Start: Barranco Camp (Elevation = 13,074 ft)
End: Barafu Base Camp (Elevation = 15,358 ft)
This morning was clear and cold. When we woke up around 7 AM, we could already see a string of hikers and porters climbing up the Barranco Wall. Barranco wall is a near vertical wall very close to camp. It is a climb of ~800 ft to get over the wall.
Steph and Simko were still not feeling well from the altitude. Steph rolled her pants into her sleeping bag (it is best to sleep with your clothes to keep them warm) and was late for breakfast.
This was the longest day of hiking so far. ~8 hours of hiking total and a lot of elevation gain. We stopped at the Karanga Camp site for lunch about halfway through the hike. Some people actually turn this day into two days to keep the day before the summit hike from being too strenuous.
The Karanga valley is also the last point where water was available. The porters made us tea and refilled our water bottles at the lunch stop. They also filled containers for cooking and to refill our bottles for the hike to the summit. We spent ~1 hour at the lunch stop. It was cloudy and dusty and all of us were tired so we appreciated the extended rest.
After lunch it was basically steadily uphill to the base camp. Shortly after starting the hike after lunch, we saw a porter who had hurt his knee. He was shivering and appeared to be going into shock on the side of the trail. Azizi helped him and we gave him some pain medication, granola bars and hand warmers. We waited down the trail while Azizi helped to bandage his knee. It was a long way down the mountain for him.
We finally made it to base camp around 5 PM and signed in at the hut. At this elevation, even just climbing from the start of the camp to the hut was a chore. The site was very rocky and many of the rocks were unstable making the walk around camp tricky. Immediately started unpacking the duffel bags and getting the cold weather gear out for the summit night.
Dinner was around 7 PM and was noddles with ground beef and red sauce. Some who were suffering the effects of altitude did not eat much, but all ate as much as they could as there was a long night ahead.
Went back to the tents after dinner to finish getting organized for the hike. Put foot warmers in the boots to keep them somewhat warm. Slept in two pairs of wool socks. Three pair of pants (base layer, fleece pants, and hiking pants). Long-sleeved base layer and wool hat. Put jackets and all water bottles in the sleeping bag to prevent them from freezing.
Finally went to sleep around 9:00 PM. Did not sleep well, as the adrenoline was flowing getting ready for the night. Also, was anxious about whether the group would make it to the summit. Wake up call is at 11:00 PM.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Hike Day 3: New Shira Camp to Barranco Camp
Start: New Shira Camp (Elevation = 12,620 ft)
High Point: Lava Tower (Elevation = 15,230 ft)
End: Barranco Camp (Elevation = 13,074 ft)
Cold this morning at camp. Ice fell off of the tent when opening the zipper in the morning. The whole tent was covered in frost / ice. Woke up at 6:30 AM, again before the call for breakfast. Very glad to have a -20 degree sleeping bag. Simko and Steph both have headaches from the altitude. Breakfast was:
- Oatmeal
- Mango
- Small Omelette-like things w/ peppers and carrots
- Sausage
Wore base layers and fleeces to start out in the morning after breakfast. The sun was out and the summit was visible so soon the fleeces were shed. Godfrey, our assistant guide, was leading us this day. Azizi said he hadn't slept well so he stayed behind at camp and caught up with us later. Since porters leave after we do and arrive at camp well before, you are constantly being passed by them. We developed an acronym 'PCT' = Porter Coming Through.. This was usually followed by the direction they were coming from. For example: PCT Left, and we would move to the right.
Another development is that we refused to say the word 'rain' after the bad luck we had with it the first day. Azizi called it the 'bad friend' so we called it that for the rest of the trip. Azizi also taught us that Juah was the word for sun in Swahili so we started refering to it as the 'good friend' or Juah. We thought of ideas for T-shirts with Juah involved, but didn't figure there was any way of making it appropriate enough to wear anywhere.
We were going very 'pole pole' behind Godfrey as we climbed steadily upward towards lava tower (~15,000 ft). Unfortunately, by the time we arrived our 'bad friend' had returned in the form of sleet. There is actually a large lava tower at this point which is supposed to be interesting to look at, but unfortunately we could hardly even see it through the clouds and sleet. This was also our lunch stop and we all agreed that a quick lunch was in order here given the conditions. Lunch was again a bag lunch including:
- Egg + Tomato sandwich
- 'Hot Pocket' with curry, carrots, pepper
- Orange Juice
- Small banana
- Fried chicken
The rest of the day was all downhill. The point of going to lava tower is to get used to the altitude slowly. One climbs to a high altitude but sleeps lower. There wasn't much going 'pole pole' on the way downhill given the conditions. We all used our hiking poles, but then Godfrey stopped us shortly thereafter and had all of us collapse all of our poles. From what we could tell, he felt like holding the metal poles in the cold could cause our hands to freeze somehow. We are all planning to use them on summit night, though.
The vegetation in this area is very strange. Most of the plants are very small at this elevation, but there are some very large ones which almost look like a palm tree on the top (picture below). At one point, we stopped for a quick break and Steph dropped her waterbottle on a rock which spilled a decent amount of the water and put a large dent in it. Fortunately, it did not puncture the bottle to the point where it leaked.
At ~3:30, we arrived at camp just as it started to rain again. We stayed in the camp and got orgainzed until we were called for tea and popcorn. After tea, the warden stopped by the tents asking us to sign in. Dinner was at ~6:00 and was:
- Leek (i.e. onion) soup
- Beef stew with noodles
- Fruit (watermelon, orange, mango)
The skies cleared off after dinner just before dark. We could see the summit for the first time since the morning. We could see the lights of Moshi clearly from our camp.
