Kilimanjaro - The Return

Saturday 11th September

Today it is time to return home.  Its only been a week, but it seems like a lot longer.  The day begins unlike any other day, with a lie in.  9am is a much more civilised time to get up than the 6am times we have been used to.  We will leave for the airport at 12, and it takes a large part of the time to pack.  I think there is a lot of extra weight in the dirt from the mountain on all my gear, and so I lighten the load by dumping a few bits and pieces.  As I had another shower this morning, I feel I can finally dump the baby wipes, no more baby wipe showers.  A few other bits and pieces also get jettisoned to make packing easier.

In the middle of packing we have our first goodbyes, because not all of us are heading home immediately.  Three are heading for a weeks beach holiday on Zanzibar.  When I was booking I thought I would be tired enough that I'd just want to come home so didn't book that option, but at this point in time it looks like a great option.  However 12 of us are heading back instead.

The journey back to the airport is again along the Arusha - Moshi road.  Having travelled 4 times along it in a week I think I know it better than a lot of others.  This is just as well, because you have to be able to anticipate the speed bumps, especially if you are trying to doze.  I've never seen a main road with so many speed bumps on it, and police checking for speeding, but as traffic accidents are one of the biggest causes of deaths in Tanzania it is not surprising.

We get to the airport and we have to say goodbye to our guide, as we are going straight through security going into the building.  So there is nobody other than passengers allowed in departures.  The airport is a bit bigger on the departures side that it was on the arrivals side, but there still isn't that much to do other than queue.  This is probably the first airport I have ever arrived at 3 hours before departure as required, and found we really did need the 3 hours.  Duty free is small, but I manage to spend my last Tanzanian currency (only received as change from beers paid for in dollars in the hotel bar) on some sweets.  Overall I've spent a lot less than I thought I would, but there wasn't really that much opportunity to spend.

We are flying out on the return leg of the flight we came in on.  Luckily for us this one is on time, unlike our one being 2 hours late last week.  After we take off for the short hop to Nairobi we get some great views of the top of the mountain poking through the clouds.  It is a fitting way to have our last view of Kilimanjaro.  One of the only regrets of the week is that we have not been able to get any of the great distance pictures of the mountain towering over the savannah, but this fly past makes up for it.

While on the flight to Nairobi I get talking to the guy next to me who did a different route.  He tells me that they were told a woman died on the mountain only a few days before we got there.  Although I have since googled it and cannot find confirmation, it is probable, these things do not get publicised too much.  From googling before I went I know a bloke from Wexford died in March, but I never told anyone in case they worried.  The truth is this was a relatively dangerous holiday, a few people die doing it each year out of the 50,000 or so who attempt.  Its not quite the danger of Everest, but it is a bit more dangerous than some holidays (although not if they involve going to the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney).

When we come in to land at Nairobi we get the same turbulence and hard landing as before.  It is a sign of how used to hard landings on Ethiopian Airlines that we don't really notice.  But an hour later when we pull back from the terminal what happens, yes a warning light comes on.  After 2 hours sat on the concrete, we get taken off the plane and sent into the terminal.  It is not looking good.  Or it is.  To be honest this holiday is finishing a day earlier than I expected (due to a booking change I was originally on a trip finishing the next day, but I did get £180 back instead).  So if we are to stay a night in Nairobi it wouldn't bother me.  Others might have problems, so if they look for volunteers to stay I am on for it.  Nothing to do with the fact that if I clear customs I can claim to have visited Kenya, and another country, and in particular my first beginning with K, would be nice.

First though they make some efforts to cater for us, so we do get free softdrinks, pies (actual meat pies like you would get at a lower league football match) and some cake.  With another duty free beside us to supply crisps and chocolate we are actually well supplied.  It is only at this point that we realise that we haven't eaten since breakfast at 9am and it is now 8pm.  For some of us, the two lads who hit the town last night, it is even longer as they didn't make breakfast.  Although apparently in their night out they did have pizza at 2am, and a barbeque at 5am.  Their adventures at the two nightclubs they visited sound alternatively scary and amazing, but as these experiences didn't happen to me they aren't for this blog.

After 2 hours in the terminal though they manage to fix the plane.  As we had a 6 hour stopover in Addis anyway, we are still on target for meeting our plane, although the Americans have missed their flight to DC.  When we get to Addis it is just midnight, so we head straight for the bar.  It is now the one of the girl's birthday, so we sing happy birthday and have a few more beers.  This is our last chance to be together as a group (less those who went to Zanzibar) before we get on the plane, where we no longer sit together, and the chances of all getting through Heathrow border control at the same time to have a big goodbye there are slim.

So this is really where the trip ends.  We get on the plane at 2am, and it is a fairly standard flight.  The queues at Heathrow are worse than I expected, and getting out of it takes a while, but eventually I do make it home and its the end of the holiday.

Kilimanjaro Day 6

Friday 10th September

Not surprisingly this time I got about 8 1/2 hours of sleep out of 9 hours in the tent.  Having walked for 15 hours the previous day the only surprise is probably that there was 30 minutes awake.  This is probably because the ground at this campsite is a bit softer and flatter than at any other.  It is also a bit dirtier.  The dirt at the other campsites was quite dry, so actually didn't really stick to you as much as it could have.  This dirt is a lot damper, as we are back down in the forest again, so it sticks to you and makes it harder to clean.  I don't care anymore, after 6 days without a shower, the knowledge that a shower will be available by the end of the day is enough to overcome any feelings of dirtiness.

As this is our last morning with the porters we do have to arrange the tricky business of tips.  Now our guide has given us a bit of guidance on this matter, basically we all put $150 into a pot and it gets divided up amongst the team.  The only problem with this is the guide does the dividing himself.  So we can't be sure who gets what.  So to supplement this we also are advised to directly tip our personal porters $10.  It seems like quite little for carrying the bag up and down the mountain but it seems to be the standard so what can you do.  If you were to go higher it would only cause problems.

