you get for a successful climb the required proof, but I'm hoping I don't have to resort to that.)
Anyway, once you have actually reached the coordinates, there is a sign to let you know you’ve reached the top. Send me a message with the route you took to climb the mountain, the number of days you took to get there, the date you reached the summit, and finally tell me the last word on that sign (not the stickers and whatnot slapped on it, but the last word on the actual sign itself). Again, please do not post a log unless you have done this.
And by the way, please feel free to post a picture in your log, but PLEASE make sure that picture does not contain a spoiler for the answer to the cache question - no reason to make it even easier for people who want to claim the cache under false pretenses. Thanks, and good luck! It's a long haul, but trust me, it truly is worth it.
***** An important note 9/12/21: a number of people are now suggesting that https://www.geocaching.com/blog/?p=89289/?newsletter=PM gives them authorization to virtually log without having visited the mountain. To be clear: it does NOT. It says right at the top, "In any case, you must visit the coordinates before you can post your log." The blog entry is an invitation to look at pictures and stories, not an authorization to pretend you were there. Plus, my requirements for logging are quite clear and I will only accept logs from people who have actually been to these coordinates in real life. Thanks! *****
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zbfg crbcyr (creuncf gbb znal cbrcyr) gnxr gur Znenath ebhgr. Sbe jungrire ernfba (fhccbfrqyl abg rabhtu gvzr gb nppyvzngr) gur fhpprff engr ba guvf ebhgr vf ybjre guna ba fbzr bs gur bguref. Gurer ner cyragl bs bgure terng ebhgrf V'z gbyq, ohg zlfrys, V gbbx gur Znpunzr, juvpu jnf irel avpr (nsgre gur zhqql svefg qnl jnf bire).