High Point: Lava Tower (Elevation = 15,230 ft)
End: Barranco Camp (Elevation = 13,074 ft)
Cold this morning at camp. Ice fell off of the tent when opening the zipper in the morning. The whole tent was covered in frost / ice. Woke up at 6:30 AM, again before the call for breakfast. Very glad to have a -20 degree sleeping bag. Simko and Steph both have headaches from the altitude. Breakfast was:
- Oatmeal
- Mango
- Small Omelette-like things w/ peppers and carrots
- Sausage
Wore base layers and fleeces to start out in the morning after breakfast. The sun was out and the summit was visible so soon the fleeces were shed. Godfrey, our assistant guide, was leading us this day. Azizi said he hadn't slept well so he stayed behind at camp and caught up with us later. Since porters leave after we do and arrive at camp well before, you are constantly being passed by them. We developed an acronym 'PCT' = Porter Coming Through.. This was usually followed by the direction they were coming from. For example: PCT Left, and we would move to the right.
Another development is that we refused to say the word 'rain' after the bad luck we had with it the first day. Azizi called it the 'bad friend' so we called it that for the rest of the trip. Azizi also taught us that Juah was the word for sun in Swahili so we started refering to it as the 'good friend' or Juah. We thought of ideas for T-shirts with Juah involved, but didn't figure there was any way of making it appropriate enough to wear anywhere.
We were going very 'pole pole' behind Godfrey as we climbed steadily upward towards lava tower (~15,000 ft). Unfortunately, by the time we arrived our 'bad friend' had returned in the form of sleet. There is actually a large lava tower at this point which is supposed to be interesting to look at, but unfortunately we could hardly even see it through the clouds and sleet. This was also our lunch stop and we all agreed that a quick lunch was in order here given the conditions. Lunch was again a bag lunch including:
- Egg + Tomato sandwich
- 'Hot Pocket' with curry, carrots, pepper
- Orange Juice
- Small banana
- Fried chicken
The rest of the day was all downhill. The point of going to lava tower is to get used to the altitude slowly. One climbs to a high altitude but sleeps lower. There wasn't much going 'pole pole' on the way downhill given the conditions. We all used our hiking poles, but then Godfrey stopped us shortly thereafter and had all of us collapse all of our poles. From what we could tell, he felt like holding the metal poles in the cold could cause our hands to freeze somehow. We are all planning to use them on summit night, though.
The vegetation in this area is very strange. Most of the plants are very small at this elevation, but there are some very large ones which almost look like a palm tree on the top (picture below). At one point, we stopped for a quick break and Steph dropped her waterbottle on a rock which spilled a decent amount of the water and put a large dent in it. Fortunately, it did not puncture the bottle to the point where it leaked.
At ~3:30, we arrived at camp just as it started to rain again. We stayed in the camp and got orgainzed until we were called for tea and popcorn. After tea, the warden stopped by the tents asking us to sign in. Dinner was at ~6:00 and was:
- Leek (i.e. onion) soup
- Beef stew with noodles
- Fruit (watermelon, orange, mango)
The skies cleared off after dinner just before dark. We could see the summit for the first time since the morning. We could see the lights of Moshi clearly from our camp.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Hike Day 2: Machame Camp to New Shira Camp
Start: Machame Camp (Elevation = 9,948 ft)
End: New Shira Camp (Elevation = 12,621 ft)
It was probably in the upper 40's when we woke up this morning at Machame Camp. Cold enough that fleeces were worn around camp. Some of us even wore stocking caps. John woke up around 6:34 AM prior to when the porters came around with the warm water around 7:00 AM. Breakfast was:
Oatmeal w/ Corn Flour
Papaya
Eggs
Sausage
Toast
Per Azizi, the menu is always 'surprise', but so far we have been pleasantly surprised by the food every day.
There was ~30 min to finish packing everything after breakfast. Unfortunately, we had our clothes spread out on any bush which the sun was shining on trying to get it to dry out from all the rain from the previous day. We were slow in getting everything gathered up and didn't end up getting on the trail until 9 AM. The group beside us at this campsite said they had never camped before and they were drinking wine the previous night....not sure if we will see them on the summit.
The Machame camp was at the boarder between two vegetation zones (Rainforest and Heath). The heath was much more interesting as the vegetation was more foreign and smaller so we could look farther around where we were hiking. Another advantage was that it was much drier. It did sprinkle some, but nothing like we had experienced the day before.
We had received a bag lunch in the morning which consisted of: Orange Juice, Fried Chicken, Muffin, Tomato/Cucumber/Mayo sandwich, boiled egg. While at the lunch stop, some of the group chose to use the public toilet. This was easily the most disgousting facility I have ever been in. It was a small wooden hut perched above a hole in the ground. A small rectangular hole was cut out of the middle of the plywood boards on the floor. Not only was the smell bad, but as you can imagine many people had missed the hole in their haste to get out of there which made it infinitely worse. We do have our own toilets which porters carry for us. We do not have access to these during the day, but they are set up at our camp by the time we arrive. Whatever we paid for those toilets is the best money we have spent on the trip.
This was actually one of the shorter hiking days and we made it to the New Shira Camp just after 2:00 PM. It was starting to rain as we finished up the last ~10 min of the hike so we walked quickly. The tents were already set up so we headed straight there and managed to get inside prior to getting too wet.
