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Published: October 1st 2007
Bahati house I
For those of you that did see me before we left.......... I cut my hair off as you can see in this picture!WE MADE IT! Yep, that's right, we have officially been to the highest point in Africa and it was amazing! What an experience. It started on the 11th when we were picked up from the cozy, comfortable Rivertrees at 8 am by our guide and a few other people from the company. On our way to the Machame gate we had to pick up several liters of water for our first day of hiking. After that they would be boiling stream water for us to drink. When we arrived at the Machame gate, we were really surprised to see LOTS of other climbers. We were the only ones in our group but there were at least 8 other groups there ready. Some of the groups had 2 people while others had 14! We packed our day pack and the rest of our equipment was quickly whisked away! We then had to sign in with the rangers and pay our national park fee. While waiting for John (our guide) to tie up some other loose ends, we noticed many men running up the road and into the gate. Each were carrying a small backpack and were heading for the area where the
Bahati house II
Some of the women with one of Martinas foster children named Giligiani. guides were getting ready for the climb. We later found out that these men wanted to be porters and it is on a first come, first served basis. You will later understand why it is so AMAZING that these men were running to try and have one of these jobs.
It was finally time to go and we were told to follow one of our porters named Rogers. John still had some paper work to do. We put our packs on and Rogers hoists a HUGE bag onto his HEAD! What?!? Until this point we knew that there were going to be porters helping us get some of our stuff up the mountain but I don't think we really had an concept of what that really meant. There were 40 to 50 porters standing around at the beginning of the trail waiting for the go ahead. Each of them had a bag or basket that was at least 3x3 feet. We are utterly amazed by these men already but as we now know, we hadn't seen anything yet. You will later understand why we had 9 porters, one guide, one cook and one waiter!! Yep, a waiter.
Rogers
Soccer with Emanual
Emanual is the son of Grace, who is a 17 year old girl that Martina took in off the street. They start playing soccer at a young age as you can see. I lost this match due to home field advantage. starts up the trail and the only thing he says to us the entire time is "pole, pole". This means slowly in Swahili and I wish I had a dollar for everytime we heard that term. I have never walked that slow in my life and I'm not sure I ever will again. It was actually quite comical at the time but looking back, absolutely necessary. Seven hours later we arrived at the Machame camp (9850 feet) where our tent had already been set up for us. The porters are amazingly fast, even with this mass amount of stuff on their shoulders or their head, and arrive at the camps far before us. We had to sign in with the rangers again and as we were doing so, I noticed that the porters were having to weigh their bags on a scale for the rangers. You see they are only allowed to carry 20 Kg...............yes, that is 44 pounds........... at one time. What?!? I guess this needs to be regulated because before the government stepped in, porters were carrying 50 kg and many were dying because they didn't eat properly or have the proper equipment. Not to say that the
Room at River Trees Lodge 1
This is a view of the inside of our room at River Trees Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania old, torn Nikes with broken shoe laces that some of our porters had were any better. Anyhow, this was amazement level 2 for us because we just couldn't imagine, and still can't, carrying that much weight on our heads or shoulders.
As we were sitting in our tent, we hear a "knock" and announcement for tea time! Huh, ok so I guess we'll sit on a stump and have some tea right? Nope, they have a "mess" tent set up with a freaking table and stools inside! We both kind of laughed and asked John what this was for. He said that it gets cold outside and it is best to eat inside. Those poor men were hauling a table and stools up this mountain for us! This did not settle well with us and we felt very bad. John explained that now it would be OK to sit outside and eat but later it would be too cold. John joined us for each meal and tea time. For this particular tea time we had our choice of tea, coffee or hot cocoa along with popcorn! Just amazing. Later that evening we enjoyed a great dinner of rice and
Room at River Trees Lodge 2
Outside of our room at River Trees Lodge a vegetable curry sauce to go on top. The poor guys only got meat a few times because the cook was cooking vegetarian for me. Oh well, it's better for them anyway. Dessert was always fresh fruit! The food was cooked in the "cooking tent" using gas. When it was ready the cook would yell for Benny (our waiter) to come get it and deliver it to us. Then when we were done eating, John would yell for Benny to come get the plates. This was all in swahili but we could tell what was going on! We felt bad for the poor guy.
We slept more this week that ever before! After dinner there isn't much to do besides read or write in your tent so everyone ends up going to sleep between 7 and 9! Camp fires are not allowed on the mountain due to fire danger.
The second day of hiking was much shorter because the trail was much more steep. The rainforst was long gone and they called this area "Moorland". We arrived at Shira camp (12,600 ft) at around 1 pm in the afternoon. It was nice to have the afternoon to just
River Trees Lodge 1
Front drive at river trees lodge. You can only pull in if you have a Toyota Land Cruiser or a Land Rover as that is all any one drives. look around and relax. We read, played with our satellite phone and just relaxed. It was a very clear afternoon and we could see the daunting peak of Mt. Kili very clearly. It was hard to comprehend exactly how we were going to get up there but I quickly pushed the thoughts from my mind. We just were! A lovely evening again with tea followed by a later dinner. Great food. Not "camping food" like we thought it was going to be.
