The Roof of Africa: Kilimanjaro part 1

Well, we made it, we are back from our big climb, sun burnt and happy that we have finished!! We arrived back yesterday morning at 11 am or so, thrown by the concept of bathrooms with water, and real beds (these are a short term luxury as we start our overland tour in 2 days!).

This was without doubt the hardest thing either of us have ever done. Everything was a new experience, with so many amazing moments and a few unbelievably challenging times. I have kept a bit of a diary of our week - it barely touches the surface of our experience but hopefully it will entertain you! (it may take a couple of installments)

Day 1:

We were met at our hotel early in the morning and taken, full of anticipation, with 3 other guys climbing at the same time as us to the Machame gate (1,800m) in the foothills of the mountain. Coincidentally these 3 guys had also been on the flight that was cancelled, and stayed in the same hotel as us in Nairobi. We remember spotting them at the airport, the same as us - half kitted out in climbing/safari gear, playing top trumps. At the gate, we signed in and wandered around nervously as the porters were organized to carry our gear. (We had to be assigned an additional 2 porters, due to them now only being allowed to carry 20 KG's (as opposed to previously carrying ludicrous weights of up to 40/45kg) taking our support group up to 10 for the two of us! So that is our guide, the assistant guide, chef, 2 porters to carry the 2 camping stoves (each basically a 20kg limit on their own) and then the rest of the crew to carry the tents, gear, food and importantly the heavy mielie meal that the locals eat.

Itching to go we eventually set off and we were immediately into the rainforest. Walking slowly ('pole pole' is the motto of Kili, meaning 'slowly slowly') on an incline for about 2.5 hrs, it was brilliant seeing the rainforest, all the trees and wildlife. It was actually pretty enjoyable. Walking with a backpack took a day or so to get used to, so that was felt on the first day. We stopped after 2.5 hrs and sat on a log to eat our packed lunch with our guide, Godlisten, and the other guys. There was a sign for a toilet, to my surprise, which after closer inspection proved to be a wooden hut with a hole in the ground. Sean got a new job for the week - waiting outside the huts for Ruth every time she needed the loo!! (No door, so not great when you're in the minority as a girl)

We set off again, for another couple of hours until we reached our camp for the night 10km from the gate - Machame camp (3,000m). On reaching here we found our tent set up, were given a bowl of warm water to wash our hands in and even tea and biscuits were waiting for us - very welcome after a long walk. After recovering from our climbing so far, we were summoned to our 'mess' tent - this is the height of colonialism as these guys even carry and extra tent, table, chairs etc for us to eat our meals in! With a candle set in a potato to light the way we enjoyed our dinner of roast potatoes and fish - not a clue how you make these meals with a camping stove, but such was the ingenuity of the chef.

We were both pretty shattered from not sleeping the couple of nights prior to our climb, so by a pitch dark 8pm we were tucked up in our sleeping bags for the night.

Day 2:

After our surprising breakfast of omelettes, cheese, porridge, bread, fruit & drinks we set off at about 8.30. The terrain today is totally different, very rocky & arid, with strong sun & wind. Today was much more climbing rocky places than the gentle incline walking of yesterday, and you only cover 7km in the day. After a couple of pit stops for views (thwarted by cloud cover generally) and a quick lunch stop we made our way to Shira camp (3,840m). Sean was starting to feel the altitude and felt a bit yukky. We were fed rice and chicken, in vast quantities, and sung "what a friend I have in Jesus" in Swahili by our guide. One thing we started to notice here was the stars - I have never seen that many stars in the sky, just so beautiful.

Day 3:

Today we climbed the 10km from Shira camp to Baranco camp (3,950m). It was a similar time to the prior 2 days, walking for about 5hrs under cloud cover which turned into rain later in the day. The landscape today was alpine desert. Although the altitude increase from yesterday's camp is small we climbed up to a point called the Lava tower (4,630m), only a few hundred metres short of our camp for the following day, and then descended a long way to help with the acclimatisation. By the time we got to the Lava tower it was bitterly cold and most people were starting to feel quite ill from the altitude (it is well over the 4,000m altitude at which point altitude sickness starts to kick in). Descending to camp helped soothe this, but it is discouraging seeing your target become further away!! At this stage we still had not seen our goal of the Uhuru summit - we still had to wait for that. We descended through amazing gardens of trees that look like pineapples and camped for the night. To my delight (how standards change), I found a toilet hut not only with a door, but also a lock (Sean is off duty tonight)!!

Day 4:

Today was a pretty manic climbing day, with 7/8 hrs of climbing to cover the 8km, up the rocky Baranco wall, taking in some of the stunning waterfalls further along the wall and the other amazing scenery around us. Up & down, around and across valleys stopping at a high point for a cooked lunch before ascending higher in the afternoon. The altitude and sun hit me hard as soon as we had stopped, making the afternoon's rocky climb a miserably long one. We got to Barafu camp (4,550m), our last night prior to summit and felt rotten. Our alarm call was going to be at 11.30 pm for the summit, so we had an early dinner, got into half our clothes for the next day and tried to sleep for a bit.