Once the rain had stopped and we had unpacked most of our things, the porters broughts us some warm water to wash with. After that, it was time for tea. We arrived at the dinner tent, and they had also made us a large plate of popcorn to go with our tea which we finished quickly. It was still cloudy and misting out, but Azizi offered to take us to show us one of the nearby Shira caves. The cave wasn't all that impressive but was next to the helipad in case someone needed rescue and there was a nice view of the camp from there.
After walking back to camp, there was still quite a bit of time prior to dinner so we decided to play cards. We were going to head to the dining tent, but the porters were in there and we felt bad kicking them out so we went to Steph and Cindy's tent. We ended up just talking and telling stories and never actually played any cards. At around 5:30, we decided to head back to our tents to rest until dinner which we assumed would be around 7 like last night. About 15 min after we were back in the tents and Simko fell asleep they called us for dinner. Dinner was:
Zuccini Soup (with tortilla-like things called Chi-pate)
Rice w/ carrots
Beef Sauce
Vegetable Sauce
Mango
After dinner, the sun was about to set so we decided to go outside to watch that before having tea. Mt Meru was visible to us for the first time on the hike. We could also see the summit of Kilimanjaro and we were pleasantly surprised with how much closer it seemed than the day before. So far, none of us are experiencing altitude sickness problems but tomorrow we will go up to over 15,000 feet which could cause some problems.
After going back into the dinner tents for tea, we headed back for the sleeping tents. Will be sleeping in the base layer tonight and stocking cap as it is already feeling cold out. The sky is perfectly clear....you can see a ton of stars out here!
End: New Shira Camp (Elevation = 12,621 ft)
It was probably in the upper 40's when we woke up this morning at Machame Camp. Cold enough that fleeces were worn around camp. Some of us even wore stocking caps. John woke up around 6:34 AM prior to when the porters came around with the warm water around 7:00 AM. Breakfast was:
Oatmeal w/ Corn Flour
Papaya
Eggs
Sausage
Toast
Per Azizi, the menu is always 'surprise', but so far we have been pleasantly surprised by the food every day.
There was ~30 min to finish packing everything after breakfast. Unfortunately, we had our clothes spread out on any bush which the sun was shining on trying to get it to dry out from all the rain from the previous day. We were slow in getting everything gathered up and didn't end up getting on the trail until 9 AM. The group beside us at this campsite said they had never camped before and they were drinking wine the previous night....not sure if we will see them on the summit.
The Machame camp was at the boarder between two vegetation zones (Rainforest and Heath). The heath was much more interesting as the vegetation was more foreign and smaller so we could look farther around where we were hiking. Another advantage was that it was much drier. It did sprinkle some, but nothing like we had experienced the day before.
We had received a bag lunch in the morning which consisted of: Orange Juice, Fried Chicken, Muffin, Tomato/Cucumber/Mayo sandwich, boiled egg. While at the lunch stop, some of the group chose to use the public toilet. This was easily the most disgousting facility I have ever been in. It was a small wooden hut perched above a hole in the ground. A small rectangular hole was cut out of the middle of the plywood boards on the floor. Not only was the smell bad, but as you can imagine many people had missed the hole in their haste to get out of there which made it infinitely worse. We do have our own toilets which porters carry for us. We do not have access to these during the day, but they are set up at our camp by the time we arrive. Whatever we paid for those toilets is the best money we have spent on the trip.
This was actually one of the shorter hiking days and we made it to the New Shira Camp just after 2:00 PM. It was starting to rain as we finished up the last ~10 min of the hike so we walked quickly. The tents were already set up so we headed straight there and managed to get inside prior to getting too wet.
Once the rain had stopped and we had unpacked most of our things, the porters broughts us some warm water to wash with. After that, it was time for tea. We arrived at the dinner tent, and they had also made us a large plate of popcorn to go with our tea which we finished quickly. It was still cloudy and misting out, but Azizi offered to take us to show us one of the nearby Shira caves. The cave wasn't all that impressive but was next to the helipad in case someone needed rescue and there was a nice view of the camp from there.
After walking back to camp, there was still quite a bit of time prior to dinner so we decided to play cards. We were going to head to the dining tent, but the porters were in there and we felt bad kicking them out so we went to Steph and Cindy's tent. We ended up just talking and telling stories and never actually played any cards. At around 5:30, we decided to head back to our tents to rest until dinner which we assumed would be around 7 like last night. About 15 min after we were back in the tents and Simko fell asleep they called us for dinner. Dinner was:
Zuccini Soup (with tortilla-like things called Chi-pate)
Rice w/ carrots
Beef Sauce
Vegetable Sauce
Mango
After dinner, the sun was about to set so we decided to go outside to watch that before having tea. Mt Meru was visible to us for the first time on the hike. We could also see the summit of Kilimanjaro and we were pleasantly surprised with how much closer it seemed than the day before. So far, none of us are experiencing altitude sickness problems but tomorrow we will go up to over 15,000 feet which could cause some problems.
After going back into the dinner tents for tea, we headed back for the sleeping tents. Will be sleeping in the base layer tonight and stocking cap as it is already feeling cold out. The sky is perfectly clear....you can see a ton of stars out here!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
We're going to climb that thing?!
NOTE: It takes forever to post pictures in this blog....please refer to the Facebook album for the pictures from here on.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884579&id=13733053&l=90986b722f
***************
Today marked the start of the hike. We woke up around 5:15 AM and after showering (for the last time in 6 days) we went to breakfast. There are a lot of roosters in the lot next door to us which makes noise ALL day. Not surprisingly, it was already making noise when we woke up. Also, there are air conditioners in the rooms. Simko and John had turned theirs to 'arctic winter' before going to bed and in the middle of the night it sounded like a Mack truck in the corner of the room. After investigating, the A/C had turned into a solid block of ice.
