Today we started our Kilimanjaro climb. We were picked up at our hotel at 9am for the drive from Arusha to Kilimanjaro. We had two jeeps for the eight of us. On the drive, we stopped at what looked like a normal mini mart, but also doubled as a strip joint (or some derivation of one). We all got snacks and last purchases before we wouldn’t be able to get anything for six days. The drive took about an hour, then we turned down a dirt road that led to the Machame route (or Whiskey Route, which apparently references the views – ie. You feel drunk from the beauty, or something like that).
We got to Machame gate and met our third guide, Peter. Peter is the step brother of Stacey, who owns/runs the company that we used for our trip, Duma Explorer (www.dumaexplorer.com) . She is American and met her husband, who is Tanzanian, here about 9 years ago when she was here doing an HIV project (her first job). Peter is adorable and very western-looking, as are our other two guides, Godbless and Msuri. I didn’t believe Godbless’s name when Msuri first told us his name. Godbless? Really? Apparently, he goes by God for short, no joke. He doesn’t like that, so clearly I only called him ‘God’. As I told him, Godbless? Your parents must have had high hopes.
It’s raining and we all sign the book at the Machame gate with our names, ages, where we live, who our guides are, etc. Apparently, it’s illegal to go up without a guide, and permits to hike are extremely expensive. We all get our lunches, take a few snapshots, and start hiking. Today’s hike is supposed to be about 6 hours, through the rainforest, from 1250M to 3000M (times 3.3 to get to feet). We all start and the pace is very slow. Clearly I can’t handle the slow pace, so MK and I go a little faster (but not fast at all). Despite protests from our guides, we finally break away from the group. I hadn’t run in like 2 days, so I needed to burn some energy.
MK and I continue up through the rainforest and our porters pass us one by one. For our group of 8, we had a total of 26 staff with us. Our head guide, Msuri; our guide, Godbless; Assistant Guide, Peter; Cook, assistant cook, and a slew of porters to carry our stuff, set up our tents, etc. We thought the number of porters seemed high, but it’s really necessary for all of the stuff we need, including all food for the 6 days. MK and I stopped every 45 minutes for 15 minutes to let the group catch up, but we had made too much ground. Soon, Godbless caught up with us and made us slow down.
After about 3-4 hours, we made it to camp. There were a few other hikers in the midst, including a couple from the UK. Our porters greeted us enthusiastically, which was adorable. Our camp had 4 tents, 2 people each, a tent for the porters, one for the guides, a ‘toilet tent’ (basically a patio chair with a hole in it and a bag to catch the goods – amazing), and our dining tent. It was really a lot nicer than I had expected. MK and I took a tent together, since we were the first to arrive, did some nominal washing in the warm water they gave us, and waited for the others. Everyone else arrived about 45 minutes later. As the sun started going down, it started getting really cold, but the rain stopped.
Shortly after the rest of the group arrived, it was time for tea. We went into the dining tent and had tea, hot chocolate, and popcorn. It was great. We soon discovered that they wanted to feed us liquids as often as possible. After tea, it was soon time for dinner. Dinner was soup, rice, vegetables, and tilapia. Since I don’t eat fish, I just had the rest. MK, who doesn’t eat gluten, was given a bunch of separate stuff. They were great about accommodating her allergy. Kim, who doesn’t eat anything but meat, filled up on the Tilapia.
After dinner, more tea and hot chocolate, then we all went to bed. It was freezing. It really gets cold on the mountain at night, but we curled up into our sleeping bags. We would get up the next morning at 6am.
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