As well as giving money some people donate equipment, as we have seen with porters wearing all sorts of gear, including some quite old looking Take That t-shirts.  One of the most common logos seen on donated gear is the Arsenal badge, we can't figure out if just a higher proportion of Arsenal fans do the climb, or if there have been a lot of people getting rid of their gear over the last 5 trophy less seasons.  Anyway I was thinking of leaving something, a t-shirt, some hiking socks for my guide, but he comes over and starts pointing at things and asking for them.  This annoys me so he ends up getting nothing.  I think what annoyed me most was that the first thing he pointed at were my trekking poles, saying I don't need them any more.  Leaving aside the fact that they weren't mine to give away, as the belong to Dorota, he won't need them either, because you can't use them when carrying the loads that the porters carry.  So all he would do with them is sell them.

Having said that it is not all like that.  Most of the porters have actually been really nice and honest.  There is obvious temptation for them with all our western gear given how poor they are, but they really do seem to be happy enough to do the job they are doing.  It is a hard job, but it probably pays well above the wages of any alternatives.  One case in point on the honesty comes to light.  One of the porters from another group took the head torch of ones of the guys to turn it off when the sun was coming up on the ascent the previous day.  But due to the monotonous nature of the climb he never stopped, walked on, and then the porter could not find him.  So this morning that porter finds him and returns the torch, it took a bit of effort to find the right person.  He could have kept it and nobody would have cared.  As it happened the guy from our group gave it back to him as a reward for his honesty.

Anyway after breakfast the tips are handed over and then the porters say goodbye to us.  This is in the form of them all singing and dancing the Kilimanjaro and Jambo Bwana songs.  These are traditional songs that we have heard over the last few days.  There are a few speeches, one from our guide, and one from a representative from our group.  When the bag of tips is handed over to the guide all the porters eyes are on it.  Not surprising as it contains $2,250 dollars, which one of our groups points out is probably a lot of money to them.  Actually it still is a lot of money to me, but given that it is about 1.5 times the GDP per head of Tanzania it equates to $50,000 to $60,000 for a westerner.

Now that the singing and dancing are over, it is back to the walking.  We still have almost 1500m to drop, and another 9k to walk.  It is a measure of how hard the last days were going up, that this doesn't really cause us much concern.  We are leaving early so that we can get through the formalities at the exit gate as quickly as possible.  As we leave the campsite we have our last good view of the peak of Kilimanjaro, with its magnificent snow covered peak.  It is amazing to believe that less that 24 hours ago we were on top of it, and now we are already halfway down, and in 2 1/2 hours we will be all the way down.

The walk down is very similar to the walk up on the first day.  There is one big difference, on the way up we were being passed by porters walking twice as fast as us, on the way down, with lighter loads, they are overtaking us at three times the speed.  Because of this we are forced to walk in single file which somewhat limits conversations. 

On the way down I get talking to Samuel, our guide, and amongst other things I mention that Dorota did the climb a few weeks earlier.  He tells me that had we been doing it together he would have had to split us up, otherwise one person might drag the other back.  I have to be honest, had she been here I probably would have spent a lot of energy worrying about her, even though she wouldn't have wanted me to, and it might have hurt my chances of making it.  Overall I think it is a good idea to do this separately.

After 2 1/2 hours we reach the exit gate to the national park.  This is where the final formalities take place, we sign the register for a final time, and our guide goes off to collect our official certificates.  While we wait we buy our first cold drinks for a week.  Some people go for beer, but given it is only 10am, I go for a Coke, as I would be drinking on at the same time were I back in the office.  Its not exactly the same, out here we can only get fat Coke, no Diet.  Which is not surprising because I haven't seen any Tanzanian who looks like they need a diet.  Eventually our guide appears and we get our certificates in a little ceremony.

We have one last walk, another 15 minutes down the road to a little restaurant owned by the guy who has been our chef for the week.  Here we will be having a final lunch before we head back to the lodge.  It is a local dish, banana stew.  Its a really nice meal, the bananas are cooked and taste a bit like sweet potatoes.  Maybe its an Irish thing, but a stew (there was some meat) at this point was about the best thing I could have, so of course I went for seconds.

While we were having our meal we were able to observe a little of the local commerce in the village.  The porters get paid and immediately there are little market stalls where they can buy new shoes, socks, bags, and anything else they might need for trips up the mountain.  Also we see some of them selling the items they were given as part of the tips, as I thought they might.  But it is clear that besides the porters so many people around the mountain do gain from the tourism it provides.  I think this area doesn't give a true picture of Africa, this mountain is like a little money oasis amongst the general poverty of the continent.

We finally get onto the minibus to head back to the lodge.  This is another 2 hour journey, and we pass through the outskirts of Moshi, the largest town near the mountain.  I think we got the leafy suburbs, because I couldn't believe the size of the houses.  I'm not sure if they were for locals or ex-pats.  We also pass one of the biggest churches I've seen in a while, with probably another 6,000 seats outside it.  Then we are back on the familiar airport road.  As we have seen this before most people begin to doze off. 

Because one or two people need cash we head into the centre of Arusha, the even bigger city near our lodge, to hit an ATM.  On the way in we pass the big international convention centre, which is a very modern building where the Rwandan war tribunals are taking place (so naturally there is high security).  While this might make Arusha seem like The Hague, it is more like Brussels because it is also the headquarters of the East African Union.  This is because of its long diplomatic history, the main reason the city grew to prominence was because it was halfway between Cairo and Cape Town, the two ends of the British Empire in Africa.  According to the guidebooks there is a clock tower to mark the spot (although its not really the spot, on a straight line it is in the Congo jungle, but this is halfway on the main road), but we pass it by with barely a glance as it is so unremarkable.  I didn't even get a photo of it.