Breakfast at Bristol Cottages was as slow as any breakfast we had ever eaten. One had to choose their type of eggs, and then bacon or sausage. It took at least 30 min to come back with the food, and generally it wasn't what was requested. Somehow 'bacon' meant 'sausage' and 'sausage' meant 'both bacon and sausage'. Anyways....
The hour-long breakfast eaten, it was time to finish the final packing. Anything not required for the hike was locked in a room at the lodges for safekeeping. The majority of the gear was packed in a duffel bag for the porters to carry. The only exception was a relatively small day pack which was packed with water (~ 5 Liters), rain jacket, fleece, sunscreen and granola bars. One of the last items packed was toilet paper. We weren't sure if it was being provided or not on the mountain, so we stuffed any from the rooms we could find into the duffels.
Simko and John had some time prior to being picked up for the hike at 9:30 and decided to go exploring around town for souvenirs, bandanas (for the hike), sandals (for Simko), etc... Ironically, yesterday we could not get away from being heckled on the streets when we didn't want to buy anything. Today no one even looked interested in us....must have been too early. We did find the post office not far away. Noteable not only due to its run-down state, but also the picture below shows most all signs here are sponsored by Coca-Cola. The store gets a free sign, and Coke gets to advertise on half of it. The post office doesn't sell Coke....
After the short walk, Simko and John headed back for Bristol cottages to check out and get ready for the hike. A van rolled through the gate right on time with Azizi and some of the other guides. As we are hiking the Machame route, we headed for the Machame gate which was a ~45min drive away. There is a lot of vegetation on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro as we passed banana, coffee and many other farms on our way to the starting point. We also drove through many small villages. Most people, even children, walk on the road (or very close to it) so the van would come through with horns blaring. They had no intention of stopping....pedestrians definitely do not have the right-of-way here. We did have to stop for a military procession of 'dangerous criminals' who were being transferred to a different site. We also saw a cow being transported in an interesting way as well on our way up the slopes:
We arrived at the Machame gate at ~10:30. There was a paved parking lot which was full of other hikers, porters, guides and everyone else. We left our duffel bags in the back of the van and did not see them again until the first camp. The six of us were ushered to the building right by the gate where we came through to sign in. There were people shouting to us through the gate (they were not allowed to come through) trying to sell us gaiters, poles, water or any other number of things for the hike. We had to sign in a large book with our names, passport #, occupation, address along with other things. Once complete, we headed to a large pavilion next to that building to wait.
We were given our boxed lunches, which ironically are from Chrisburger and contain the same chicken which Steph, Cindy and Simko had ordered yesterday and didn't care for. It was our option whether we wanted to eat the lunch right away....we all ate it. While we were doing this, our porters were getting the gear organized and weighed (they do regulate how much each porter carries to somewere between 30 and 40 lbs each). Other groups were in the pavilion as well while we were waiting.
Finally, around 12:30 Azizi and Godfrey came over to the pavilion to tell us it would be time to go soon. We asked some other hikers from New York to take a group picture of us in front of the gate, then we used what we figure will be the nicest bathroom facilities we will see for about a week and it was time to go.
The saying 'Pole Pole' or 'slowly slowly' describes the hike and you hear it may times from the porters passing by. This is done to help prevent altitude sickness. This was the rainforest section of the hike. It sprinkled on and off lightly for the first 1.5 hours of the hike but suddently it started pouring as hard as we had ever seen. All had rain gear, but nothing which could hold up to that amount of rain. There is certainly a difference between waterproof and water resistant. We placed our jackets over our packs to keep them as dry as possible, but most everyone had water in their boots by the time the rain let up.
We took a break in a clearing after the rain had stopped. It was in the sun, so we used this opportunity to try to dry out some of the wet clothes. There was some light rain over the course of the rest of the hike, but nothing like we had experienced earlier. We arrived in camp around 6:30 PM where we had to sign in at the registry station and then Azizi took us to our camp where the porters were still working on setting everything up. It was nearly dark, but the summit was visible from our tents for the first time on the trip. As it gets dark around 7, we had to hurry to get things unpacked and set up while there was still light. John washed his face and feet (in that order) in the bowl of hot water provided shortly after dark. Simko fell asleep.
Around 8 PM one of the porters came to our tents to get us for dinner. The dining tent was in a separate area from the sleeping tents. They posted one porter by our tents to watch our things while we ate and then the rest of us used our head lamps to traverse the muddy trail to the dining tent. The setup in the tent is amazing. There is an actual table with table cloth and chairs. Azizi eats with us but the rest of the porters do not. This dinner was:
- pumpkin soup + bread
- potatoes
- fish
- vegetable sauce
- tea
Dinner was over around 9:00 and then it was back to the tents to get ready for bed. Wake-up call is at 7 AM tomorrow. Hopefully there will be no more rain!
Start: Machame Gate (5997 ft)
End: Machame Camp (9948 ft)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884579&id=13733053&l=90986b722f
***************
Today marked the start of the hike. We woke up around 5:15 AM and after showering (for the last time in 6 days) we went to breakfast. There are a lot of roosters in the lot next door to us which makes noise ALL day. Not surprisingly, it was already making noise when we woke up. Also, there are air conditioners in the rooms. Simko and John had turned theirs to 'arctic winter' before going to bed and in the middle of the night it sounded like a Mack truck in the corner of the room. After investigating, the A/C had turned into a solid block of ice.