The third day is known as "acclimation day". According to our guide, if people are going to have problems with altitude sickness, this is the day when the signs show themselves! To acclimate John took us to a high point called the lava tower and then we headed back down into camp. That way we went to a high point but didn't stay there. The lava tower was at 15,000 feet and this is where we ate lunch. On the way up Yuri developed a headache and I started to feel less steady! I pretty much felt like I had just consumed several glasses of wine. Not a bad feeling, just a bit strange having NOT had
River Trees Lodge 2
The river that runs through River Trees. just consumed any wine! My "drunkness" went away after I ate but Yuri's headache persisted until we got back down to Barranco camp. This was the first time going down and I have to say that we both like going up much more. In addition to that, it felt wrong to be going down when we hadn't gone all the way up yet! As we descended into Barranco camp (12, 950 feet) we were walking through several streams of water that were coming from the melting glaciers and snow above us. This was a bit tricky at times because we were also essentially walking in a cloud! Either it was actually a cloud or it was so foggy it actually felt like one. When we arrived in camp our guide had a hard time finding our tents due to the dense fog. It didn't really clear up at all that day so the afternoon was very cold.
Oh yes, the third day is also when the "tent smell" started to set in. Each morning and evening we were supplied with a bucket of warm water outside our tent to "'freshen up" but that basically consisted of rinsing our faces
River Trees Lodge 3
The restaurant at River Trees Lodge. The food was great. Five course meals every night with cheap drinks. I am thinking about moving in for good. and hands. Good old "fresh and clean" wipes were helping us out with the rest of our bodies but those poor little clothes can only do so much. And so, the official tent smell set it! I guess we can't take full credit for it though. We would be remiss not to give our socks some credit! Yuri and I decided that it was a good thing that we were already married and stuck with each other because not showering for 7 days might just be a deciding factor in a relationship! For those of you that are wondering if you are with the right person, CLIMB MT. KILI with them. If you survive together, then you'll be OK (:
That evening we were served with pumpkin soup for dinner. After this settled in for a minute, it occured to me that one of those poor porters had hauled a damn pumpkin up the hill. Surely not. I asked John if the soup was made with an actual pumpkin and he said of course. He then yelled something to Benny (poor Benny!) and in comes the "pumpkin". It was not the kind of pumpkin that you and I think
River Trees Lodge 4
The chefs that kept us fat and happy at River Trees. Some of the best food I have ever had. of when we think of Halloween. It was some sort of large squash looking thing! But still, someone had to haul that thing up here. Amazing.
The fourth day of hiking was more like rock climbing at points. The hiking poles had to be set aside so we could use our hands to get around or over some rocks. This was the only time during the entire climb that we saw a porter lose his bag. As he was trying to navigate though a small crevice, he lost his balance and the bag fell off of his head. He seemed embarassed and grabbed it quickly. Maybe you are less of a porter if you drop something? When we reached the top of this rock "wall" we headed back down again into Karanga camp (13,900 feet). Again, it felt strange to be going down! We arrived at 1 but this wasn't the end of our day because we still needed to acclimate some more! Rogers led us up towards the next camp. We figured we would walk for 30 minutes or so and then come back down. Nope, an hour and a half later we could SEE the next camp!
River Trees Lodge 5
A horn bill hanging out in the trees of River Trees Lodge. We both wondered why the hell we didn't just go there but we understood that it was for acclimation so it is good to go up and then come back down!
Smelly tent, oh smelly tent, what are they..........!
We already knew what to expect for our fifth day of climbing because we had essentially already done it the previous day, or we thought. The tents that we saw were at a different camp. Our camp was up another VERY steep hill. It wouldn't have been that bad but it was raining fairly hard and continued to do so for the rest of the afternoon. So much so that when we got to camp the porters were not able to set up the mess tent so we were served lunch in our tent. Benny tried to bring us the table cloth and all of that stuff but we told him he was crazy and we didn't need all of that! We just stayed in the tent reading that afternoon because it was raining so hard outside. Yuri took a nap (very wise because we were going to be getting up at midnight) but I was too engrossed in
The start of Kili
This was taken at the ranger station at the base camp of Mount Kilimanjaro. We were clean mean hiking machines in this photo. That would last about the first four hours of the trek. my book. We ate dinner at 5 pm (in the mess tent this time because they were able to set it up during a rain break) and then it was time to go to bed! We would be getting up at 11:30 to begin our assent to the peak. The biggest problem with sleeping that evening was that the porters didn't want to! This was the top for them because they don't have to go to the summit with you. We don't stay there so they don't have to set up camp. Therefore, they don't need to go to sleep at 6 pm and are having a great time telling stories and such in thier tent. I didn't want to deprive them of that but I NEEDED TO GET SOME SLEEP. Of course Yuri was sleeping like a baby next to me which made it even worse. I think I finally fell asleep around 9!