Eventually we get back to the lodge and everyone heads straight to their rooms to unpack and clean.  I think cleaning is relative, even after a long shower I don't think I am quite back to clean, but its close enough to head down to the bar/restaurant and begin the post climb celebrations.  We have a few beers before dinner, another great dinner, and then a load more beers after dinner.  As the night is winding down two of the team, who unlike the rest of us caught some sleep instead of beers before dinner, are looking to go out to a local disco.  Even though I would have liked to go see some real local life (nothing to do with more beer) I couldn't stay awake much past 11.30 pm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arusha

Kilimanjaro Day 5 (Summit Day)

Thursday 9th September

Well it has arrived, Summit Day.  Or actually it hasn't arrived yet.  The good news is I got a full nights sleep, the bad news is that a full night was only 4 hours.  We wake up at 11, and get up slowly.  It is probably about 5 or 6 degrees below zero.  Luckily I was wearing my thermal underwear anyway.  It pays to be prepared.  Still having said that, the time has come to layer up.  It is expected to be cold at the top of the mountain, so you have to wrap up warm.  This involves putting on many layers.  I have 2 pairs of socks, 3 layers on the legs (thermals, trousers and rain leggings to protect from the wind), and 6 layers on top (a thermal top, a base layer, a t shirt, a mid layer, a fleece and my rain coat as a windbreaker).  Plus a woolly hat, a bandanna as a scarf, and a pair of gloves.  And another pair of gloves for later.

I didn't really feel like eating at this point, but we were being served breakfast before we set off.  There is something wrong about eating breakfast at midnight.  For some reason this seems even more wrong than getting up at 11.  But I do manage to eat a little before we set off.  Despite the plan to leave at 12, we actually set off at about 12.40.  Because we once again had a low camping point we seemed to take a while to get going as well.  We can look up the mountain and already see the snake of head torches ascending in a zig zag.  Its a bit strange, we have normally been fairly good at getting going ahead of the other groups, but on this night we seem to be behind.

However that doesn't really matter as this is not a race, it is a slow slog up the mountain.  It is even slower than normal, and all you do is follow the feet of the person in front of you.  I have been given number 10, and am placed behind John.  Because it is so dark you have to have your head torch on (it has to be a head torch as you need both hands for the poles) and this gives quite a small area that you can see.  So all you can see is the feet of the person in front of you, so I get quite acquainted with John's feet.  Its just as well, you need to see where their feet have gone, so you can put your feet there as well.  The footing for this ascent is quite different to what has gone before, it is a lot more scree like, and so a lot of the time a misstep will send you backwards not forwards.

Today's climb is actually very steep.  It is relatively short, only 5k but it is 1300m vertical.  To put it in perspective it is almost the equivalent of climbing Ben Nevis starting at the top of Mt Blanc.  It is very steep.  It is very dark.  It is very cold.  And there is the altitude.

To be honest after the initial shock of having someone with altitude sickness on day 1, we haven't really had too many problems since.  Yes we are all having problems sleeping, there have been a good few headache tablets taken, and a few of us have had the runs, but nobody has had really extreme reactions, possibly because of the Diamox, although not everyone has Diamox.  But this is where the real effects of altitude will be felt.  By the time we get to the top there will be only 40% of the oxygen that there is at sea level.  Throwing up will not be uncommon, hopefully that is the worst that happens.

But for me it is the dark that is much more annoying.  Not because of the dark itself, but because of the way in which the head torch is illuminating a circular area.  It makes me think I have tunnel vision, which is a possible sign of altitude sickness.  I think there is also something somewhere in the back of the mind that says it is night, why aren't you back in bed.

We continue up the mountain passing another campsite a few hundred metres above our one.  Now it becomes clear why there were people ahead of us on the mountain, and in fact when we look down the mountain there are even more people coming up behind us.  After an hour and a half we pass 4910m.  This is an important milestone for me as it represents the highest point I had been up to before.  Everything after this is a personal best.  I do feel a bit nauseous at this point but its not too bad.  Unlike previous days there is little talking amongst the group, and obviously with our numbers no moving around.  We snake up the mountain probably at a rate of 150m per half hour.  Its not that bad a rate really.  We do stop every half hour, but they are only short stops because once you stop moving you really begin to notice the cold.

I decide to put on my second set of gloves over my first ones as my fingers are getting a bit cold.  This is where I realise probably my biggest preparation mistake.  I never checked whether or not the outergloves fit over the other ones.  I had tried both on separately at home, but never tried them on at the same time.  It is a classic schoolboy error.  It takes about 20 minutes to work out how I can wear both pairs and hold the trekking poles at the same time.

Besides one quite public stop for a dose of the runs, it has gone quite well in the first 3 hours.  To preserve modesty I won't mention who, but I did have some close encounters of the windy kind, as I was walking right behind John.  To be honest I didn't really notice, and passed the compliment on to the person behind me.  Suffice to say that as the altitude increase, so does flatulence.  However at about 4am we have our first few falters, but the guides are eagle eyed and step in really quickly.  They immediately take some bags off people and we continue on.

At this stage I have developed a fair rhythm.  Step, breathe, step, breathe.  If we stop I make sure I breathe as deeply as possible, I have to count to ensure I am breathing properly.  At this height something which you never think about no longer comes automatically.  But my mind is beginning to wander, I find myself thinking about all sorts of things, including how the hell did Dorota manage this.  It is now 5am and I am beginning to flag.  We have had 5 hours walking in the dark, we are still 200m from Stella Point (5750m), the first part of the rim we will reach where things level out.

I begin to see strange shapes among the rocks.  At one point I see a rock shaped like an elephant, then one like our mess tent, and finally I see one that I am convinced is a large pizza, and when I say large I mean big enough to feed all 15 of us.  Of course these are hallucinations, and are all really only rocks of different shapes.  I'd say I had about a dozen big ones and I also see a lot of flashing lights on the ground ahead.  I'm not too far gone because I do know these are altitude sickness symptoms, but I don't bother the guides because I'm sure everyone is having them.