Breakfast at Bristol Cottages was as slow as any breakfast we had ever eaten. One had to choose their type of eggs, and then bacon or sausage. It took at least 30 min to come back with the food, and generally it wasn't what was requested. Somehow 'bacon' meant 'sausage' and 'sausage' meant 'both bacon and sausage'. Anyways....
The hour-long breakfast eaten, it was time to finish the final packing. Anything not required for the hike was locked in a room at the lodges for safekeeping. The majority of the gear was packed in a duffel bag for the porters to carry. The only exception was a relatively small day pack which was packed with water (~ 5 Liters), rain jacket, fleece, sunscreen and granola bars. One of the last items packed was toilet paper. We weren't sure if it was being provided or not on the mountain, so we stuffed any from the rooms we could find into the duffels.
Simko and John had some time prior to being picked up for the hike at 9:30 and decided to go exploring around town for souvenirs, bandanas (for the hike), sandals (for Simko), etc... Ironically, yesterday we could not get away from being heckled on the streets when we didn't want to buy anything. Today no one even looked interested in us....must have been too early. We did find the post office not far away. Noteable not only due to its run-down state, but also the picture below shows most all signs here are sponsored by Coca-Cola. The store gets a free sign, and Coke gets to advertise on half of it. The post office doesn't sell Coke....
After the short walk, Simko and John headed back for Bristol cottages to check out and get ready for the hike. A van rolled through the gate right on time with Azizi and some of the other guides. As we are hiking the Machame route, we headed for the Machame gate which was a ~45min drive away. There is a lot of vegetation on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro as we passed banana, coffee and many other farms on our way to the starting point. We also drove through many small villages. Most people, even children, walk on the road (or very close to it) so the van would come through with horns blaring. They had no intention of stopping....pedestrians definitely do not have the right-of-way here. We did have to stop for a military procession of 'dangerous criminals' who were being transferred to a different site. We also saw a cow being transported in an interesting way as well on our way up the slopes:
We arrived at the Machame gate at ~10:30. There was a paved parking lot which was full of other hikers, porters, guides and everyone else. We left our duffel bags in the back of the van and did not see them again until the first camp. The six of us were ushered to the building right by the gate where we came through to sign in. There were people shouting to us through the gate (they were not allowed to come through) trying to sell us gaiters, poles, water or any other number of things for the hike. We had to sign in a large book with our names, passport #, occupation, address along with other things. Once complete, we headed to a large pavilion next to that building to wait.
We were given our boxed lunches, which ironically are from Chrisburger and contain the same chicken which Steph, Cindy and Simko had ordered yesterday and didn't care for. It was our option whether we wanted to eat the lunch right away....we all ate it. While we were doing this, our porters were getting the gear organized and weighed (they do regulate how much each porter carries to somewere between 30 and 40 lbs each). Other groups were in the pavilion as well while we were waiting.
Finally, around 12:30 Azizi and Godfrey came over to the pavilion to tell us it would be time to go soon. We asked some other hikers from New York to take a group picture of us in front of the gate, then we used what we figure will be the nicest bathroom facilities we will see for about a week and it was time to go.
The saying 'Pole Pole' or 'slowly slowly' describes the hike and you hear it may times from the porters passing by. This is done to help prevent altitude sickness. This was the rainforest section of the hike. It sprinkled on and off lightly for the first 1.5 hours of the hike but suddently it started pouring as hard as we had ever seen. All had rain gear, but nothing which could hold up to that amount of rain. There is certainly a difference between waterproof and water resistant. We placed our jackets over our packs to keep them as dry as possible, but most everyone had water in their boots by the time the rain let up.
We took a break in a clearing after the rain had stopped. It was in the sun, so we used this opportunity to try to dry out some of the wet clothes. There was some light rain over the course of the rest of the hike, but nothing like we had experienced earlier. We arrived in camp around 6:30 PM where we had to sign in at the registry station and then Azizi took us to our camp where the porters were still working on setting everything up. It was nearly dark, but the summit was visible from our tents for the first time on the trip. As it gets dark around 7, we had to hurry to get things unpacked and set up while there was still light. John washed his face and feet (in that order) in the bowl of hot water provided shortly after dark. Simko fell asleep.
Around 8 PM one of the porters came to our tents to get us for dinner. The dining tent was in a separate area from the sleeping tents. They posted one porter by our tents to watch our things while we ate and then the rest of us used our head lamps to traverse the muddy trail to the dining tent. The setup in the tent is amazing. There is an actual table with table cloth and chairs. Azizi eats with us but the rest of the porters do not. This dinner was:
- pumpkin soup + bread
- potatoes
- fish
- vegetable sauce
- tea
Dinner was over around 9:00 and then it was back to the tents to get ready for bed. Wake-up call is at 7 AM tomorrow. Hopefully there will be no more rain!
Start: Machame Gate (5997 ft)
End: Machame Camp (9948 ft)
Monday, December 27, 2010
It's pronounced Tan-zaah-nia
This morning was an early wake up call. Alarms were set for 4:45 AM to catch the flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. Simko set his Iphone, but unfortunately it was on the wrong time and didn't go off. Fortunately, the room alarm was also set.
Everyone met in the lobby and checked out. Breakfast was not yet open but Steph and Cindy did manage to get some coffee and water from one of the small shops in the lobby. Most at protein bars to tide us over until the airport. Mike mentioned that often African airlines are strict on the size of your carry-on bag. Even though we were only carrying backpacks, we stuffed all non-essential items that would fit into our duffel bags in the lobby and locked them. The Hilton shuttle picked us up to take us to the airport once again. There was little traffic so early in the morning and we made it there in about 20 min. We were all wearing our team shirts.
