Kilimanjaro
Day 1
Walking through the clouds on Kilimanjaro
August 6, 2003
We left the Mountain Village hotel late, at about 9:30 or 9:00; we took 3 safari
vehicles. As we left our hotel about a mile down the road there was a market and
the dress and the scene were incredible. The people, mostly, were in authentic dress,
but being essentially in Arusha there was also a lot of American clothes.
We soon left the area and about 45 minutes or an hour later our truck got a flat
tire. The safari vehicle behind us stopped and helped out. The area we stopped in
was rural, with many houses of concrete walls, but no roofs. Ten minutes after our
flat we were again on the road.
We turned off the main road and onto the smaller road to get to the trailhead. Here
we got yet another flat tire, in the middle of the banana fields. Unfortunately
this time we were the last of the three vehicles and the other two vehicles didn’t
notice our flat so continued to drive towards the trailhead. Again the flat was
the back right tire, but our tire iron was rusted to the truck. Our driver took
a rock and knocked the iron off, but this took 15 minutes.
While he was trying to get the iron off many of us got out of the car and walked
around, Neal had to go to the bathroom so wandered into the banana fields and found
a farmer's outhouse. Neal pointed at himself and the farmer let him use the
outhouse, Neal thanked him with a pack of matches he had picked up from the hotel.
I stayed in the car and talked to Kathleen about her time in Iraq, in fact she plans
on going back as soon as this trip ends. Kathleen teaches at Stanford, but was originally
born on a tree farm in northern Wisconsin.
After getting the tire iron off, our driver changed the tire in a matter of minutes
and we were again on our way. Shortly after that the road went from gravel to dirt,
or I should say mud. The jeep had a hard time, but after much sliding around and
hundreds of potholes, we made it to the trailhead.
We all signed in, then I ran to the bathroom, only to find a Turkish toilet. Our
chef, Hartson gave us our boxed lunches, and another Tanzanian guide, Leonce led
the way up the mountain. Nicholas, our lead African guide had to stay behind for
paperwork, and he only caught up to us after we reached Machame Camp for the night.
Since it had lightly rained the past two days the trail was all mud, but quite the
adventure. Many places were just puddles of mud about 8 inches deep and on average
the mud was about 4 inches deep. The scene, however was beautiful; we were in a
rain forest and the trees and vegetation were indescribable.
Neal and I tested our gear and walked trough all the mud and puddles we could find.
Mary and Kathleen fell behind from the start... neither had gaiters or waterproof
boots. We stopped for lunch at a clearing, where we all sat on the muddy rocks and
logs, making all of us a mess, but we were going to be eventually, so why not start
now.
We continued on after lunch until we reached the park ranger’s round green welcome
hut. Here we all signed in again, then continued on for about two minutes up a hill
to our camp. We camped a little higher than the actual camp is; it was a little
more secluded and right on the path, ready for the next morning.
Here, at 9,800 feet we sat in the woods, not the rain forest we had seen earlier,
but more of a hardy forest. We reached camp just after the sunset, but just before
it got dark. We had steak and potatoes for dinner and they were fantastic; much
better than I had expected for "camp food." While eating Allen talked
about the vegetation we would see the next day and he talked about the fire that
spread through the area in 1996 that killed a French climber. Kerrin’s comment to
this was “not a lose,” as he continued to eat dinner.
We have yet to see the actual peak of Kilimanjaro due to the clouds.
Kilimanjaro - Day 2