We have had one casualty though, one of the 15 is suffering and has dropped off.  We have 5 guides with us so can afford a couple of splits in the group, or a couple of people suffering.  I am amazed nobody else is suffering, but afterwards I find out actually they are, its just in the dark I haven't seen the couple who have thrown up.  Its probably just as well, I still feel fairly sick and the sight of others throwing up might well have set me off.  Strangely even though I feel unwell I am using thoughts of food to keep me going, the best one being me thinking of which Michelin starred restaurant I'll take Dorota to when I get back to celebrate both of us having made it.  That gets me through 15 minutes at least.

Which is really the worst 15 minutes of the climb.  By 5.30 the first signs of light appear above the Eastern horizon.  This gives an amazing lift to the spirits.  I'm no longer sure if we were supposed to be at Stella Point by the time the sun rises, but I don't really care.  At this point all you really want to do is get there.  But it is true that it is darkest just before dawn.  If not literally, it is definitely the case that the mind is at its weakest at that point.  Again when we discuss it afterwards a number of the group also point to this half hour as the worst.

Just after sunrise we reach Stella Point.  As the sun is out we can stop and rest and soak up a few rays.  It is time to put on sun cream, sun hats and sun glasses.  And take out the camera as there is finally enough light to take some pictures.  It would have been nice to take a picture of the sunrise but it would have been a bit of struggle to take out the camera on the slope.  This is because it is wrapped in a sock and tucked in the pocket of the inner most layer of trousers, close to the body.  This is to ensure that the camera battery does not lose its charge in the cold, as they are won't to do.  In fact spare batteries are wrapped in socks in my backpack as well.

Although the camera's were protected against the cold, it has to be said that I don't think it is that cold.  Yes I am wrapped up like the Michelin man so may not feel it, and although I needed spare gloves at one point, the truth is that I don't think it is anywhere near as windy as I expected, and therefore it is not as cold as it could have been.  The main thing that is exposed to the weather, my water bottle, only has a tiny bit of ice in it.

After a while resting at Stella, we head off for the summit.  We can see the peak from here, it is about 150m above us, and less than 2km away.  To be honest this is probably the flattest walk we have had all week, but we are at an altitude above that of Mt Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe.  Still for some reason it reminds me of walking on Howth Head, which is considerably smaller.  A pleasant stroll it is not, there are still a lot of breathing issues, but eventually after 45 minutes we round a corner, and there about 100 metres away we can see the crowd at the summit.  Still there is no way you could break into a sprint, it is still Pole Pole as we approach, but at 7.45am we reach the summit of Kibo, Uhuru Peak.

The highest point in Africa.

And that is that.

Well not really.  Having spent all the time getting to the top, there is now the matter of being at the top.  I think I was in the front 5 of our group getting there, so as we all shake hands with each other, we look back to see there the rest of the group are.  All bar one had last been seen at Stella Point, so we are fairly sure that the 14 others will make it.  While we wait for everyone I have a little look around.  I probably haven't said it, it sort of goes without saying, the views are amazing.  There are glacial fields all around, and of course we are actually on the rim of a volcanic crater.  The floor of the crater is about 300m below, and the other side is about 2k away.  In fact the crater is so vast that you can't actually see the vent.

While we wait for the rest of the gang it is time to break out the treats.  Everyone brings treats to eat when they get to the top, so there is chocolate, haribo tangfastic, and my skittles to share out.  There is also the small matter of some whiskey.  And note it is whiskey, not whisky, as it is 12 year old Jameson.  My fellow Irishman has brought it as the route we are climbing is often called the Whiskey route as is is the hardest.  to be honest the way my stomach feels at that time I would rather we were doing the easiest route, the Coca-Cola route.  I refuse the Whiskey at first, but about 10 minutes later when some of the others arrive and are offered some, I have recovered enough to take a sip.  Only a sip, any more at this altitude could literally be dangerous.  Just as well it is a doctor prescribing it.

The theory is that most people only spend a few minutes at the top, get the picture and head back down.  This is because of the cold and wind, but in fact it is a really nice sunny day and there is no wind.  Its cold, but no colder than a nice sunny day in winter at home (i.e. I'd say about 3-4 degrees).  So there is no hurry to go down.  Also most people can head down quickly because they can get their photo at the sign over and done with in minutes.  Not today.  There are about 30 people already there, and more arriving by the minute.  It is a bit of a struggle to get a photo on your own with the sign.  But eventually I get mine taken.  So do the rest of the team, even the rubber chicken.

Yes those of you who remember the noise from the plane in Heathrow will remember the rubber chicken.  I speculated that it would be going to the top of the mountain, and it was.  It was actually the honorary 16th member of our group, as it belonged to one of the guys in the group.  It actually got us a lot of laughs on the way up as it was hanging on the outside of his bag so every time he hit something all we could hear is a squeak.  Each time you hear it you just have to smile.  Anyway the chicken made it, and got his photo, and a chicken dance (that's another story).

All that remains now is to take another dozen photos, place a stone on the little pile near the summit (from travelling in South America we do this as a thanks to Pachamama - the goddess of Mother Earth who protects us climbers), and wait for the rest of the group so we can get a group photo taken.  All 14 who made Stella at roughly the same time make the peak.  Its a pretty good return for our group.  Our only casualty is someone who we later find out made Stella, but was so exhausted from the lack of sleep over the previous nights, he could not make it any further.

All told I spend about 30 minutes at the top, although I have to say it feels like twice as long.  It is so beautiful, and such an achievement, that time does seem to slow.  Of course that could be a side effect of the lack of oxygen.