We notified the driver that we were flying on Fly 540, a small African airline and he took us to the terminal. Unfortunately, he took us to the domestic terminal rather than the international one (we didn't even think about this 45 min flight as being 'international', even though we were going from Kenya to Tanzania). Our bags were unloaded and we showed our ticket to the security agent who caught the mistake. Fortunately, the driver was just pulling away and he yelled to him. We loaded the bags again and he drove us to the international terminal.
Had to go through security to even get into the airport. Next stop was the bag-wrapping station. African airports are somewhat notorious for helping themselves to whatever is easily accessible in your checked baggage. For this reason, locks and wrapping luggage in clear plastic are encouraged. For a small $7 fee, they wrap it multiple times and even use a razor blade to cut out the handle and wheels so it is easier to carry.
We were all somewhat suspicious of what Fly 540 was going to like. Checking in did not help that, as we received boarding passes which were hand written.
From there, it was back through customs (we are becoming very good at filling out customs forms....we will all likely have our passport numbers memorized by the end of the trip). The airport is still as hot and smelly as it was the day prior. As the granola bar breakfast was running thin, we decided to find something to eat. We found a food stand where most of us ordered a croissant wrapped around a neon-pink hot dog....don't want to know what was in that.
After that we went through security at the gate. The propellor plane was being pulled by a (non-John Deere) tractor across the tarmac towards us. John and Steph both get motion sick easily so the propellors were an unwelcomed sight. Boarded across the tarmac. It was so humid that water vapor was pouring out of all of the blower vents. Some people were being dripped on from the vents.
The actual 45 min flight was very smooth. We even received beverage service which is more than can be said for a 45 min flight in the US. Most of us had Coke to taste the difference between here and what it tastes like in the states. The highlight of the flight was that the flight pattern went directly between Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro. We were flying at ~17,000 feet which was intimidating as we were flying 2000 feet below where we were going to be climbing in a few days. In the words of the girl sitting behind Steph and Cindy on the plane....'you're going to climb that thing?!'.
The arrival quadrant of Kilimanjaro International airport is not very elaborate. Walk directly from the plane into the customs / baggage pickup room. It was in the 80's outside, but too cloudy to see the Kilimanjaro summit (we could only see it from the plane because we were above the clouds). We stood at a desk and filled out our customs forms and then retrieved our bags. All of them made it, with plastic wrap still intact. Our driver met us as we were coming out of the airport and took our bag cart to the vehicle.
Everyone met in the lobby and checked out. Breakfast was not yet open but Steph and Cindy did manage to get some coffee and water from one of the small shops in the lobby. Most at protein bars to tide us over until the airport. Mike mentioned that often African airlines are strict on the size of your carry-on bag. Even though we were only carrying backpacks, we stuffed all non-essential items that would fit into our duffel bags in the lobby and locked them. The Hilton shuttle picked us up to take us to the airport once again. There was little traffic so early in the morning and we made it there in about 20 min. We were all wearing our team shirts.
We notified the driver that we were flying on Fly 540, a small African airline and he took us to the terminal. Unfortunately, he took us to the domestic terminal rather than the international one (we didn't even think about this 45 min flight as being 'international', even though we were going from Kenya to Tanzania). Our bags were unloaded and we showed our ticket to the security agent who caught the mistake. Fortunately, the driver was just pulling away and he yelled to him. We loaded the bags again and he drove us to the international terminal.Had to go through security to even get into the airport. Next stop was the bag-wrapping station. African airports are somewhat notorious for helping themselves to whatever is easily accessible in your checked baggage. For this reason, locks and wrapping luggage in clear plastic are encouraged. For a small $7 fee, they wrap it multiple times and even use a razor blade to cut out the handle and wheels so it is easier to carry.
We were all somewhat suspicious of what Fly 540 was going to like. Checking in did not help that, as we received boarding passes which were hand written.
From there, it was back through customs (we are becoming very good at filling out customs forms....we will all likely have our passport numbers memorized by the end of the trip). The airport is still as hot and smelly as it was the day prior. As the granola bar breakfast was running thin, we decided to find something to eat. We found a food stand where most of us ordered a croissant wrapped around a neon-pink hot dog....don't want to know what was in that.
After that we went through security at the gate. The propellor plane was being pulled by a (non-John Deere) tractor across the tarmac towards us. John and Steph both get motion sick easily so the propellors were an unwelcomed sight. Boarded across the tarmac. It was so humid that water vapor was pouring out of all of the blower vents. Some people were being dripped on from the vents.
The actual 45 min flight was very smooth. We even received beverage service which is more than can be said for a 45 min flight in the US. Most of us had Coke to taste the difference between here and what it tastes like in the states. The highlight of the flight was that the flight pattern went directly between Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro. We were flying at ~17,000 feet which was intimidating as we were flying 2000 feet below where we were going to be climbing in a few days. In the words of the girl sitting behind Steph and Cindy on the plane....'you're going to climb that thing?!'.
The arrival quadrant of Kilimanjaro International airport is not very elaborate. Walk directly from the plane into the customs / baggage pickup room. It was in the 80's outside, but too cloudy to see the Kilimanjaro summit (we could only see it from the plane because we were above the clouds). We stood at a desk and filled out our customs forms and then retrieved our bags. All of them made it, with plastic wrap still intact. Our driver met us as we were coming out of the airport and took our bag cart to the vehicle.
