One of my trek-mates, Nick Bellingham, also blogged the trip. I'm sharing his words here, in case anyone visiting this site would like a different perspective. If you're stumbling upon this because you're scouring the internet in preparation for your upcoming Kili trek, you'll enjoy this British take on things! ...
Onward to the roof of Africa
by kilisheroes @
2014-07-17 – 14:30:25
Day one: Sunday 6th July
So we had been in Tanzania for four days, we’d
enjoyed a two day safari, and far too many Kilimanjaro beers (what can I say;
they are lovely!), but the real business of the trip was about to begin. We'd
trained hard, we'd bought everything we needed, we'd had last minute scares
with lost luggage, but here we finally were ready to take on one of the seven
summits, the highest mountain in Africa; Kilimanjaro! Jon's rucksack arrived
the night before and we spent three hours or more packing. I believe the actual
order of things was pack-weigh-panic-unpack-repack-reweigh-relax. We woke at
0600 ready for our collection time of 0800 and, very surprisingly, we had no
last minute hitches and didn't forget any of our stuff!
Our group consisted of three American women, Liz,
Jen and Jen's sister Sara, a Swede, Per Magnus, and of course the gruesome
twosome, Jon and I. Would the previous four days of conquering Kilimanjaro beer
stop us conquering the mountain? Only time would tell.
After a brief stop for the driver and our guide
Leo to have breakfast we were off on our way, next stop; Londorossi Gate for
registration and weigh in formalities. The trip was mostly on rough roads, the
type that makes the slightly potholed roads in the UK feel like a formula one
race track, and gave us what is euphemistically known as an "African
massage".
The crowds at Londorossi were huge, it seems
Lemosho, while still one of the quieter routes, is rapidly gaining in
popularity. Due to the delay we decided lunching at the gate was best. once
done we were back in the truck and off to Lemosho start point (2424m asl),
enjoying another brief "massage" along the way, where we alighted for
the final time, filled our water bottles and pulled the boot laces tight. The
last chance to bottle out was gone so off we went climbing slowly and
travelling at a pace of "pole pole" (pronounced po-lay, po-lay) which
means "slowly slowly" in Swahili. The path was surprisingly well laid
out and had half logs held in place by chocks marking out clear 'steps' for the
walkers. The rainforest was spectacular, just the one path through the densest
Bush and forest you could imagine. The trees were alive with the sound of bird
song and black and white Colobus monkeys could be heard communicating from tree
to tree, but early on nothing could be seen. I kept my eyes and ears open for
wildlife, including leopard, though the chances of seeing that particular
animal this close to the path was virtually nought. I was also hoping we might
see some eland, a small antelope, as I'd read if you move slowly and quietly
there was a chance. Unfortunately it was like Piccadilly Circus as porter after
porter would pass us, then we'd either pass, or be passed by, another group. I
shouldn't have been surprised, as Lemosho was becoming more and more popular,
but it was a little disappointing.
The trek continued at a leisurely pace as the
group took in the beautiful surroundings and eventually we were rewarded with a
small group of Colobus monkeys in the trees just off the path. Snaps a plenty
were taken and we moved on, leaving the mildly bemused monkeys to their trees.
We reached Big Tree Camp at about 1730 to be greeted by the very surprising
sight of dozens of tents, probably around 100 other people and plenty of
activity. It wasn't what we had expected, but full moon summit nights are
popular and we are at least on a unique route that will take us away from most
of the crowds. We all signed the register and, as the temperature was slowly
starting to drop as night closed in, we found our tents and gladly took our day
packs off, collected our rucksacks from our porters and removed our boots. We
had walked 5.4km and gained 396m of altitude.
It was about an hour from then that we were
brought hot water to wash up and get ready for tea, and most paid a not overly
enthusiastic visit to our toilet. I say toilet, it was a tent with a bucket,
but we knew we'd be roughing it!