At this point we realise that of course what goes up must come down.  This is actually not really a problem heading back to Stella Point because it is a fairly flat and wide track.  In fact this time you can appreciate the views, and the terrain.  And because with every metre you go down you get more breath back in your lungs, you can give encouragement to people who are still on their way up.  I'm not 100% if everyone appreciates it, but I wouldn't have minded it on the way up.  Somehow on the way down I am on my own for the first time, some of the others have gone on ahead, others are behind.  Its the first time since we started on the mountain that I am actually out walking on my own.  I'm not sure why but at this stage I actually begin to cry.  I could blame the altitude, as it gets blamed for everything, but in this case I am fairly sure it is just the emotional release of having made it.  There was some pressure on me with Dorota having made it, not from her I have to say, but sort of self inflicted.  Anyway the relief from having made it is so much a couple of tears appear.

We regroup at Stella Point at about 9am, have some more food and drink, and then we head back down the much steeper slope.  This is a lot more interesting as a descent.  Its a bit like skiing down the scree.  Of course I don't ski, and that makes it a bit difficult for me.  In fact I do lose my footing once or twice, although its a backwards stumble not forward, which probably would have had me going down the mountain in record time.  One of our guides sees it and insists on taking my backpack for a while thinking I'm tired.  The truth is that I am slightly, and it is affecting my balance slightly.

The descent is great, but by this time we are a bit on autopilot, it is 9 hours since we started after all.  It takes 2 hours all told to get back to the campsite, and we do get a good view of what we came up, and the campsites below.  One interesting thing that we saw was a big rucksack rolling down the mountain.  Obviously someone dropped it.  It disappears off 100m to our left and none of us can get to it.

Once we get back to the campsite and get the congratulations of the porters, we hit the tents.  Most normal groups would now rest here until the next day, but not our group.  We do have a couple of hours to sleep in the tents, although it is so hot it is more like half in the tents, and half out of them, but after lunch at 1.30 we have to head off again down to our last campsite.  While this does seem like a lot of trouble, we have already gone up 1300m in 5k, and come down it again, and now we have to go down another 1500m in 6k, on balance I think it is worth it because we are going to be one day closer to the lodge, where showers and a sit down toilet await.

The walk down is on a different route to the one we came up, but it looks fairly similar.  The only difference is the speed at which we cross the various vegetation zones.  Where it took us 2 days to get from the tree line to the barren desert stage on the way up, it takes only 2 hours to go down.  We are all tired, but we are back to our talkative selves after the more quiet morning, again possibly because with every few minutes we have more air..  We get passed by others who are racing down the mountain.

It is something I have noticed while on the mountain.  There seem to be a lot of people who are rushing past and who have really serious expressions on their faces.  We see individuals who look like they are in training for something even harder, and we see groups who don't seem to be talking to each other.  On the other hand our group are always talking, and having a laugh.  A lot of the jokes are related to the strange effect the mountain has had on bodily functions, but we are enjoying ourselves.  A lot of these others passing by at speed do not look like they are enjoying themselves.

Anyway we pass one campsite, and then head to our campsite lower down the mountain.  As always we sign the register, and then head down to our campsite.  While I am glad that this is the last night of camping, I will of course miss the popcorn.  But one last night of dinner and baby wipe showers is all that separates us from getting off the mountain and back to civilisation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitude_sickness

Kilimanjaro Day 4

Wednesday 8th September

First thing to note this morning is that I will be writing a note to the people at Imodium asking why it didn't work.  There is probably some disclaimer in the small print saying that it doesn't work above 3500m.  Maybe it is just nerves at the prospect of climbing the wall.  The second thing to note is that the line in my guide book which states that the main toilet at Barranco campsite is the site of the third highest peak on Kilimanjaro is true.  The pile of poo is quite large.

We set off after breakfast and after 10 minutes and a few streams to cross we reach the foot of the wall.  And there we discover that it is actually a fairly easy track up the cliff face.  It is not walking, you do need to use your hands to pull yourself up on occasions, but its not the death defying climb it seemed to have been made out to be, or even appeared to be from the campsite.  I think it looks a lot steeper from the campsite because due to some sort of perspective trick, the dimensions of the mountain are such that you sometimes get confused.  The one point where you are supposed to 'kiss the wall' as you are forced to hug the rocks as you go around them was so short I didn't even realise we had done it until about 10 minutes later and I asked someone when we get to that point.

The one thing about the wall is that because you climb it in the morning, it is all in the shade.  I know the Lemosho people tackle it in the afternoon, I'm not sure would that make it better or worse.  One thing that annoys me about this section is the girl who somehow seems to be climbing at the same time as us.  She seems to be on her own (although I think she is just a slow person in a faster group) except for a guide that carries her daypack and water.  She carries nothing.  Now I'm not doing this because its sour grapes that I have to carry mine, but it does seem a sort of a cheat.  I know there are no rules, nobody says you have to carry some gear, but I wouldn't think I had done it unless I carried some of my own gear.

When we get to the top of the wall, and it is only about 300m high, so it only takes about an hour and a half, we get some great views.  Not only back down to the valley from where we came, but also of the glaciers up above us.  We get a few great photos, and then head off for the rest of the day.  Today is about 9k including the wall, and we are going up to 4600m, which will be our highest campsite (not surprisingly as we summit tomorrow).  But after climbing the wall we are actually descending to our lunch stop at Karanga valley.  Although part of this is across a very barren plateau, the descent into Karanga valley, and the ascent up the other side to the luch site, are actually as interesting as the Barranco Wall, as there is a lot of scrambling.

In fact today is not really a day for using walking poles.  I haven't really been a fan of walking poles in the past, but I have been told that they are necessary for this trek, and I do have to say that in parts, especially yesterday morning when I was suffering, they were vital.  They might have been useful for the descent parts if I actually had a mans set, instead of Dorota's, but the shorter set works pretty well going up.

When we get to our lunch site, we see our mess tent.  Today we are getting a hot meal for lunch instead of a lunch box.  This is quite handy as it saves us carrying it up the wall.  I'm not sure how but they still had potatoes for us.  It is quite amazing, these potatoes have had to be carried up the mountain by someone.  After lunch we are heading off again (the Lemosho people stay at this camp site) to our final campsite before the ascent, Barafu.  It is about 1 when we leave, and it is only a 2 hour hike left, but it is straight uphill, about 600m. 

