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Published: August 28th 2005
The Whole Crew
Us and the crew from Friends of Safari at Karanga CampClimbing Mt. Kilimanjaro seems to be part of the whole Tanzania tourist experience, something that people take on rather lightly, with the foremost consideration surrounding the trek being “how much?” But after some deliberation, climbing a mountain of 5895 meters in a few days is not your typical relaxing activity while on vacation. Add on fatigue, cold and altitude sickness (headache, nausea, dizziness etc.) and the thought “why am I
paying to make myself feel like crap?” may pass through your mind. Yet despite these factors, trekking to the roof of Africa was an incredible experience, well worth the monetary and physical expenditure.
Day 1 - Machame Camp (3100m) The seven day trek up the
Machame-Mweka route began on a sunny Monday morning with three rather nervous participants:
- (1) A Swedish/African yodeler with a Maasai stick
- (2) Rambo, who had suffered a pneumothorax in the past
- (3) An alien gypsy
What was alarming and rather amusing is that our crew from
Friends of Safari outnumbered us, bringing our total to lucky number thirteen - 7 porters, 1 cook (Habibu), 1 assistant guide (Elly) and 1 head guide (Richard).
We set off only 2.5 hours later than the scheduled itinerary and were soon
trekking through the rainforest. Due to the slippery mud and protruding branches, you had to concentrate on your feet, and considering that we each brought only one of pair of pants, falling in the mud was not high on the list of things to do, especially on day 1. Luckily we made it to the first campsite without too much incident, in time to enjoy popcorn and, appropriately,
Kilimanjaro tea.
Day 2 - Shira 2 Camp (3800) After a rather cold night (realization = need to wear more layers), we trekked up what I came to term the
ultimate stairmaster. To entertain ourselves, Jessica and I started singing - unfortunately we often did not know the lyrics so each song rapidly digressed into
”something, something…”. I use the term “singing” rather loosely as apparently our lyrical music was not appreciated by others.
Quote from Alex: “Your boyfriends were smart to stay at home……… and they owe us each a beer.”
Despite our loud off-key singing, we continued up the ultimate stairmaster to our next campsite. Our porters, who somehow manage to balance large bulky loads on their heads while briskly hiking through the mud/stones/boulders etc., made it to
the camp a good 2 hours before we arrived. By this time we had finished the bottled water and were now drinking boiled water from the mountain. As Alex put it,
the water is so gross that every time I drink, I want to puke. Luckily, we were distracted by the beautiful view of the peak, known by locals as the “beautiful lady with white hair.”
Day 3 - Barranco Camp (3950m) The third day began with a sad goodbye to Alex-Rambo, who wisely decided to not tempt fate and descend. Unlike on Everest, there are no air evacuations and once you ascend past a certain altitude, the only way to get off the mountain is to be carried down by porters to the place where a car can navigate you down to the base. Considering that the guides are not normally medically trained, becoming sick on the mountain is a real concern. The concept of pulmonary health, however, has not quite reached most of the guides, who smoke every chance they get. I laughed when our head guide, Richard, started smoking a cigarette at lunch and promised to not only smoke one at the summit, but also
Hiding in the Rocks
Brrr... cold from the wind on Day 3 do 15 pushups.
After saying goodbye, Jessica and I began the third day trek, which was more of the ultimate stairmaster alternated with steep downhill sections. It was very windy, making it quite cold and forcing us to bundle up and seek shelter behind some boulders for lunch. During the downhill sections, Richard, warned us
”no more singing”. This was good advice as both of us needed to concentrate on not taking a spill on the loose rocks. Luckily we only took one tumble each and suffered no lasting injuries. Coming into the camp was like coming into another world (Narnia) - you descend into a misty valley with enormous cacti towering 5m above you and when the mist clears, you have a close view of the peak, tantalizing close.
Day 4 - Karanga Camp (4000m) Day 4 of the trek began with scrambling up the
Barranco Breakfast Wall, where you were literally rock climbing. It was quite dodgy at times as on one side there was a sheer drop and on other, a large boulder obstructing the path. Apparently Jessica and I had become quite notorious with our lovely singing as when we encountered the Tusker group,
Barranco Camp
Our little tent and the big mountain. they asked why we were so quiet.
Quote:
- Tusker member - "Leave it to the professionals."
- Jessica - “What, the hiking or the singing?”
- Tusker member - “Both”
The rest of the day’s trek was a lot of up and down through steep valleys and lived up to the description of another group’s guide,
”steep but not so much steep” Again we were one of the first groups to reach the camp where we aptly snacked on
karanga (peanuts). Luckily our minor crisis with toilet paper was solved the day before when we inherited Alex’s stash, so we were set for the remaining few days. Not that you want to be spending any amount of time in the pit latrines (YUCK), but the thought of no toilet paper was not a pleasant thought.
