Day 1: Christmas Eve
We drove to our safari company to leave the car and then got a ride from there to Kilimanjaro National Park. We arrived at the gate to meet our head guide, Godlove, and our other 32 porters. Each porter is restricted to carry 15kg, hence the large number of porters. We were the only four tourists in the group for the trek. The pile of stuff we had to take was kind of unbelievable, there was so much! We drove a little further in once everything was weighed and organized. At this point we still hadn't gotten a clear view of the mountain due to the dense fog. We said Kili is cold so she has to put on her sweater. We ate lunch in a large camping tent, called the mess tent. This tent was to be set up and taken down all over the mountain about 20 times in the next 10 days. Then we really started hiking. A nice 3 hours to camp, which was already set up (including the mess tent) by the time we got there. My psychological preparations for the trek allowed me only to think in the present. Today was an easy day and I enjoyed it.
Day 2: Christmas Day
At age 29 you think I would be fine being away from home and family for the first time on Christmas, but I was still homesick for my good old fashioned Christmas! Good thing I had a giant mountain to keep me preoccupied. I crawled out of the tent at 6a.m. to rush to the camp toilet. (I refuse to get out of a tent in the middle of the night to pee.) Good morning Kili! She was beautifully showing against the bright morning light. My first sight of her. We had a long day, about 6 1/2 hours with a short break for lunch. It was foggy again all day. Today 10 days felt like it would never pass.
Day 3-6:
The next few days were a lot of fun. All foggy and rain some of the time. We were cold (but nothing compared to about how cold I was about to be) and wet. Each day we only hiked between 3 and 4 hours eating lunch in camp every day. We finally mustered enough energy to play some cards. We hiked all around the North side of the mountain, not gaining or losing much in the way of elevation. There were a lot of rocks and short shrubs. Some flowers, but no trees.
Day 7:
Today we crossed the saddle form Mawenzi. A long flat traverse heading West up the mountain towards the peak. It was very foggy again today, and we passed the wreckage of a small passenger airplane. Really eerie to see. It crashed about 4 years ago, flying over the mountain taking pictures. Everyone died except for the pilot who was seriously injured. I decided if the opportunity arose we should not take a scenic flight over Kili. This night we camped at the School Hut Campsite. We had a gorgeous view of Mawenzi peak. Almost always encased in fog like Uhuru Peak we were lucky to catch a glimpse before we went to bed. It sits at 5,149 meters, and has a very distinctive jagged peak.
Day 8: New Year's Eve - Summit Day
We woke at 5am this morning to leave at 6:30. We ate a nice breakfast and started to climb. Today's agenda is: up. It was beautiful and sunny, finally. I can't really describe what it was like, I was trying to pretend it wasn't happening. All I could do was think about right now, this moment. One foot forward, then the next. I didn't think about the destination, I just thought about moving forward. Most trekkers wake up at midnight to reach the summit at 6 am, when you can get a clear view. Most of those trekkers were coming down as we went up. It was too steep to walk straight up the mountain, so we were following the switchbacks as people were coming straight down. There were a number of people who were being held up by their porters. They looked like rag dolls, some not even holding their heads up as they were half carried half dragged down the mountain. I can proudly say that we were all in complete control the whole time! Mama and Papa (that's Paula and Jerry) rocked! The porters only called them Mama and Papa. We went slow but they kept it going for 12 hours.
We finally reached Gillman's point, which is the end of the switchbacks. We ate a nice lunch in the sun. Then moved on to Stella Point. Here is where it got snowy and the path onward was a narrow traverse with rock on one side and a valley of snow rolling away on the other. We had a perfect view of the glaciers, beautiful, massive and magnificent. They look like giant, block ice castles. Up we climbed, almost there. The sun gets lower in the sky. Slowly we worked our way along another, wider, traverse. We were all tired and moving slow, except Alex, who acted like he does this everyday. And then, we reached the summit. We made it! Everyone hugged and kissed and took pictures. We were the only ones at the top in this moment. A perfect, happy, tired moment. Then we got the hell outta there! Down we went to crater camp, beautiful freezing, ice camp. One hour of hiking, nothing compared to what we'd already accomplished. It was getting passed 5pm. Our wonderful amazing porters had already set everything up for us! This is the coldest part of our journey, crater camp sits at 5731 meters. We were barely able to eat anything for the cold, exhaustion, and elevation. We stumbled to bed at 730pm. Did I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee on the coldest, fricking night in the whole world! Yes I did. I almost froze my bum off.
Day 9 & 10: Well we rocked it, essentially. We descended 3000 meters in two days. That's roughly the height of Long's Peak, top to bottom. We hiked 5-6 hours both days, and boy did my feet hurt! Paula said I was walking like an old lady, and she was right. We finally got to see the forest on the last day. We saw more of the Colobus monkey (those black and white one's I couldn't remember the name of before). Our porters sang and danced for us to say good bye and thank you! My favorite porter, the waiter, Pascal, got a little teary and hugged us all repeatedly. He called me the queen of Kilimanjaro (because my name is like Queen Elizabeth.) We ate one more lunch at the gate and then received our Uhuru summit certificates. More singing and dancing ensued. Back to Arusha to a nice hotel to rest for a few days, and oh how sweet it is. Life's a dream.
Next is safari time! Expect some amazing pics of wildlife! (My expectations are high!) Happy New Year!
Love,
Dada and KaKa
ps. that's sister and brother in swahili respectively. Mine and Alex's names on the mountain.