It is actually one of the most tedious climbs so far.  It is just a monotonous climb straight up a slope, which seems pretty featureless.  This is probably because we are climbing in cloud, so we don't have much of a view.  It is also probably the slowest climb so far, apparently a good preparation for the big one the next morning.  Still despite the tedium the climb itself is soon over and we reach the next ranger hut and our sign in. We had been signing in each day, they are fairly good about ensuring nobody is going missing - probably because so many have in the past.  The ranger hut is also a place where the porters packs are weighed to make sure they are not too heavy, and also a place where you can buy beer, although we suspect that this is only allowed for those on their way down to celebrate.  Anyway none of us feel up to beer at this point.

The interesting thing about this campsite is that it is much rockier than the other ones, and also a lot less flat.  In fact we must drop about 50m to get to our tents, and we are amazed that the porters have actually found spaces between the rocks to pitch the tents.  The only drawback is that we are quite a distance away from the nearest toilet.  Its not normally a problem, but there are rumours that these ones are quite new and fairly clean.  However it is an exhausting 20m climb to get to them, it takes about 8 minutes, so its not very handy if you get caught short.

Because we have such an early start in the morning we have an early popcorn and early dinner.  We also get a final briefing from our guide.  It is a strange one, he completely confuses us by first saying he is going to split us up into groups and then he ends up just giving us numbers from 1-15 so that we know who we are following, and all the women go first.  Because of this it is 7 by the time we get to bed, which seems early but isn't, as wake up call is at 11 for a 12 start.  Yes tomorrow is going to start today.  It is the big day when we make an assault on Kibo, and head for Uhuru Peak.

A quick note for those about the mountain for those wondering who Kibo is and what happened to Kilimanjaro.  Kilimajaro is a dormant volcano, and actually has 3 cones, Kibo, Shira and Mawenzi.  Kibo is the highest one, and the one with the big volcanic cone.  Uhuru Peak is the highest point on the volcanic cone of Kibo, and it is our destination tomorrow.  Uhuru is the Swahili word for freedom, so it is not named after a Star Trek character - it might be the other way around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro Day 3

Tuesday 7th September

Our first shock this morning is when we open the tent and see the frost on the ground.  We knew it was cold, and amazingly that actually helped me sleep.  There were two reasons, first the sleeping bag worked better, and second there was no way I was getting out to pee so I just lay there with a full bladder.  It was just too cold.  I'd say I got about 6 hours of the 9 this time.  There was still a slope (although not quite as much).

The second shock of the morning comes when someone goes to visit our lovely porcelain toilet.  This should have been one where missing the target was a lot harder than with the squat toilets, but apparently not.  Someone had managed to cover the seat in crap overnight.  Who will remain a mystery, we share the campsite with 120 others.  Some do have their own personal toilets, but they are paying for it.  We only have 34 porters for 15 of us, some groups have up to 6 porters per head.  Anyway luckily I don't feel the need to use this destroyed toilet this morning.  In fact in the cold it is hard to even remember to baby wipe shower, or brush your teeth.

We set off after breakfast, our usual porridge, toast, eggs, and tea/coffee.  Even I am drinking tea at this point to get some warmth in me.  The ascent today seems a lot gentler, we are going up 800m, but then down 650m, so overall we are only gaining 150m.  The trek is 11k, so its about as steep on the way up as yesterdays part, but it doesn't seem so, mostly because the track is quite wide and without steps.  At one point we even have a singsong as we go up, although the altitude, we are above 4000m now, makes singing pretty difficult.

About 2 hours into the day I begin to feel a bit dodgy.  Whether it is the altitude, the food, or the beautiful sanitary conditions, I begin to get stomach cramps.  Maybe I should have gone back at camp.  Now unlike the first day where there were plenty of trees to go behind, or yesterday where there were a number of large rocks, the terrain today is a fairly featureless slope, with not too much to hide behind.  After an hour I am beginning to feel a lot worse and am looking out for anywhere to go.  There isn't much choice, but just as it gets to a point of desperation, I see what looks like a toilet in the distance with some tents.  We stop for a drink and I head off at a run.  It was a close call, but amazingly I am back to normal 10 minutes later.  Still its time for some Imodium to ensure that something like that doesn't happen again.

As we head up to Lava Tower, our lunch stop (or the end of your day if you were doing the Lemosho route) I break out the first bag of skittles.  Skittles helped me through the Lares trek back in Peru when I had the same problems (which I'm beginning to think are caused by the altitude - as interestingly both times the stomach cramps hit at about 4200m) and they help here.  So by the time we stop for lunch I even have my appetite back.  The lunch stop is interesting as we really have a close view of the mountain peak, although we are on the Western side, while we will actually climb up the Eastern side.

The climb up today wasn't as scenic as the one yesterday, but that gets put aside as we descend into Barranco Valley.  It is amazing geology, and as we descend, we also get streams and vegetation.  It is actually quite beautiful.  It makes up for the morning, and confirms the trend that each day is even better than the previous one.  For the first time our group breaks into two as we descend, not because anyone is falling behind (at the pace we are going that would be pretty hard) but because there are so many stops for photos.  And a lost lens cap which causes some consternation until one of the eagle eyed guides spots it at quite a distance.

When we reach Barranco campsite though, it is shrouded in cloud, and we descend into it.  This dampness actually makes it feel a lot colder, but hopefully will make it a bit warmer tonight.  We are only 150m above the previous nights campsite, but because we now have the glaciers looming over us I think I feel even higher.  The other great feature of the Barranco campsite is the Barranco wall.  This is the famous breakfast wall which you tackle first thing in the morning, its an actual climb, not walking.  Although it isn't technical.  Still from the campsite it looks a little daunting.

