Kilimanjaro (part 3)

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Day 2 of the climb

We woke around 6 in order to set off for camp early enough to escape the mid-afternoon rains, enjoyed a nice hot breakfast and clear view of the mountain. My headache was by now in full swing and for someone who rarely suffers from head pains, this was to prove incredibly debilitating.

I offered to carry my full pack so that the porter would have a smaller and lighter load, but Wilson would not have any of it and so we set off with just our day packs and water. The walk was relatively easy but by the time we reached Shira 2 camp I was feeling nauseous and crippled from a headache that had progressed to a full blown migraine (by this stage I was also extremely thankful that Wilson had prevented me from trying to be a hero as my light head had brought me to a pathetic hunched over snails pace at some stages of the walk).

Jayde was feeling fine and after an afternoon nap that slightly appeased the shooting pains in my temples we had another brief chat with Wilson, some lunch and chai and then cursed each other for not bringing playing cards or a book to pass the rest of the afternoon (note to anyone considering the climb).

Day 3 of the climb

Today we climbed slowly up to 4600m and then back down to our camp at 3900m all the while slowly crawling towards the foot of the summit, which for hours and hours now had seemed to be just over the next ridge. Over the 6 days we would walk 85ish kilometres as the crow flies and Wilson's quote became set in stone.... "it looks close to the eyes, but it's far for the legs".

Given that we had arrived at camp in the early afternoon and had many hours to kill we cursed each other again for not bringing cards, adding this time how it would have been a great socialising tool with the boys. Then we joined the mile high club - partly just to say that we'd 'done it on kili' and partly to settle my headache. Only one of the above was successful.

My headache was now limiting my sleep to half hour intervals and I was interrupted throughout the long nights by fits of tossing and turning and thick phlegmy coughing all this resulting in other long periods of audible groans from my unbearable headache that were driving Jayde to the brink of suffocating me in the darkness of the tent.

Day 4 of the climb

We awoke completely unrefreshed, packed the inflatable mats and sleeping bags, had a little food and drink to quell our shrinking appetites and set off gingerly. Getting dressed in the mornings now involved pulling on our boots and rain jackets as we were already fully dressed, having slept in 2 layers of clothing top and bottom and two pairs of socks.

We climbed the Baranko Wall, which was the most difficult part of the trek so far and would definitely not be easy for anyone not so nimble as some sections were on fairly sheer rock faces and over slippery surface.

Arriving at Barafu campsite by lunchtime we were advised to rest before getting up for a quick snack, then resting again before dinner and then resting again before being awoken for the big summit! I cant sleep during the day at the best of times and so as Jayde drifted in to a quite slumber I sat up and watched the four-striped mice that were darting between rocks and in and out of the outer tarp covering our tent. The four-striped mice are considerably larger than their Australian mus Domesticus counterpart and their fluffy, dark-brown coat and four stark black stripes running from neck to tail make them quite a cute specimen. I filled in my time of sleeplessness by trying to catch one by hand, then by devising traps to lure them closer. Finally I caught one using a biscuit in the end of a dry sack. Using the skills taught me from my Elliot trapping days I was able to grasp the little creature behind the ears and I held him up proudly - Jayde was unimpressed and her response of 'I hope he bites you and you get rabies' encouraged me to let him go promptly and try harder to get some sleep.

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