So once we'd all voided our bladders, we sat down
in the mess tent for popcorn, biscuits and a hot drink, before the proper food
came out some time later. By this time the temperature had dropped
significantly and we were all glad of some steaming hot leek soup followed by
fish with potatoes, veg and a nice sauce. It was delicious, and everyone tucked
in with gusto, our compliments went to our chef "Chilli", and we
chatted and enjoyed a cup of something hot until the rapidly decreasing temperature
sent us to our sleeping bags for the night.
Day two: Monday 7th July
So it turns out that sleeping in a sleeping bag
laid out across a raised tree root is not enjoyable. Who knew!? I struggled to
sleep at all due to the comfort - or lack thereof - and being too hot in my
sleeping bag. It was kind of catch 22, too cold for just my bag liner, but too
hot for a four season bag.
What was enjoyable was being woken by a
"natural alarm clock" at 0600. Colobus monkeys were having a long and
loud conversation from tree to tree above and around the camp. Lovely stuff.
I started to arrange a few things for the day
until; at 0630 our porters brought hot drinks to help get us going. Breakfast
was served at 0730 and started with hot porridge followed by eggs toast and "sausages"
(they were hot dogs). The breakfasts weren’t as good as the lunches and teas,
but it was important we ate at all meal times and it did set us up nicely. A
hot wash and visit to the delightfully smelling latrine and we were ready to go.
Our Swedish friend Per Magnus decided to leave a little earlier with William,
one of the assistant guides, so today would just be the ladies, Jon and myself.
The temperature had risen quickly from when we woke and was gradually getting
warmer and warmer as the morning continued. We walked for maybe a mile under
the cover of the forest trees, until emerging into bright, sunshine soaked
moorland. The many ups and downs awaiting us looked challenging and we could
see other trekkers on the path rising far into the distance. We put our
sunglasses on, took a brief drink break and strode on. The promise of our first
views of Kibo later on kept us keen, but wouldn't be achieved without some
effort. We'd be gaining over 750m of altitude at times today, taking us above
3500m and into the realm of the potentially deadly HAPO and HACO.
The views were very beautiful as we ascended and
descended the many ridges and folds of the Shira ridge, and we took our time at
drinks breaks to take in the magnificent scenery. The seemingly relentless
ascent finally gave way to a slight descent to a small bridge over a stream
where many porters rested. We continued on up another steep ascent to a small
rest stop where we took a longer break for snacks and drinks. Although the trek
so far had been quite testing it was here that things seemed to get a lot
harder. The previous day and a half climbing had been almost exclusively on the
smooth well defined "steps", but now it became much rougher, as steps
were replaced by rocks and boulders and the angle of ascent was definitely much
steeper. It was very tough going and we stopped from time to time for a drink
or a picture looking back at the spectacular scenery but we were all doing well
and feeling fine so on we pushed. A little way into a particularly steep
section there was a noise behind as Jon took a wrong step and ended up in the
brush, his ankle was twisted slightly but he was ok and happy to continue.
Eventually we reached the highest point we would
today, Leo informed us, and the path took us to the north and flattened out and
we were greeted by something that gave us all a huge boost. Our first view of
Kibo. A truly awe inspiring sight, no words nor pictures could ever do it
justice. It's nigh on impossible to explain the surge of adrenalin and
excitement you get when you first set eyes on this most beautiful mountain.
Obviously there were pictures, panoramic pictures and videos a plenty taken and
we started a small descent down into our camp for the evening at Shira 1. We
had been trekking for several hours, making sure we were travelling pole pole,
and had covered 7.7km whilst gaining 687m in altitude.
Lunch was served about half an hour later in the
mess tent and we were treated - and the food really IS a treat - to a
magnificent pumpkin and ginger soup followed by pasta and vegetables.
Carbohydrate heavy as we would be setting off on an afternoon excursion as a
little extra trek to keep us wired and hopefully aid acclimatisation.
