Kilimanjaro

We started our hike on a Friday with a tour company Jeff’s host family helped set up for us. We deemed our group the ‘Motley Crew’, our guide was named Simba and our assistant guide was Sam. Our first sign that we got a discounted tour company is when we were stopping by Simba’s house to pick up things like cups and other cooking equipment from his house on our way up to the trail head. We would also find out this morning that our party of hikers had grown from our original four; Maja and Jacob (Danish volunteers) and Jeff and me, to five with Eno a middle-aged educator from Southern California added at the last minute. We knew we were going budget because I would not settle for paying too much and as I have learned here, every price in Tanzania is negotiable.

We got to the trail head Machame Gate where our route would start nicked named ‘The Whisky Route’ and of course Jeff and I being the traditionalist that we are had to bring some whiskey…it’s tradition, and who are we to argue that. To get through the gate we had to wait for all the porters and guides to get weighed to make sure that they were not caring more that 25 kilograms each and that all the porters had appropriate gear. There were about thirty porters at the gate begging for the use of their services wishing that a tour company would miss plan and need additional porters. By the time we had all our porters check in and made their weight and had paid our park fees around $100 U.S. a day each, we were on are way but not before watching at least two other companies go through the gate while our Motley Crew got organized. The first day was an easy six hour hike through the rainforest to Machame hut which was a nice start to the week. We had a light drizzle but it was a good day for hiking. We were fortunate enough to see a troop of black and white colobus monkeys on our way, the only animals we would see the whole trip. We arrived to Machame hut in good spirits and excited for our first night on the mountain. We came to our camp with our porters hurrying around to set up our tents. We were initially concerned to see that we had five small three person tents for five hikers and fourteen crew (guides, porters, and cooks). We were supposed to have three tents for us five hikers which meant that fourteen crewmembers were going to sleep in two tents. We had a group meeting and agreed that Jeff, Eno, and I could share so that they could have three tents for the fourteen of them; it was reassuring to know that they wouldn’t freeze at night with all those bodies in their tents.

Day two we woke up to fog and clouds and a light drizzle that wouldn’t stop on this day. We left Machame Hut and had a five hour walk for the day that would bring us out of tree line and to Shira Cave huts. Shira Caves are more like a group of about four scattered rock outcroppings that you might be able to fit a compact car under, which use to be popular places for the porters to sleep, but with new park regulations no one is allowed to stay in the ‘caves.’ Up until Shira Caves I had been doing my hike in Chaco sandals because I only had sandals and a pair of waterproof trail running shoes, not an ideal situation but my beloved hiking boots didn’t make it into the luggage back in Colorado. By this time most the Tanzanaias on the trail knew I was Ubungo which means I am not just a tourist, but live in Tanzania and can speak Kiswahili. When we arrived at Shira Caves a group of porters gathered around and was getting a kick out of me wearing sandals in the cold and me explaining to them that in Colorado sandals are always in season 12 months a year and that they weren’t just your any ordinary pair of sandals but Chacos.

On day three I finally swallowed my pride and wore my trail shoes, because our hiking professional Eno from Southern California a faithful member of the Sierra Club who has climbed every major peak in Southern California had informed me that his club would not allow someone with sandals on the trail regardless if he had a pack or not; we were hiking with day packs on with water and extra clothes in them while our porters carried our packs, very nice backpacks… on their heads. With my shoes tied tight we started off on our five hour hike to Barranco Hut. The day started off like the last cold, foggy, and drizzling. And the thing that started dawning on all of us was our camp would be one of the first ones up in the mornings but always the last group to leave, the Motley Crew was always a bit disorganized. It was about noon on our hike up to Lava Tower that day that the clouds cleared and the first glimpse of Kilimanjaro since our departure from Moshi town, and our first look at Mount Meru the only other prominent mountain around. It was beautiful and so surreal. For the last 48 hours we had been walking in a big cloud only able to see 20 meters around us and now in a matter of moments we were on the highest free-standing mountain, on our way to the highest point in Africa. Of course we had to stop and take a million pictures not knowing if this would be the only time the clouds would clear, after some time our guide Sam had a look like ‘you guys can’t honestly be taking more pictures.’ After filling our memory cards on our cameras we continued on to Lava Tower and stop for lunch at its base. Lava Tower is at 15225 feet which would mark the highest point of the day and it would mark the highest that Jeff or I have ever been on a mountain. Below Lava Tower was our first encounter with Thompson Safari Tours. Thompson Safari Tours is a U.S. based tour company that caters to the Champagne hikers, with their starting rate for a hike on Kilimanjaro being at least four times the cost we paid to hike. Talking with some hikers from the group they informed us this was the first time some of them had ever been hiking. Thompson Safari’s spared no expenses, with porters carrying everything from a sit down toilet to a shower tent up for the guest. If our Motley Crew was the budget tour company, Thompson Safari represented the other end of the spectrum. From this day on we always took great pride passing their group on the trail, it was like the kids from the other side of the tracks the ones who had to wear sandals to hike in but could still kick your butt. From Lava Tower we had to descend to our next Camp Barranco, and by the time we had reached camp we had walked back into the clouds. That night the clouds lifted and we had a beautiful night sky with a bazillion stars and a near full moon.