The drive to Moshi, a town close to the mountain, was the first time it really felt like we were in Africa. Everyone watched the people herding cattle, playing pool (below left), carrying everything from TVs to produce on their heads, and just sitting staring at the ground along the side of the road. The drive took ~45 min to get into Moshi.
The town was somewhat chaotic to drive through, but then we turned into the gates of Bristol Cottages and saw our cottages in midst of perfectly landscaped grounds. When we arrived, some of the workers were actually scrubbing the rocks on the pavement with water and brushes. Bags were unloaded from the vehicle and we checked into our rooms.
It feels late in the day after all we have gone through so far, but it is only ~1:00 PM. After getting organized in the rooms, we decided to find lunch. John, Mike and Cindy were looking through travel books on the porch to evaluate which restaurant was both close and decent. We chose to go to a place called Chrisburger near the clocktower circle, which was just a short walk from our cottages. As soon as we left the confines of the cottages, it was a barrage of people asking us to buy small souvenirs, water, pineapples, etc. Simko met someone named 'Kevin' who followed him around for the whole day. Even waited outside while we were eating lunch, until Simko and Mitch finally bought bracelets from him after negotiating with him that whole time.
Moshi was not necessarily easy to get around, and at ~150,000 people, was bigger than expected. No street signs. We also didn't see any other tourists wandering around town. Cindy had a map but it was difficult to tell exactly were, especially as we were dodging people and cars coming from the opposite direction as we were used to. Finally, someone was helpful enough to stop and help us without trying to sell us anything (although, ironically we would end up in his shop later in the trip) and pointed us towards Chrisburger. We sat in a covered outdoor patio which had a disco ball on the ceiling. We all had our first Kilimanjaro Beer here. Mitch ordered Ox Tongue, Mike and I ordered Steak and Chips, and the other three ordered chicken and fries. The chicken did not end up being chicken fingers, but rather was a dried piece of fried chicken. Steph and Cindy ended up ordering fish sticks, which tasted terrible. The steak and chips and ox tongue were good.
After lunch, we found a 'grocery store' where we each bought a 5 L jug of water to fill up all of our water bottles with for the hike starting tomorrow, as well as to brush our teeth in our rooms. Once finally back inside of the Bristol cottages, none of us really felt like going out again so we spent the afternoon relaxing and getting things re-organized for the hike starting tomorrow. Mitch did discover that his waterbottle was leaking, so he and Steph went back into town to purchase some Kilimanjaro-branded water bottles. They have maps of the routes and camps we will be staying at on our hike.
Around 5:30 PM, the clouds cleared enough to see the summit so we walked outside of the compound to a small hill to see the mountain.
As we were heading out to take the pictures, we passed Phillip, who is in charge of the hiking company we were booked with. He mentioned that our guide was on the way. Soon after getting back from our pictures and sitting down with Phillip, our guide Azizi showed up. He answered some of our questions about the hike, collected the $10 from each of us for the hiking poles we were renting from him and told us to be ready by 9 AM the next morning. He suggested eating a strong breakfast, or 'even two breakfasts' in the morning. After the discussion, we went back to the rooms to do some minor packing modifications (except for Simko, who had to repack everything into his duffel bag).
At 6:30, we met for dinner. There was a debate about how much altitude medicine we should take and when. Some had pills only half the size of others, so Steph, Simko and I spent part of dinner cutting our larger pills in half in case we wanted to start off only taking them one at a time. It was done with butter knives, but we figured this would be the best chance we would have for awhile to have a sanitary place to do it. We all ordered ice cream after dinner.
Hike is tomorrow. We were glad to hear that Azizi said that 95-97% of people he leads make it to the summit (we had read that overall it was closer to 50%). Ready for a night of sleeping under the mosquito nets.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Kenya believe it?....we're in Nairobi!
We arrived in Amsterdam around 9:00 AM local time.....even earlier than when we were supposed to. There was a lot of snow on the ground from the snows which had blanketed Europe a few days prior, but no problem landing. We are thankful we did not decide to fly through London where passengers are sleeping on the floors for days at a time waiting for their flights home.
Simko and John lugged the carry on bags through the airport and eventually found the transfer desk for KLM (flew United from Chicago). Boarding passes in-hand, we headed for our gate where we once again where we had to go through security. Simko had to chug about 3/4 of a Liter of water before they would allow him through security. Once through security, Simko waited with the bags and John went around the corner to find the others. Steph, Cindy, Mike and Mitch were waiting in line to board before we got through security. They still had not met Simko.
After rejoining Simko, we went towards the gate and were stopped by a security agent saying our 'carry on' bags were too large. John had packed a large, compact duffel bag in his carry-on. This was large enough to fit both John's and Ryan's bags. Fortunately, Ryan had forgotten to put his luggage lock on his other bag checked in Chicago so that lock was used to lock up the duffel. Security is a concern at Nairobi airport, so we feel better about checking all of the gear we need for the hike with the lock on it. After boarding the plane, it was apparent that trying to carry them on this flight would have been nearly impossible given how full the flight was and how late we were in boarding.
Steph, Cindy, Mike and Mitch all had rock star seating on the flight, while Simko and John were herded into the back of the plane through a separate entrance. Simko was even stuck next to one of the exit doors with no leg room. Mike and Cindy did come back to visit John, and tried to find Simko, but he was hiding behind his beard (see below) and they did not find him.