We set off at 1515 on the mini trek, without Per
Magnus who had decided not to join us, and after a few minutes we started to
climb. Eventually we looked back to see we had gained quite a bit of height and
could see all across the camp. A little while later I came a cropper on a loose
rock and made myself look an arse. Still, a valuable lesson learned; if you
want to have a drink from a bottle, stop walking! As we would all come to
appreciate at some point during our trek, the second you take your eye off the
trail you will slip, trip or stumble!
I was fine, dusty but fine, and on we continued
until we reached as far as we would go on this short excursion. We looked back
to see we had gained significant altitude from camp and so we were all quite
happy, stopping for ten or fifteen minutes before descending and returning to
camp.
Tea was about to be served so we washed up, got
out of our boots and headed to the mess tent once again, and once again we were
in for a treat, more pumpkin soup served in a large hollowed out vegetable of
some description with carrot decoration and a carrot handle. Very impressive at
any time, but at 3500m on a mountain? incredible. AND the soup was again
marvellous. This was followed by rice, veg and two whole chickens which we all
ravaged leaving very little left overs again!
Another hour or so spent drinking tea and
chatting with our new American and Swedish friends, teaching the American girls
some proper English like ‘our kid’ and ‘knackered’, before we all retired to
our tents, the glorious warm sunshine replaced by a very cold clear evening. It
was obvious that tonight was going to be extremely cold, Leo saying that it
would likely freeze!
We quickly changed and clambered, exhausted but
excited, into our bags ready for day 3!
Day three: Tuesday 8th July
During the previous afternoon's acclimatisation
trek, Christopher had explained to us that they sometimes get water buffalo,
jackals and even lions(!) wandering across the plateau at night. At the time I
thought he was joking, but when I heard a growling in the night I wasn't so sure.
I thought I'd probably imagined or dreamt it, but I didn't enjoy having to take
a pee in the middle of the night, I can tell you!
We woke properly at 0600, again I didn't sleep
too well but at least I didn't have a tree root in my back, so I was grateful
for small mercies. It was another bright day, cold until the sun came up but
soon warming. Breakfast was the same as day before and was difficult to get
down, the porridge is awful, but we had a go and consoled ourselves that
whatever we leave is eaten by the porters. It was at breakfast that I mentioned
the growling, and Jen said she'd heard it too, so I guess we did have a visitor
in the night!
Again per Magnus left early as he likes a
non-pole pole pace, and a mix up with the water purification meant we had to
empty our bottles and wait for more water, so the girls left with Mango and we
followed with Leo ten minutes later.
We soon caught up to the girls and on we went,
today's walking would take us 9.4km with an altitude gain of about 650m and
it'd take about five hours, mostly on a dusty trail. As the terrain was mostly
"mountain flat" (two words we were delighted to hear after day two's
steep trek) the pace was good, at one point we crossed the emergency vehicle
road and hoped it'd be the last time we saw it.
Eventually we came to the inevitable steep
section and had a bit of a scramble up and over some rocks, but once at the top
the views over the plateau were great. Unfortunately, persistent clouds around
Kibo meant we couldn't see the peak. Still, plenty of good pictures were taken.
We carried on, passing through a very muddy
stretch, completely at odds with the rest of the days trek on dry, dusty
trails, outside a cave before arriving at Moir Hut camp around 1300 for lunch.
Lunch was again incredible, a cucumber and herb
soup followed by chips and marinated strips of steak. I will say this again and
again; how they make such high quality food (the soups especially) at such
altitudes and sometimes in gale force winds on little more than a camping stove
is mind boggling!
An hour after lunch we had another short but
steep, and no doubt very helpful, acclimatisation walk up the path we'd be
taking the next day to a ridge about 1km away and 150m higher than camp. As has
been his way since Forest Camp, Per Magnus shot ahead of us. It was a steep,
scree strewn path but we zigzagged our way up and spent around 45 minutes
taking pictures, acclimatising and chatting. Some distance to the south west we
spotted Mount Meru peeking above the clouds. Located outside Arusha, Meru stands
around 4560m and is often used as a practice trek for Kilimanjaro climbers. It
was a very impressive sight, more of a classic peaked mountain top, as opposed
to the more plateau top of Kilimanjaro.