Day 5 - Barafu Camp (4600m) By now, we had ascended so high that there was very little vegetation. The trek winded through the alpine desert and had a view of Mawenzi peak to the right and overhead, a view of Kibo peak, seemingly just out of reach. The last stretch to the campsite was walking on loose shale and at this altitude, we were warned to not drink any
The Giant Cacti
Entering into the misty world of Narnia coffee or milk. By this point we had noted that Richard had a penchant for saying things in couplets, for instance,
”much, much” and ”same, same”. One of the best quotes was about the summit:
”conditions change…… sun, wind, snow………much, much.” We joked that we needed an English-English translator.
At this point my heart was beating at almost double its normal rate, which was probably in part due to the altitude and also to the fact that I was very nervous about the ascent to the summit. The fact that Richard informed us that someone has died on the Western Breach route the day before did not help my anxiety. At any rate, after what Jessica termed
the Last Supper, we were told to rest for the final ascent, beginning at midnight.
Day 6 - Ascent to the Summit, “The Day you Cry” Despite going
pole pole (slow slow) throughout the past 5 days (it became our least favorite saying), for some reason Richard had it in his head to pass
every other group. Now this would be fine if it was not freezing cold, pitch black, rocky and very steep. As we passed the Tusker group, they
asked if we planned on running up the mountain. Answer =
NO! But Richard is!!! Finally, after passing the last group and taking the lead, we settled into a very slow pace, stopping to rest only a few times, as it was too cold to stop moving. The sky was amazing that night - the stars seemed close enough to touch and there were many shooting stars (I wished for our safety).
After a few hours, we were very tired, cold and starting to feel the effects of the high altitude. As for myself, I was suffering from a headache, mild nausea and a bad case of dizziness (I kept praying I wouldn’t fall off the mountain). *
3:15am - Richard tells us it is only 45 minutes to Stella point (5745m)*
4:00am - The top of the mountain looks no closer than before*
4:30am - Richard shines his headlamp in my eyes to see if I am really tired or just saying that. I responded with,
now that you’ve just blinded me, I’m ready to go…*
5:00am - Thought of
“leave me here and come pick me up on the way down” started to go on repeat in my head as the
peak looks no closer*
5:15am - We reach Stella Point, which seems to appear out of nowhere. At this point, I tell Elly, Jessica and Richard that I have NO interest in reaching Uhuru and to leave me here. They ignore me. *
6:05am - Arrived at Uhuru (5895m). We were the first group to reach the summit and are lucky enough to catch the sunrise. Richard did his 15 pushups (with my day pack on his back) and we braved the cold long enough to take our fingers out of their mitts to snap the mandatory photographs. Surprisingly, I felt fine (mild headache, just fatigue)…could be that I was distracted by gorgeous scenery - have views of the cloud cover, the enormous blue/silver glacier, the crater valley below, and the firey red sun poking its head above the clouds…*
8:30am - After "skiing" down through the loose rocks, we arrived back at Barrafu Camp, singing
"Looks like we made it, look how far we’ve come now baby…*
10:00am - After some hot soup and a brief rest, we began the descent to Mweka Camp. I took the time to take off 7 of the 10 MEC items I had layered on for
The Alien Gypsy
I decided to plait my hair in Nairobi to keep it clean during the trek. Needless to say, I wore the sacrificial khanga the entire way up. warmth.*
1:00pm - Arrived at Mweka camp after trekking for a total of
11.5 hours. By this time we are completely exhausted and extremely dirty…...
Day 7 - Descent to Mweka Gate (1500m) We awoke at 6am to get down early enough to beat the crowds at the gate. Before we started the descent, our crew sang us the Kilimanjaro song - they were a great group and we had a lot of fun together. On the way down, it was discussed that the guides and porters lose a lot of weight on Kilimanjaro (something like 3-4kgs each trek) but I laughed because we ate so much good food on the mountain that I probably gained weight! At any rate, we arrived at the gate at exactly 9:56am, received our certificates for reaching Uhuru Peak. The mood at this point was jubilant as everyone was very happy to get off the mountain and looking forward to a nice warm shower!
Final Thoughts Despite my fervent declaration that I had no desire to reach Uhuru Peak, I am glad that our guides ignored me and dragged my tired body up the last hour hike from Stella Point. Although the hike to
the summit was brutal (I termed it -
hell frozen over), the view from the peak was amazing and well worth the pain and exertion. It was definitely the most physically demanding challenge I’ve ever completed and while I will not be climbing Kilimanjaro again anytime soon, I would recommend it to others…………as long as they have a realistic concept of the final ascent to the summit!!!
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Nicole
non-member comment
Hongera!
Hujambo mama, Thanks so much for sending me your blog link. The pictures are beautiful and I loved reading about your adventure. I hope Jessica had a good safari and you two make it home safely. You are definitely in for some serious culture shock when you get back. Let me know what's the weirdest part is for ya. Kwa heri, Tutaonana, Nicole