Eventually, Simko was deemed to be real and John and he went to the front of the plane to talk to the others, to fill out our Kenya immigration forms, and to eat some of the 5 ice creams that Steph had obtained from the stewardess. This is our team filling out the customs forms:
The flight arrived in Nairobi on-time around 8:30 PM local time. John waited for the others outside of the plane, not realizing that he was actually the last one off of the plane and the others were already at customs. The Nairobi airport is actually an oval shape with customs areas on both 'legs' of the airport leading to a common baggage area. Nairobi airport also smells and has little or no ventilation making not-so-comfortably hot in most areas. Visas were obtained in the USA, so going through customs was no problem. By the time John arrived at the baggage area, the others had already found his luggage and it was in a pile with the rest. Mike and Cindy were still waiting for their luggage, but fortunately both received theirs approximately 10 min later.
Steph and Mike had enough points from Hilton to get all of us a free night at the Hilton Nairobi. They had arranged a shuttle for us prior to flying there and there was someone from the hotel with a sign with our name on it when we arrived. They loaded our suitcases into the van and we were off to the hotel!
They do drive on the 'wrong' side of the road and our driver seemed to slide between lanes somewhat arbitrarily. There were some roundabouts which could only be described as chaotic at best. On the way to the hotel, the driver taught us some basic swahili phrases such as:
Jambo = Hello
Asante sana (sp?) = Thank you very much
He also pointed out the site of the US Embassy bombing in Nairobi (the US embassy has since moved out of the city). When we arrived at the Hilton, we stopped at a gate and guards had to check the underside of our vehicle with mirrors to check for bombs before allowing us close to the building.
After checking in and going to our rooms, we met on the 'executive' floor for complimentary drinks. We tried our first Kenyan beer - Tusker. It is not very good. We used Steph's IPAD to send short e-mails home. We only had about 30 min in the lounge before it closed at 11 PM. The team in the Hilton lounge:
Back in the rooms, we had to repack our luggage for the flight tomorrow to Kilimanjaro. Also, wrapped a towel around the faucet to remind us to use only bottled water for drinking and brushing teeth. To Tanzania tomorrow!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Leaving for Africa!
Merry Christmas! Simko and John are both leaving from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Although he currently lives in New York, he was back in Crown Point for Christmas. John had driven back to Crown Point from Iowa two days prior.
After some rumors of heavy snows in Chicago all week leading up to the trip, there is only a slight chance of lake effect snow today. Our flight does not leave until 6:02 PM. The larger risk for us is that there is only a ~1 hour layover in Amsterdam. Due to this, Simko and John both carried on all essential gear (sleeping bag, pad, winter clothes) for the hike. Small bags were checked with clothes for the safari and other non-essential items.
Simko's dad brought him to John's parents' house in Crown Point around 1:30 PM. John's dad took them to O'Hare. There was not much traffic as it was Christmas day. Quickly went through Check-in and security and the flight boarded on time. It was a relatively small plane for an international flight, and the carry ons barely fit in the overhead bins!
The storm which was supposed to hit Chicago ended up going south. Good for Simko and John, but potentially bad for Steph, Mike, Cindy and Mitch who were flying through Newark. Steph barely made it out of Raleigh before the storm and all made it in and out of Newark before the storm hit.
Next stop....Amsterdam!
After some rumors of heavy snows in Chicago all week leading up to the trip, there is only a slight chance of lake effect snow today. Our flight does not leave until 6:02 PM. The larger risk for us is that there is only a ~1 hour layover in Amsterdam. Due to this, Simko and John both carried on all essential gear (sleeping bag, pad, winter clothes) for the hike. Small bags were checked with clothes for the safari and other non-essential items.
Simko's dad brought him to John's parents' house in Crown Point around 1:30 PM. John's dad took them to O'Hare. There was not much traffic as it was Christmas day. Quickly went through Check-in and security and the flight boarded on time. It was a relatively small plane for an international flight, and the carry ons barely fit in the overhead bins!
The storm which was supposed to hit Chicago ended up going south. Good for Simko and John, but potentially bad for Steph, Mike, Cindy and Mitch who were flying through Newark. Steph barely made it out of Raleigh before the storm and all made it in and out of Newark before the storm hit.
Next stop....Amsterdam!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Introduction
This blog describes our adventure to Tanzania between December 25, 2010 and January 9, 2011. Given the obvious lack of internet access during our trip, these details were originally written in a journal and is now being transferred to an electronic format after our return from the trip. There were 6 people who went on this trip:
- Stephanie: Organized the trip and was from North Carolina. Also works for John Deere
- Mike, Mitch and Cindy: Work at Emerson in Minneapolis. Friends with Stephanie from past trips.
- (Ryan) Simko: Friend of John's from high school in Crown Point, IN. Currently lives in New York.
- John Diekelmann: Works at John Deere in Des Moines, IA. Met Steph through a mutual friend at Deere.
Here is a link to the Facebook album full of all of the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884579&id=13733053&l=90986b722f
Here is a picture of our group! (left to right: Simko, John, Cindy, Mike, Mitch, Steph). Note that Simko designed us team shirts!
- Stephanie: Organized the trip and was from North Carolina. Also works for John Deere
- Mike, Mitch and Cindy: Work at Emerson in Minneapolis. Friends with Stephanie from past trips.
- (Ryan) Simko: Friend of John's from high school in Crown Point, IN. Currently lives in New York.
- John Diekelmann: Works at John Deere in Des Moines, IA. Met Steph through a mutual friend at Deere.
Here is a link to the Facebook album full of all of the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2884579&id=13733053&l=90986b722f
Here is a picture of our group! (left to right: Simko, John, Cindy, Mike, Mitch, Steph). Note that Simko designed us team shirts!
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