Kilimanjaro

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CAUTION: AS THIS IS MY FIRST BLOG FOR 3 MONTHS IT WILL BE LENGTHY. NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED OR EASILY BORED...

This is the first opportunity since Jayde and I left Australia that I have had to sit down at a computer for more than 15 minutes at a time. As our time will be a little more stable over the next few months I intend to put together this blog so that a few people back home will be able to gather a little insight in to our travels (present and future - and if we're all lucky, past as well!). In particular, due to the fact that the only correspondence some people back home would have had would be the public photos posted on Facebook of a group of loud, drunken white folks on a boat cruise on the Zambezi River, I dont want anyone getting the wrong impression of our experiences thus far!

I'm going to start this blog with our most recent adventure and if we get some spare time, back track to some of the most memorable experiences over the last 3 and something months.

Mt Kilimanjaro

The tallest free standing mountain in Africa, standing at a whopping 5895m above sea level. The peaks of the mountain are capped year round in glaciers, which in the heart of Africa is somewhat unbelievable. Unfortunately, due to the effects of climate change, it has been predicted by some scientists that by 2015, there will be no ice left on the mountain... Up to 30 tourists a year lose their lives trying to reach the summit of the mountain, due to a number of factors, the most common being cerebral edemas.

We had intended on climbing Mt Kilimanjaro from our initial planning stages for this trip and as we are heading to Arusha in Tanzania to do volunteer work, it was relatively convenient. We planned to make our way back to Moshi and find a trekking company that could arrange our climb of the mountain, but whilst on Zanzibar island we met a friendly young Tanzanian guy named Alex who assured us that his father was an experienced guide and would be able to lead us up the mountain. We were both well aware that it is risky to arrange any plans with unreputable companies, but it is cheaper and we both hate travelling in groups or with large companies that no doubt make ridiculaous profits and pay the local people next to nothing. We exchanged contact details with Alex and left Zanzibar with the agreement that we would be back in contact when we finished our 2 month tour of Africa and were heading back to Tanzania.

Cut to 1 month later and we were back in Nairobi after making our way from Zanzibar to Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya (as I said, details hopefully to follow!). Alex had come to Kenya to see a friend (or so he said) and we were undecided as to whether we go north to Ethiopia or south to attempt this climb of Kilimanjaro. We wanted to go to Ethiopia because we both sponsor children there and would love to meet them, see the villages and see first hand the benefits of foreign aid. However, the organisation we sponsor through require police checks, forms to be filled out and the usual list of bureacratic nonsense. After our call home to the Australian office chomped through our phone credit before I was able to tell them my name and sponsor ID and we were informed that the process can take up to 8 weeks we decided to go south and hopefully come back to Ethiopia at the end of the African leg of our trip. Alex advised that his father was eagerly awaiting us and had somewhere we could stay for free.

We took a taxi in to the centre of Nairobi on Wednesday afternoon in order to post some of our souvenirs and books home to Australia and because Alex had informed us that the bus to Moshi left early in the morning. We managed to get checked in to the hotel and race to the post office in time to get all 50kg of postal items wrapped in cardboard, brown paper, 753m of duct tape and clear plastic by only 5 minutes after closing time. We ended up having to take a night bus to Moshi and so we argued at length with the hotel assistant manager to refund our money, which to his credit he eventually did (somewhat apologetically).

The bus was cramped (seeing as we needed to place our travel packs at our feet), but enjoyable due to the fact that we had some young Rwandan and Burundi travel companions and an entertaining display of Congolese music videos. We stopped at the border and slept for 4 hours - the Kenyan side is open 24 hours, but the Tanzanian side closes at 18:00??? - and then continued on, finally making it to Moshi - 3 and a half hours late, more or less sleepless and very sore.

Alex escorted us to a Dala-dala (the Tanzanian equivalent of the Mutatu), which is the local form of public transport and which consists of a run down 10 seater minivan with extra seats welded in wherever they can fit and a little standing room adjacent the sliding door. No doubt some of you would have read stories of the method by which the bus will not leave until they have enough passengers on board and in this case, the 10 seater minibus was soon on it's way with no less than 20 people in tow (some standing, some on laps and 3 hanging out of the open sliding door).

We met Alex's father, Wilson Bennet Tuheri Solomon Mosha, a shortish, dark-skinned and dignified looking man. He didnt appear exceptionally pleased to see us (we later discovered that Alex had thieved from him and run away from home on a number of occasions and so the uncomfortable first meeting was actually the tension between father and son, not guide and guest!), but we exchanged greetings and hailed a taxi to take us up the hill to his house in Murangu village.

Alex had told us that his father owned a number of hotels and that he ran trips to Kilimanjaro on his own after working for many years through a tour company. Based on this information, I'm not sure what I was expecting from the house we were headed towards, but we arrived in the village at the Mosha house and were greeted by Wilson's 2 daughters, 90 year old mother, adorable 1 year old grandson and 2 house boys. We were shown to our accommodation (a detached house adjacent the main abode) and then Martha (the youngest daughter, a splitting image of her father and a strongly built girl of 21 years) fixed us some food, which we ate whilst chatting briefly of our plans with Wilson and Alex. We agreed that we would bathe, unpack and finalise our plans after dinner. Bathing consisted of pouring water from a small plastic bowl over ourselves in the toilet/long drop/shower room, but it was a wash nonetheless and Jayde and I both enjoyed some warm water on our bodies after our 15 something hours of travel in the past day.

Alex's mother returned from work at the local hospital (she is a midwife) at around 5pm and we chatted briefly with her. Her English was limited, but her warmth, deep-bellied laugh and welcoming smile was enough to make us feel at home. Dinner was prepared by 7pm and we ate in the living room with Wilson and Alex. Wilson still seemed a little distant, but his English is exceptional and we both got the impression that he was trustworthy as a result of his unquestionable Christian beliefs and so we finalised our trekking plans after dinner - we were to rest the following day, gather our hired equipment, buy food and arrange payment. We agreed on a price (slightly higher than anticipated, but reasonable no less) for a 6 day trek on the Machame route, bid "usiku mwema's" to Wilson and Alex and then the rest of the family who were gathered in the dining room and headed off to bed.
Post note: We never ate with the entire family, which we were slightly disappointed about, but were unsure whether it was the family playing host or simply not wanting to eat in our presence - having left, I think and hope it was the former.

We taxi'd and Dala-dala'd in to Moshi early the next day. Payment for our trek was a task, given that we needed to visit 3 different ATM's in order to withdraw the 3140 million Tanzanian shillings all in 5,000 and 10,000Sh notes... We were both well aware by this time in our travel that the horror stories of gun and machete wielding thieves was somewhat exaggerated and we made the transaction without a hitch, having walked around town for half an hour, with my pockets (all 6 of them) stuffed full of cash!

Our hired equipment (1 off sleeping bag, 2 off pairs of gloves, 4 off walking poles, 1 off Camel Pack and 1 off waterproof jacket) turned out to be tip top and we also wandered in to the local clothes market where we purchased 2 pairs of Columbia waterproof pants, a polar fleece jumper and a pair of real deal Crocs (all pretty much brand new) for a grand total of $8USD.
Post note: All Goodwill and Salvo gear that we donate back home comes here to huge, dusty, open air markets where it is sold.... for the second or third time.... albeit extremely cheaply!

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