The rest of the evening is as before, some popcorn, wash-up, see how bad the toilets are (and they are as bad as any others), take a few photos, have dinner, and go to bed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea

Kilimanjaro Day 2

Monday 6th September

Well the first thing to note about the tent is that it is pretty hard to sleep on a slope.  My feet must have been 25 cm below my head.  The second thing to note is that the sleeping bag which is designed for cold temperatures, is a bit warm for this climate, so I had to sleep half out of the bag.  And the third thing to note is that the advice of drinking many litres of water during the day to combat altitude sickness means you have to get up in the night to pee.  All three of these factors combined to mean that I only got about 3 hours of sleep in the 9 hours I was lying in the tent.  There was definitely something sniffing around the tent at one point, and when I got up to pee there was some sort of howling in the jungle.  I thought it was a bird, but in the morning the guide said it was a jackal.  I have to say I wouldn't have been as happy having a pee had I know it was a jackal.

Anyway we got up at 6 for a 7 start.  Today is a supposedly shorter day, only 5.5 km and only an 800m vertical.  But at only half the distance and two thirds of the climb, this is even steeper than yesterday.  Still we manage to take our time getting breakfast, so our porters had our tents cleared by the time we finished.  It was pretty impressive to see how quick they could take down everything, pack it away and set off.  We aren't quite as good.  They are in a hurry so they can get a good spot at the next campsite.  We head off past the sign on hut and begin our climb for the day.  Its not too bad, and is made a lot better than yesterdays because we are now above the trees and so have a good view back down the valley.  We can see all the way back to the campsite, some 200m below, and Machame village some 2000m below.

Our guide introduces us to some more of the mountain's flora, including the groundsels, which are the strange unique (well almost - they do exist on Mt Kenya as well) plants that we see surrounding us.  They are a strange cross between a flower and a tree and are noticeable because they are the only thing which makes the plants seem different from those you would find on an Irish/British mountain.  All the other plants are very similar, heathers, alpine type flowers and so on.

The pattern for the day is similar to the previous one, pretty slow, standing aside for the porters, and stopping often for drinking water, and getting rid of water.  To ensure you aren't suffering from the altitude you have to make sure that your urine is 'clear and copious'.  It soon becomes a catchphrase.  Along with chunder creamer, the milk substitute which may have been responsible for part of the nausea of some of the crew last night.  Still everyone feels better today.  Which is just as well because there is a small bit of scrambling over some rocks.

After a while we stop for lunch, at a nice prominence where we get great views of everyone else coming past us.  We also get our first views of the wildlife, some birds that look like ravens with white necks.  These turn out to be white necked ravens.  Some of the girls visit the toilets at the lunch stop, but can't use it because there is a mouse in the toilet.  I say in it, I mean sitting on the pile of shit under the hole.  The mouse had a few stripes down the back, and later we discover it is called a four-striped grass mouse.  We think the person who first named all the species on the mountain was not the most imaginative.

By the way you may notice more talking about bodily functions.  Yes this is how the conversation has gone as we climb.  The simple fact is that as we go up the mountain we get further away from our comforts, and as we do, life becomes simpler.  All we care about now is eating, drinking, breathing, walking, sleeping, and going to the toilet.  So it does become a dominant part of the conversation.  There is little point however in trying to describe the toilets any more, because even if we took photos (nobody did to my knowledge) and even if we could capture the smell and bring it to people over the internet, the experience is only complete if you actually have to use them.  It is bad passing by, but if you have to use them it is 100 times worse.

Anyway after lunch and the mouse incident we continued our climb.  Actually it seems like we have done most of the climbing, and this part is mostly snaking along the side of the valley.  All told it is a much more interesting day with a greater variety of walking challenges, and flora/fauna.  It doesn't take too long to actually get to the top point of the day, and then we descend slightly to the campsite in another walk high/sleep low combination.  This route has been set up to provide this where possible.

As we descend into the camp site we spy something which none of us expected to see, a porcelain bowl in one of the toilets.  Its like manna from heaven.  No flush, it still goes down a big hole in the ground, but at least your aim can't be wrong.  Still as I use it there is still something disconcerting about sitting on a toilet and not hearing the splash.

Anyway we get to our mess tent and as with the previous day there is tea, coffee and popcorn waiting for us.  Personally I think the popcorn part of the day is one of the best as it usually signals the end of the day's walking.  But not today.  To help us acclimatise more our guide is going to take us to see the supposedly famous Shira cave, and the Shira 2 campsite.  I'm interested in seeing this because it is on the Lemosho route, which is Dorota's route.  Up until now our paths have not crossed (relatively, she of course completed the trek 3 weeks previously). 

The Shira cave is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide, so everyone wants to see it, or so our guide says.  To be honest I'm not sure any of our group has read the LP for this, we all have more specific guides written about the mountain only.  When we get to the cave we are all underwhelmed by it, once again confirming the idea that just because something is in LP it is probably not worth seeing.  But we do have another hour and a half walk, again at a slightly higher altitude than our campsite, to help us.

We get back in time for sunset, which again is pretty spectacular.  Its a lot more cloudy than the previous night, so we get a totally different type of sunset.  However after sunset the cloud clears, and we get a great view of the stars.  Unfortunately the loss of cloud cover meant the temperature dropped.  So there was no more staying up after dinner, in fact most people went straight to bed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_holding_cabbage

Kilimanjaro Day 1

Sunday 5th Spetember

It is a 7 O'Clock breakfast start this morning, although the dawn chorus of birds means its more like a 5 O'Clock start.  It is a drawback of staying in jungle lodges that the sounds of the jungle are quite loud at night.  So not everyone got a great nights sleep.  I did, although I did hear the disco from somewhere down the valley that seemed to go on until 4am - I'm fairly sure I heard Guns N' Roses, but disappointingly not Welcome to the Jungle, I think it was Paradise City.  Others also complained that the birds jumping on their rooftops kept them awake, I had to point out that they weren't birds but monkeys.  When asked how could I know I had to say it wasn't the first time I'd stayed in a jungle lodge with monkeys dancing on the roof.