As we headed back down we could see the sun would
be setting not long before tea somewhere in the direction of forest camp (west,
obviously) so we got our cameras ready and managed to take some great snaps. We
then turned around and took some more pictures of the beautiful moon.
Then in for tea, again it was good, spaghetti and
meatballs with veg on the side. As is the way at this sort if altitude, if
there is no sun to warm you, it gets very cold, very quick, so we all retired
not long after tea to get into our bags and keep warm.
Day four: Wednesday 9th July
We were again up for 0600 to get washed up, have
breakfast and set off from Moir Hut around 0800, bound for Pofu Camp, on the
Northern Circuit. We headed up the same path as last night's acclimatisation
walk and stopped briefly at the top for some pictures before carrying on.
From what Leo had said, and what we'd read
previously ourselves we knew the next two days would be ending at slightly
lower altitudes, which would really help us for the final two ascent days.
While never overly challenging, the route had plenty of up and downs and the
terrain and scenery changed several times. We would go from smooth dusty paths
to small loose rock paths to slopes strewn with scree and then have to clamber
down some boulders, and we'd be back on a smooth path again. All the while the
views seemed to go from looking like they were straight out of a spaghetti
western to then take on an almost Martian look. It was quite strange.
Anyway we carried on, the scree slopes caused all
of us some difficulty at times as our boots couldn't get any grip on it, it was
so deep. Eventually we reached a very rocky section, where the poles were put
aside and some minor climbing, both up and down was required. We all managed
well, with a helping hand here and there, and eventually we came upon our next
camp; Pofu. We were delighted to find that we were the only ones in camp, as
ours was a unique route only offered by Team Kilimanjaro. Today we had trekked
9.4km and actually descended some 120m.
We had a free afternoon today as no acclimatisation
trek was planned, so we had lunch - again brilliant - and sat outside the tents
having a chat until tea. Again the food was great, and as the sun went down and
the temperature dropped we all went to our tents to prepare for the next day.
Leo reliably informing us that it would be much the same as today. When all the
preparations were done we hit the hay as the wind started to pick up.
Soon enough it was blowing a gale, and Benny, one
of our brilliant porters, had to relocate the toilet tent somewhere out of the
wind, and hammer deeper the stakes holding all our tent's guy ropes. We all
hoped this wind would have passed by tomorrow!
Day five: Thursday 10th July
Despite the gale outside I dropped off very
quickly and slept until the early hours. When I woke up the wind had died
completely and the skies were clear again to give us another sunny day to walk
in.
We ate breakfast at 0800 (we were afforded a lie
in as today's walk was a short one) got ready and set off at about 0900. Just
like Leo had said the terrain was much the same as yesterday, lots of scree
slopes, dusty paths and some minor clambering over boulders and our immediate
vista again flip flopped between The Good The Bad And The Ugly and Total
Recall!
We came to our camp for the evening, 3rd Cave
Camp, at almost noon and were ready for some lunch before another
acclimatisation walk. The day's hike had taken us just 6.7km and we'd again
descended, this time by around 70m. Lunch was pasta and a chicken sauce served
with veg, and some pineapple to follow. Tremendous.
We rested up before the acclimatisation walk, Jon
and i sitting on a bench in camp watching the clouds pass over, and sometimes
right through, camp! The temperature change between being in the sunshine and
sitting in a cloud blowing through was enormous, surely a difference of between
10-15°C. Eventually it was time for our pre-prandial sojourn a short way up the
slope of what would be tomorrow's gruelling trek and we gained around 150m. The
terrain was mostly dust and scree again, and the wind had picked up, so we knew
what to expect tomorrow.
After 20 minutes resting and picture taking, we
headed back down to camp and had a good scrub before tea. This time it was
fresh naan bread with a vegetable curry for dipping, and it was delicious.
A cup of tea and a chat later and it was time for
bed. The wind was again starting to pick up and the temperature had dropped,
but we were all feeling fit and healthy ready for the start of the push.
Day six: Friday 11th July
I woke early and was up just in time to catch the
sunrise, bathing Kibo in a fantastic orange glow.
We ate breakfast and set off for our summit camp
at School Hut. Today was going to be the first of two tough days, after the
last three relatively easy ones where we had lost a little altitude. We would
be gaining 750m of altitude in little under 5km of trekking, so quite a steep
trek lay ahead of us. It started quite easily, but the path got steeper and
steeper with every step.
The terrain was definitely more Martian than wild
west today, very sparse and gritty all around. We took a very gentle pole pole
pace - apart, of course, from Per Magnus who again shot ahead - as we would be
gaining so much altitude in such a short distance, and we were all on our guard
for signs of mountain sickness.
About half way into the trek we came across the
decomposing corpse of an Amboseli water buffalo that Leo said had come up this
high from the Kenyan park to look for minerals in the rocks, and had somehow
become trapped and died. The porters had pulled the dead animal out and left it
posed in position about three years before. The lack of significant
decomposition was remarkable, probably because of the altitude we were at.
Anyway, we carried on, onto the final steep
section of the trek and we continued to take it really slowly until we finally
arrived in camp, all of us clear headed and happy with the day.
As we'd be up again for the summit assault at
midnight we went to bed in the afternoon for a nap, and were called for tea
where Leo went through the requirements and what we should expect the next day.
He seemed perfectly happy with how we were all
doing and assured us if we got a few hours rest and went slowly the next day,
we'd make it to the top.
I went to bed feeling reassured and confident,
yet sleep eluded me, and when 2300 came around I'd not managed one minute of
sleep.
Day seven: Saturday 12th July – SUMMIT DAY!
So this was it, the big day! The previous six
days had been challenging at times but mostly quite manageable and comfortable.
Today, however was likely to be the complete polar opposite of what we'd done
for half of our trek so far. We would need to climb some 980m just to reach
Gilman's Point, and from there it would be another 190m to Uhuru Peak.
We were all ready, head torches on, though not
entirely necessary due to the beautiful full moon and clear skies. As was
standard for night time on the mountain, the temperature had dropped
significantly but the wind, thankfully, stayed calm. We were all in our cold weather
gear, wearing many layers so that we could peel them off as necessary. A deep
breath, and we set off, walking across the scree from School Hut to join the
main path up to Gilman's Point. I won't lie, I felt pretty awful almost
immediately, the lack of sleep had most definitely not helped and I felt
completely lacking in energy. Thankfully the pace was very slow and steady,
more so than any other day so far, otherwise I might have had to turn back.
Though I was free of headache and didn't feel nauseated, I was struggling to
get my breath properly. Sara came to the rescue with a Gu sachet... it must be
an American thing because I'd never heard of it, but I gratefully forced it
down and it certainly perked me up for the next hour or so. Thank you Sara!
Unfortunately, as we neared the point where we
would join the main path, the wind really started to pick up, causing noses to
run and making windburn inevitable. Wearing large gauntlet style gloves made
fishing a handkerchief or tissue out of the pocket nigh on impossible, so, as
scruffy as it was to do, I opted for the cuffs of my gloves as my nose wipes!
Unfortunately they aren't made of the smoothest material so I was left with a
very sore nose indeed! As we joined the main path, and the throngs of people on
their own treks, we were told it was now just after 0200. I tried not to think
about how much longer we'd take to reach Gilman's and concentrated on breathing
and going as slowly as possible.
