Cindy and Mike Do the World!: What am I doing on this mountain?

I have to admit, I didn’t know much about Kilimanjaro until a couple of months ago. Oh sure, I’d heard of it but it was far off in my radar since I don't normally seek out long hiking and camping trips. However, trekking in Nepal made me yearn for more challenges and the opportunity presented itself…Farah was heading to Arusha for 10 weeks and also wanted to do it, so Mike and I decided to join her. So, here I was, ready to summit the highest mountain in Africa on Valentine’s Day. Not quite the usual cocktail and food frenzy (and chocolate fest) that I’m used to on V Day but I suppose it’s good to change it up a bit!

We chose the 8 day/7 night Lemosho route because we’d heard that it is more scenic than Marangu and less busy than Machame (although it joins Machame route partway through). We also wanted to give ourselves the best shot at summiting…a longer route allows more time for acclimatization.

They say that you can experience all four seasons while on Kili and I agree!

Day 1 – Big Tree Camp

We didn’t start hiking until 3:30pm or so after all of the pickups (us, Farah, guides, porters etc.) and the registration process. We arrived at this camp just as it was getting dark. Today was very hot as we were hiking through a rainforest! This camp was packed with people…so much for Lemosho being less busy. We got to use our toilet tent for the first time tonight...I channelled our Toto toilet at home every time I sat on it. Still, it beat the squatting we had to do all day.

The road on the way to starting gate

Just another Saturday

Much busier than we expected!

Our meal at the registration area. They set up a little table for us, complete with a checkered tablecloth.

Super clean and smelling great!

Calabash monkey

Busy camp

Day 2 – Shira 1 Camp

We had a slight panic this morning…we got our water bottles filled (water is supposedly very clean on Kili but the company is supposed to filter it too) and then drank a bunch before leaving camp. That’s when our guides told us we should be treating the water (what?!) even though there was no mention of this in the equipment to bring. Luckily, we’d brought a uv light just in case and Farah brought some drops but we spent the day wondering if we’d get sick since we’d had so much at the beginning. (Note: water wasn’t an issue on day one since we’d filled our water bottles with bottled water).

Everything turned out fine and we reached camp, which was at 11,500 feet or 3505 metres.

Us and our guide, Saidi

Approaching camp

Nice weather

We've got to get there?! Oh dear.

Popcorn snack before dinner

Day 3 – Moir Camp

This day was tough for me…I woke up feeling very nauseous and was unable to eat much for breakfast. This concerned me since we had not yet gained much altitude. When we passed the evacuation road, visions of leaving flashed through my mind! Luckily, the nausea passed after a couple of hours of walking, although the rain had started by this time. Farah and I put on our sexy ponchos, which actually came in handy every time we needed an internet café (guide’s code for pee pee stop). Mike passed on the poncho, but his cafe stops were easier than ours. We arrived at camp during a hailstorm, which quickly turned into a snowstorm! The solution: huddle in the tent in sleeping bags. Hopefully this wasn’t going to be the weather for the next few days.

I tried to listen to music (I’d made a motivational playlist for summit night) and then realized that the rdio program playlist hadn’t synced with my phone…unless we managed to find a signal somewhere and get internet, I wouldn’t have my playlist. Not a good day. L

Not feeling so hot

Farah hydrating before setting out...none of us miss drinking out of a hose all the time.

Should we have brought umbrellas? But ponchos are so much cooler! These are our 2 guides - Paul and Saidi.

Welcome to camp!

Sleep is the best thing to do when it's snowing.

Day 4 – Barranco Camp

Today’s weather was completely different and my SPF 30 sunscreen didn’t even do the trick (SPF 45 was packed away). The sun was so strong, especially when it reflected against the snow. We had lunch at Lava Tower (4600 metres and the highest we’d get until the last camp before summit) and amazingly, we got an internet connection and Mike synced my playlist. Whew. Disaster averted. Not sure how I would have climbed without Lionel, St. Elmo’s fire, Elton John, Toto or Michael Jackson. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to find out.

We arrived at 12,950 feet or 3,916 metres.

Just looking for a chalet...

I suppose the rock will do.

After lunch, it was time to cross a river.

Feeling kind of tropical here. Kind of.

He stuck his head in the river! I'll stick to deodorant wipes and dry shampoo.

Getting closer

Day 5 – Karanga Camp

We began the day by climbing the Barranco wall, which was a complete traffic jam of people. Luckily, our guide was good at organizing everyone and somehow got us in the fast lane.

Later, we passed a porter from another company who was resting and squinting furiously. Our guide stopped to ask him if he was all right and it turned out that he hadn’t worn sunglasses the day before and now, he couldn’t really see. Our guides told us the same thing happened to 3 of our porters the day before and they had been thinking of going down. They tried this black tea remedy (they poured black tea in their eyes to alleviate the blurriness) around midnight and it helped. We initially felt very frustrated that sunglasses were not supplied but upon getting more info from the guides, found out that it is more a case of porter negligence (sunglasses only cost $1 and some just forget to bring them, plus porters work for many different companies so it’s hard to keep track).