After breakfast we headed off in the minibus for the 2 hour trip to Machame gate where we would begin our ascent of Kilimanjaro.  It takes us all the way back to the airport, and then on to the far side.  Just after that we reach a little supermarket which is very well stocked, and just as well as I had one thing I had to get, some toilet paper.  It was just too bulky to pack my own one in London, and I knew that you would be able to buy them in single packets out here.

Not too long after that we turn off the main road onto a side road and we head up through Machame village.  Each route up Kilimanjaro (there are 6 main ones up, and one other descent route) is named after the village at the end of the route.  Machame village is interesting because every house seems to have half a cow hanging up outside it.  This seems to remind our guide that he needs to buy some beef for the porters to eat, and he jumps out to get some.  This explains the mystery of why its all hanging out, its all for sale.  Here we also get our first view of the mountain as the cloud breaks, and we get a few seconds to glimpse the snow capped peak.

At about 10 we get to the Machame gate where we will register with the Kilimanjaro National Park authorities.  Its the usual minor chaos where we all eventually get into a queue and put our names, addresses and passport numbers.  Funnily some people express concern about giving this information to a government agency when they all probably have facebook accounts with more information available on them to the whole wide world.  Anyway after we sign in we get given 3 litres of water, and a lunch box.  The lunch box is pretty well stocked, so is heavy and big.  The first panic ensues as some people realise that their day pack isn't going to fit the box.  Luckily mine does.  Anyway the first note to future trekkers is make sure you have spare capacity in your day pack for any extra food your guide gives you to carry.

My only problem was that the bag was now a lot heavier with 3 litres of water and the lunch in it.  Nothing else to do but start drinking the water.  Its the best way.  We eventually start walking at about 11 and it is a fairly nice walk through the jungle.  The path is quite wide, we are doing one of the busier routes up the mountain, so there has bee a fair amount of traffic to widen it and it means we can walk two abreast and chat with each other.  Of course we still sometimes have to make way for the porters who come walking past us at about twice our speed (and 5 times the pack).

The guide book I have has a lot of nice pictures of flowers in it, but the jungle is amazingly monotone, with green being the only colour most of the time.  We do get a few red impatiens, which are the flower symbol of Kilimanjaro according to our guide, but mostly it is green.  Our guide (actually our assistant guide, the main guide has to stay back at the gate to sort out the porters) maintains a fairly slow and steady pace.  This is the key to climbing Kilimanjaro, and it is called Pole Pole, which is the Swahili for slower.  It stops us from racing off up the mountain, and this is a good thing.  The walk today is only 10k, but it is from 1800m to 3000m.  Now to put that in context, it is more than climbing Snowdon in Wales, and you are starting from almost twice its height.

The initial 3 hours of walking are not too steep, and then we reach a lunch break site, where we begin to appreciate the contents of our lunch boxes.  Its nothing special, a sandwich, banana, some crisps, a bun and some mango juice, but it is needed.  Eating is relieves some of the weight, as does drinking the water, which is just as well as once we leave our lunch spot the path turns into steep steps.  The only good thing about the steps are that it does seems to take less time to gain 100m altitude on steps than it does on slope.  We are of course climbing the equivalent of an Empire States building worth of steps after lunch.  This stage of the walk is a bit more interesting as we seem to be walking along a ridge that has steep valleys on both sides.  As we are ascending faster we notice that the trees are thinning out and getting smaller.

This is a sign that we are nearing our first nights campsite which is just at the tree line.  In fact we reach it just as the path below us turns dry and dusty (the dirt was more damp in the rainforest) and we get covered in dirt.  Still we are glad to walk to the 3000m marker and the rangers hut where we sign in to show we completed the first day.  It has taken about 5 hours to walk 10k, that is 2kph. 

After signing in we walk back down to our camp site, which is about 50m below the ranger hut.  It seems strange, we are the lowest camping group of the 20 or so groups there (there are probably 120 or so people doing our route on our day - September is a busy month).  It seems a bit stupid, as we are looking at having to go back up the next day, but I soon remember the old adage walk high, sleep low.  Even though the route today can't facilitate us camping too far below our high point of the day, our guides have tried to ensure that we get some help from their choice of camping location.

When we get to our little glade we get to meet our porters who carried our bags, and they show us our tents.  The tents look pretty good.  Pity the same can't be said for the toilets.  They are pretty bad, long drop (aka a hole in the bottom of a shed) but that's not the problem, its the fact that most people can't aim properly.  Anyway tonight the guys don't have to worry about it, as we are back down in the trees we have an al fresco toilet.  We also have an al fresco shower, as we first try to wash off the daily grime using our baby wipes, anti bacterial gels, and deodorants.

As the sun is going down, and as we are back down in the trees, I suggest we head back up to the rangers hut to see if we can get a good view of sunset.  And it is worth it.  The mountain goes through a whole range of colours as the sun sets, and as we are on the equator the sun sets very quickly, so you can actually see the changing colours.  It is pretty spectacular, and our first real long view of the top of the mountain.

Then it is back to the mess tent to have our dinner, which is a very good meal of fish and potatoes.  To be honest after jungle and mountain trips in South America I am no longer surprised by the quality of the cooking on these trips.  After dinner we notice that we have our first casualties of the trip, one person with a real stomach problem, and one with altitude sickness.  Ironically one of these is one of the two doctors on the trip.  Anyway I have spare Diamox, the altitude sickness tablet, so I can give her some.  This leads the other doctor to tell us all off for having Diamox and not using it.  Most people had, like me, brought it to use if needed, but he said you should take if you had it (and also said don't bother with the Malaria tablets at this altitude either - but I hadn't anyway).  So I am on Diamox.

After a small amount of cards it was time for bed, at about 8.30.  There isn't much else to do, and yes, despite the fact that all we did was walk for 10k, I was pretty tired.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamox