Big Africa Update (part 1)

Africa
October 29th 2010

Published: October 29th 2010

Kilimanjaro... our 6 day stroll up a big hill in Tanzania.

Day 1
So to start with a bit of background information, we decided out of the numerous routes to take up kilimanjaro, we thought it best to take on the fiendishly named "coca cola route" aka the Marangu Route. We had the choice between whisky, vodka, fanta and coca cola. We thought fanta sounded a bit, well, erm poofy. However, we were definetly too chicken to take on a alcohol based route. This would take us 6 days to climb. We met our guide the day before our trek. To call him so laid back he was horizontal would be an understatement. Bad luck on our part, to conpensate for Tom's (our guide) lack of chatter we instead received a funny, charming but somehow occasionally stereotypically German man called Jens and a Kiwi called Dave who's intention it was to run up the mountain! "pole pole" was the term constantly thrown at us, which meant slowly slowly (referring to our walking pace). Apparently this went in one of Dave's ears and out of the other. We struggled along merely to keep up.
The first day was a fairly easy 4 hour walk through forested terrain. It was nice, we saw monkeys but not much else. The views around us became quite monotonous and it was extremely hot weather for walking leaving us drenched in our own sweat. Lush! ( One for you Dave 😉 )
We arrived at the first camp only to find we had to sleep on the floor whilst everyone else had beds. However we had a double mattress on the floor so wasnt the worst thing in the world. We also had a quick throw of a frisbee outside that evening, a first for ultimate?!

Day 2
Anti-socially Chris was woken up by everyone at 5am, if you don't know Chris well enough, lets put it this way, disturbing his sleep does not amuse him. We didn't have to be up until 6 30!!!
This was probably our favourite day of the trek, we walked through loads of heathlands and had some amazing views, including snow capped peaks. We left so early in an attempt to secure a bed that we ended up having lunch at 11am! The period between lunch and dinner therefore did not make Chris happy. For those of you who don't know Chris well enough, lets put it this way, delaying his dinner does not amuse him. We arrived in Horombo at 3700m and Charlie's blisters had just begun to really become and issue and would be a recurring theme for Kilimanjaro, no surprise if youve seen Charlies feet post frisbee tournaments. However, a more pressing matter was that Chris already started feeling the effects of altitude sickness with a throbbing headache. Charlie felt nothing. People can start to suffer from altitude sickness from 3000m upwards, Chris was one of these unlucky people. Chris was pitied by those around him and managed to scavenge for some anti altitude sickness medication and this had a bit of a helpful effect. That and playing cards with Jens all afternoon, Chris and Charlie lost intentionally just to see Jens celebrate, they had to prevent themselves wetting their pants because they found the way he celebrated so funny, the German stereotypes were in full force, every little victory celebrated ferociously! Jahhhhhhhh!

Day 3
This was used to acclimitise to the conditions we were faced with at this height. We said a tearful goodbye to Dave and Jens who were manly enough not to take on the extra day. We climbed to 4300m this day to get used to the lack of oxygen. On this walk our guide helpfully let us know of his hatred of his job, funnily enough at this stage we weren't greatly surprised! Chris didnt suffer at all on this trek and we thought things were on the up. On this night we shared a hut with 2 other girls, we thought this was a bit of a coup as we doubted they had great snoring abilities, unlike the last 2 nights when we endured snoring like you wouldnt believe. How wrong we were. Charlie cleverly made earplugs out of tissue without thinking to tell Chris. Chris was very grouchy in the morning.

Day 4
The worst day of Chris's life... Chris's sickness took a funny turn in the morning with no headache but a slightly sick feeling. A bit of morning slurp (this was meant to be porridge, ive never known porridge to be grey, watery with lumpy bits...) meant that Chris was sick in the morning (soon to become a recurring theme...). The day was not looking promising. This feeling was exemplified by seeing our friend Dave coming down on a stretcher after getting water in his lungs and getting pheumonia. Nevertheless, Kibo at 4700m was our aim for that day. The hike up wasn't very difficult physically, but the sickness took its toll on Chris. Constant migranes, wretching, being sick and dizzyness was making it quite the walk up a hill. Charlie began to get worried more and more when she saw 6 more people being carried down the mountain on stretchers. She then made Chris vow he would not push himself to the extent that he would be carried down too. We saw Jens on the way up and he had made it to the top which gave us hope as he too said he'd struggled with the final hike. Regardless of Chris's illness we made it to Kibo. Things got even worse, it was minus 10 degrees at Kibo and we had to wait two hours in a freezing room until we were given beds to sleep in. Again our guide Tom was useless, not impressed. Once again we didnt get given a bed and had to attempt to sleep on the floor whilst everyone else had the luxury of a bed to sleep in. This is where Chris's altitude sickness got to its worst. It wasnt a pretty sight.
Its hard to describe severe altitude sickness... Constant unending headaches which were not at all suppressed by drugs, throwing up every 10 minutes, blurred vision and not being able to walk straight unsupported were just a few of the symptoms. Charlie felt nothing. A doctor was called to examine Chris and told him in no circumstances he was to go any higher up the mountain (we were to attempt to summit that evening which was another 1000m higher). Fortunately the doctor informed Chris that he wasnt going to die 😊
Suffice to say, we didn't make it to the top.
Kilimanjaro 1 - 0 Chris

Day 5
Chris woke up and was sick all morning until we set off back down the mountain. We walked down as quickly as we could and hoped this would alliviate Chris's symptoms, thank God it helped! We got back to Horombo and slept for most of the rest of the day and Chris got a bit better 😊 We saw some of our friends this evening (personal joke: whaaaaa dont cha remember your friendsss!!!)

Day 6
Today was a long walk back down to ground level. As Chris got better Charlie got worse! Charlies blisters became so developed they formed their own personalities. We got back to the hotel in the mid afternoon and said a tearful fairwell to Tom... we've lost a great friend there. In the mid afternoon we joined our mountaineering friends at the bar. We proceeded to watch a middle aged Polish and Luxemborger inhale three bottles of red wine and laughed at the consequences. That night some of the guys went out. The next morning the Kiwi Dave claimed to have been at a rave whilst Jens said he was with him at the "discotheque" all night, we didnt know who to believe!!

Overall climbing Kilimanjaro was a small part down to physical attributes which neither of us struggled with but mainly due to how your body copes with altitude which is largely pure chance. Unfortunately for us Chris drew the short straw in that regard. Nonetheless its an experience both of us will remember, and advice to anyone out there who is thinking about climbing kilimanjaro, climbing to everest base camp is quarter of the price and apparently a far better experience! Unfortunately for us we were told this halfway up the mountain!!!

Big Africa Update (part 1)

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