Day four started as usual as we watched all the other camps wake up and leave before us. And today we had to go up great Barranco, a stair step scrabble to the top of a ridge which we could see from our camp. It was comical watching people that morning in a continuous slow moving line of hikers and porters up this staircase of a climb to the top zigzagging across the mountain side. The climbed proved to be fairly easy that day with the slow pace that was forced by the staircase and the short hike to Karanga camp. We couldn’t believe it when we saw that for lunch Thompson Safari’s porters started ahead and set up two large tents with tables in them for the hikers just to eat lunch in. When they would finish their lunch the porters would take down the two tents and move ahead and set them up again at a different camp for the evening. Karanga camp was blessed with beautiful weather and an early arrival. Spent most the day sitting in the sun with clear skies around us and a sea of clouds below, reading a book, and watching Jeff chase ravens around that had swooped down and stolen his package of cookies. It was quiet humorous to see this raven flying away with an entire package of cookies and Jeff running after him and our porter friend Ayoubu telling me that the raven must be more cleaver then Jeff, a joke that would prove not to get old for the rest of our trip. In Jeff’s defense he did get his cookies back but felt he should relinquish some of his cookies to the raven for its gallant effort.

The following day would prove to be a nice easy hike to Baranco camp the last camp before our summit attempt. The hike was just three hours and Sam and I lightened the mood by teaching the rest of our group a simple little song in Swahili that became our marching song. I believed it might have started to annoy some of the other hikers around, not so much the song it self but the fact that we were passing other hikers out of breathe and we had enough to sing a nice little song that goes like this:

Jambo!

Jambo Bwana!

Habari gani?

Nzuri sana

Wageni, wakaribishwa

Kilimanjaro

Hakuna matata, hakuna matata

We arrived at Barafu Camp knowing that we were going to need to spend the day resting because we would be leaving that night at midnight to start our summit attempt with the expectation of reaching the summit for the sun rise. Barafu Camp was on a steep ridge just below the base of the glaciers at the top of Kilimanjaro. Day five was blessed with great weather and great views of Mawenzi peak from Barafu Camp. This to me seamed very unusal to have consitend good weather at this altitude. I am use to the peaks in Colorado where storms seem to roll in and out every couple of hours. The mood around camp was somber and full of anxiety. Jacob, one of the Danish volunteers, was feeling pretty ill, partly from the altitude and party from some dysentery he had acquired. I think we were all nervous, it was like the night before the big game. We tried to sleep and rest but I don’t know if we a got a single continuous hour of sleep before we would leave.

We awoke at midnight to a very cold evening and a slow start, again. We didn’t leave camp until one a.m. and Jacob ended up staying behind to get a full nights rest and he would start later in the morning after us. We were blessed with a full moon and it was a memorable feeling walking up the mountain that morning by moon light to see head lamps dance on the mountain side from the other hikers. This hike would prove to be exponentially more difficult then the rest of the days. The weather was cold around -10 Celsius, our water ended up being so cold that it was upsetting our stomachs at that altitude, and all of us were dealing with some degree of altitude sickness. The hike was slow, especially when we were walking on the snow fields, and the thin air influencing everyone. The push to Stela Point proved to be the most taxing. We were walking on a snow stair case and every step you took required its own breath. When we reached Stela Point we took a nice break and now had Uhuru Peak in our sight the highest point in Africa, the summit of Kilimanjaro, and dawn was upon us. We all got our second wind and pushed to the top. Jeff and I were talking as we prepared for the trip and the investment that it was for us and joked that if we didn’t reach the top that we would end up crying. But when Jeff and I reached the summit we both got choked up with the emotion of what we had accomplished and the beauty of the summit at sunrise. We were surrounded by glaciers and the beauty of God and could see for miles around. We had accomplished what we set out to do: 03˚04’35 South 037˚21’14 East elevation 19,340 feet…priceless!

The descend back down to Barafu Camp was enjoyable doing rapid mountain descent down scree fields and to see Eno who had fallen behind on our way continuing on to the summit and then to see Jacob on his way up to the summit feeling better than the night before. We got back down to camp by eleven a.m. and finished our whiskey and enjoyed a peaceful nap in celebration waiting for Eno and Jacob to return. That afternoon we would pack up and descent to Mweka Hut. Arriving at Mweka hut was notable putting to rest a very long and taxing day.

The finale day from Mweka hut to Mweka Gate was very tough on the knees dropping 15,000 feet in a matter of twenty four hours, pain that could only be healed with cold beers. The last day was a bit frustrating because it was the day to tip our guides and porters. The night before Simba came to our tent and did his nightly “How you feel everybody?” check in and game plan for the next day. Where he informed us that he should receive a 30% tip and just to give him the tips for the rest of the group and he would distribute it how he saw fit… We didn’t see it that way at all and I had to explain to him the concept of tipping, which is no way customary in Tanzania culture but is expected on Kilimanjaro and Safaris from tourist. Long story short some- of the guides and porters were very happy with their tips and others felt short changed. I guess you can’t please everybody.

The overall experience of Kilimanjaro was great. The finances of the entire trip definitely left its wounds on this volunteer but wounds that will easily be forgotten in time for the sake of an experience with a good friend and a great adventure that will never be forgotten.