At 11:30 Benny woke us up with his "Hallo" outside of the tent. He also had a tray with tea and yummy shortbread cookies for us! Yuri and I were both a mixture of emotions at this point including nervousness and excitement. We layered
Kili Porters
The porters carried 50 lbs. on their head and their own pack between each camp. The hardest job in the world to make $7 per day. On top of that they were happy to do it. Hard for any of us to complain about our jobs. ourselves in clothes, strapped on the always stylish head lamps and we were off..........under a BEAUTIFUL sky full of stars. It had stopped raining just for us! Pole Pole was the name of the game. We were a sandwich (day camp for those of you who know what I'm talking about!). There was a guide in front, Yuri and myself and then Rogers in the back. Most of the other groups had left before us so we were on our own for a while. Suddenly we came up over a ridge and saw the string of lights ahead of us. There were at least 60 lights. They were the head lamps of the others ahead of us! It was amazing and a bit daunting at the same time. They seemed so far away.
I can't really tell you how 5 hours of walking in pitch black went by that evening. As you can imagine, this entire climb was spending a lot of time with ourselves and our brains! That sounds stupid but there is just so much time to think about everthing............10,15, 20 times! We stopped to have a few breaks throughout the night but it was honestly too
Kili Machame Camp 1
Arrival at Machame camp. The first camp on our way up Kili. Once we arrive the porters get the camp set up and the cook get´s rolling so he can get everyone fed before night fall. Sometimes we dined by candle light on the mountain. cold to stop. When we were moving our body head was up a bit at least and that helped keep us warm. I liked to look up at the stars but everytime I did that I started to fall backwards a little bit. It was that drunk feeling again! Yuri was worried about me but I really felt fine, just a little wobbly! He got a headache again but it wasn't too bad.
I've never been to happy to see a sunrise in my entire life. It meant that we had been hiking for 6 hours and were close to the top! We stopped for a rest at Stella Point but we both wanted to just keep going. Many people stop at Stella point if the altitude is getting to them. There were glaciers and snow all around us at this point and it was freezing cold. We weren't actually walking on the snow but there were patches around. I couldn't feel the toes on my right foot so I started playing a fun little game called "Step, Wiggle". To play this game you have to take a step with one foot and wiggle the toes of the other
Kili Machame Camp 2
Our first camp site on the way up. I think we were at around 9,850ft after around 7 hours of hiking from the park gate 5,950 ft foot to try and warm them up!! I was also having to alternate holding my poles in one hand and shoving the other into a jacket pocket to warm my fingers. That also kept me busy, figuring out which hand's turn it was!
We reached the summit at 6:25 am. There is a huge wooden sign up there that of course we had to take several pictures in front of. We also got out the satellite phone that my dad sent us with to call home. The temperature was -12 degrees C though so we couldn't stay there long. I wanted to stay there all day because we had endured so much just to get to this point and then we were only there for 15 minutes. Seemed kind of crazy but then I realized I couldn't feel my toes again. Step Wiggle!
Our guide was essentially running down the mountain and we couldn't keep up with him. He got us up and now he was DONE!!! I'm not kidding, it really felt like that. We got down away from the freezing cold wind and took a break to eat our chocolate bars and fruit juice that the
Kili Machame Camp 3
A view of the Kili peak from the Macheme camp at 9,850ft. Looks far....it is. It will take us four more days of treking to get to the peak. cook had sent us with. Breakfast of champions! The rest of the way down was brutal on our knees. We arrived back at camp around 11 am and Benny greeted us with a glass of orange fanta! We got some lunch and rested for about 1 hour and we were off again. Did I forget to mention that this was the longest day EVER! We had another four hours of downhill walking to do before we were done for the day. This was the worst part of the entire week for both of us. Sounds strange but I'd rather summit again than do this downhill portion again.
We made it to Mweka camp at around 3 pm that afternoon and we were just DONE. It was hard for us to even move at this point.
SMELLY TENT, OH SMELLY TENT, WHAT ARE THEY...........
We had watermelon for dessert that night. Yep, they hauled a watermelon all the way UP the mountain and then back DOWN the mountain for us to have on the last night. I again told them that they were crazy.
The next morning we got a group picture and handed out the much
Kili Shira Camp 1
A picture of our guide John and I on the hike up to Shira camp (Camp 2). John clebrated his 29th birthday with us on day four of our hike. Luckily you get good cell phone reception all the way up to the peak on Kili so he could stay in touch with his family. John has climed Kili over 150 times and we owed our success on getting to the summit to his expertise. I think the guide is the number one factor in the outcome of the climb. deserved tips. They were all very excited to get their tips and looked like kids in a candy store. The company only pays them $7 a day!!!! I don't have time to talk about the tipping nightmare that exists in the Tanzanian tourist industry right now but I will explain at some point in the future.
Four grueling hours later we arrived at the Mweka gate. My legs have NEVER felt like that before. Every inch of them hurt.
OK peeps, I have to go catch a flight. I will finish this at a future date. I am also hoping to get pictures to you soon. Hope you are all well! Sarah
I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors (is that spelled right?!?). I didn't have time to proof read this.
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Anitza
non-member comment
Wow!
That is one crazy trip! It reminds me of one of my best friend's recent trips to Machu Pichu (with the climbing and porters and all).