It wasn't until after the trek that I realised
what Leo had done for us on the summit trek. He placed Mango at the front of
the group and "assigned" him to look after Jen, who was the leader of
our group. He had obviously noted on the previous days treks that Jen was more
likely to follow the pole pole mantra and, being at the front of the group,
this would obviously slow us all down, which is precisely what was needed. Each
one of us had a guide assigned to us, mine seemed to be Ali, who would keep a
keen eye on us and help us when needed. We took rests often, but never for more
than a couple of minutes as the temperature was now below freezing with the
wind really picking up. My hands were very cold despite the liner gloves and
the thick gauntlets and I was again having trouble with my energy levels. This
time it was Leo to the rescue with a can of red bull, and this definitely did
the trick. From here on in I was fine in terms of energy, though I was still
struggling to breathe a little. I concentrated on getting my breathing right
and taking deep breaths and things seemed to improve, though every time I
looked up the headlamps that lit the way to Gilman's Point seemed to stretch
further and further upward! Would we ever reach the top!?
The scree on the slope as we zigzagged forever
upward was deep and difficult to traverse, it was a case of taking one step
forward, only to slide back half a step as grit and scree gave way under my
weight. Losing footing slightly was a regular occurrence and what would
normally just be a simple case of regaining one's footing became a slow and
arduous task with only 25% of normal oxygen levels to try and survive on.
We struggled on, passing other groups with
members who were vomiting, and some who were heading down the mountain,
obviously having succumbed to some form of AMS. At one point we saw a guide
holding his client by the scruff of the neck and haring down the steep slope,
desperately trying to get them to the safety of lower altitude. I hope they
made it!
By this time I was too exhausted to really take
in what I'd just seen, and our war of attrition against the steep scree slope
continued as we slowly plodded on. Eventually the long line of lights leading
to Gilman's Point became shorter. We were nearly there. The wind eased slightly
as the beautiful moonlit night started to give way to an orange tint on the
horizon behind Mawenzi as the sun slowly began to rise.
We made it to Gilman's Point at dawn and that
feeling of elation and relief as you climb over a few boulders on to the flat
path next to the Gilman's Point sign is indescribable. A handshake, fist bump
and a few pictures later and it would be very easy, at this point, to think
you've done it and you can relax. But the guides then explain that Uhuru is
still some 90 minutes walk away, via Stella Point, across the crater rim. My
elation drained a little at this news, but I was confident the hardest part was
over - the terrain was much flatter, and not as demanding - so we took a short
break and then carried on. As I stepped out from behind the protective rocks at
Gilman's Point I was immediately hit by a very strong wind blowing dust into my
face. It was difficult to deal with the grit as I was wearing contact lenses,
even with wraparound sunglasses on! I screwed my eyes up, lifted an arm as
protection, and carried on, before taking a brief refuge behind rocks at Stella
Point.
At this point Ali took my backpack, I'd not
repacked the camera properly at Gilman's Point, and I tried to adjust it as I
walked, and Ali must have assumed I was having back and/or lung trouble so took
the weight from me. I was happy to let him!
While I could gave continued without the help, I
certainly wasn't going to turn down the offer, and so I let Ali continue with
my bag as I set off into the biting cold wind once again, all my thoughts focussed
on getting to the sign off in the distance. Uhuru Peak!
As the group trudged slowly on towards Uhuru we
became a little detatched from one another, reaching the sign apart. At this
point I was a little emotional, and kept myself to myself for a few moments off
to one side, thinking about family back home and my Dad who had passed away 18
months before, not long after we’d started planning for this trip. I am sure
he’d have been very proud.
Once recovered, and everyone else had now arrived
at the sign, the hugs, fist bumps and handshakes were given out and we all set
about taking a few snaps, before crowding around the sign for the group
picture. I could have done with four sets of eyes as there was just so much to
take in, I wanted to gaze at everything all at once! There was the Furtwängler
glacier, the Eastern and Southern ice fields, the Reusch Crater and ash pit,
Mawenzi off to the East and Mount Meru towering above the clouds again away to
the South West.
Given that we were now as high as it was possible
to go, we weren’t allowed to stay up at the top for long, so after maybe twenty
or thirty minutes we were told by Leo to start descending, pole pole – not only
now invalid, but actively discouraged – was replaced by haraka haraka and we
all rushed off back to Stella Point to head down the steep scree slope to
Barafu camp for a well earned twenty minute rest. The time now was around 1100
so we had been trekking for eleven hours and we were exhausted.
The day was still not finished however as we had
to get from Barafu camp (thank goodness we weren’t staying there, it was
crowded and easily the worst camp we had seen on the mountain) to our camp for
the night at Millenium Camp (3820m). So our climb today had taken us up 1170m
from School Hut to Uhuru Peak via Gilman’s Point, and then back down by 2075m
to Millenium Camp, all in the distance of about 13km. Very, very tough indeed.
It’s fair to say we were all exhausted, but as we
spoke in the mess tent over another great tea from Chilli, we revealed the
difficulties we had each had. I myself had had one or two slight pains in the
chest when trying to take deep breaths on top of the energy issues at the start
and middle of the trek, Per Magnus – who had gone ahead of the pack – had some
altitude issues at the top, but managed to hang around until we all arrived,
Sara had struggled with energy levels on the steep climb in the darkness, but
like me had been saved by Leo and Red Bull, and Jon’s gums were bleeding,
possibly because to the dust and grit being blown in his face and the below
freezing temperatures. Perhaps most impressive was Liz, who had been having
trouble with her heels and toes for the last few days due to not being fitted
properly for her boots. She had made it to Stella Point and was all but ready
to give up, but two of the guides linked her arms and took her that little
further, step by step until she got to the top. It was a great effort, and
sitting at the table with the group having achieved a 100% success rate was
brilliant. We all slept pretty soundly that night!
Day eight – Sunday 13th July
The next day was the long descent to Mweka camp
and then Mweka gate for the sign out process and to pick up the certificates. I
found today very hard on my knees which had taken the brunt of the quick
descent the day before and were none too cooperative! The path descended from
the moorland back to the rainforest and the path became muddier and slippier
than on any other day so far, so it was slow going over some rocks.
At one point Mango pointed out to us a great view
back to Kibo through the trees and we took a few snaps. I had my eyes and ears
open again for wildlife, but it wasn’t until we were almost at Mweka gate that
we saw some more Colobus monkeys in the trees above. They decided they wanted
to give us a good send off, and congratulated us on our achievement by trying
to pee on us from the branches above!
It had been a long slog up the mountain, but we
had been fortunate to have good weather, great people in our group, brilliant
and knowledgeable guides, the best chef on the mountain, and friendly, hard
working (very hard working) porters! It is an experience I will never forget
and will no doubt bore people with for many years to come (sorry!). We were now
finished, exhausted, and filthy, but I am pretty sure I speak for the whole
group when I say if we’d been asked how we were doing, we’d have all replied poa
kichizi kama ndizi, ndani ya friji. We may not have had the ‘cool’ of Leo when
saying it, but still!
Once we reached the gate, we signed out, piled in
the bus with our guides and porters (a 20 seater that held about 40), and
headed off to Moshi for the certificate presentation and a celebratory meal.
It took about 90 minutes to get back to Arusha,
and we said our goodbyes (they were too brief, but getting on and off the bus
was a challenge too far! Kilimanjaro; easy, tackling the assault course of an overloaded
bus; hell no!). We checked back into the hotel and, somewhat paradoxically, I
had possibly the greatest shower I’ve ever had, in the worst shower I’ve ever
seen!
I hope this provides some enjoyment and/or
insight into eight days on an alternative Lemosho trek on Kilimanjaro. Anyone
who would like more information on climbing the mountain should visit the
brilliant Henry Stedman’s (he literally wrote the book on Kilimanjaro) website
at www.climbmountkilimanjaro.com. What he doesn’t know about Kili you could
write on the back of a stamp.
