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  MOSHI to KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK GATE
8th June 1999 (1970m - 2700m)

We woke at 6.00am hoping to catch our first postcard glimpse of Kili from the Hotel. Unfortunately though when Esau woke us he told us sadly that it was too cloudy to see the mountain, so we turned over for more sleep. This was welcomed because since we had been to Zanzibar we had hardly had any sleep (as usual all the hot rockers had been over doing it on the rest week!). We finally got up at 8.00am to a massive breakfast and caught an old episode of T J Hooker on Sky TV in the dining room.

I realised at this point I did not actually have enough money because I had gotten carried away with Scuba Diving earlier on in the trip and spent all my sponsors money - OOOPS!!! I had to make a quick call home to organise some money to be transferred. Fortunately all was fixed even though the call home was for only a minute. The reason I only called for 1 minute was due to the fact that I was broke and I could only afford a minute. Anyway everything went to plan we got our porters, food, and headed off to the Marangu Gate (45 mins from Moshi by mini bus). The Marangu gate is the official start of the Marangu or trekkers route up to Uhuru Peak. This route is the most popular, and the cheapest. On route to the national park we stopped off for a packed lunch and inherited another team member. Her name was Margi from Canada, she was recruited by Esau at his other office in Arusha to make up the fourth member of the team. Four people to a team was a standard arrangement for two guides and four porters.

On the approach to the gate there are small craft shops and tea houses that have strung up from the constant stream of tourists who come to the national park to either trek around the peak or have a go for the summit. At the gate the mini-bus was immediately swamped with guys wanting to be hired as further guides and other guy's advising us of the dangers of high altitude mountaineering and the fact that you are only successful if you hire either their trekking poles or one of the worn out pairs of once insulated gloves, each pair made up of odd ones usually with the fingers missing and insulation spilling out! We basically spent about an hour milling around the car park amongst the crowd of porters taking in the atmosphere and keeping a close eye on our bags. Our own porters were busy splitting up the kit between themselves.

There were times here that tempers frayed amongst the crowd of porters because our team still had to hire one more porter to make up the team of four, and every man there wanted to chosen. There was plenty of shouting and pushing as each man tried to prove he was stronger than the others but our head guide made his choice, and then headed off to the park office organise our permit to enter the park and book our huts along the way for the next four nights. Watching these men loading themselves up and almost fighting for work to make some money made me realise that I would never moan about going to work again, because no doubt getting up this mountain was going to be hard enough but lugging the loads that these guys were sticking on their backs and heads was astounding. I reckoned that each porter must of had 150 Ibs each. It was at this time I began to think about upping the stakes of my challenge and carrying my own bag. I also knew that these guys wouldn't see hardly any of the massive fee we had all had to pay, so why should I get off so lightly because I had a wedge of cash? While I was thinking of all this ethical stuff, my train of thought was broken because the porters were refusing to carry all of our personal kit. This came as quite a shock because it contradicted what I was thinking, and I think we all thought - "Hold on, we've paid for this privilege and you guy's should carry this stuff !" I think this was only a shock response, because deep down we did actually want to carry our own gear, and we made this clear to them after digging our heels in initially.

After sorting out who was carrying what we made our way past the park office which was actually a plush timber building with a gift shop opposite. This gives you an idea of the money that goes into the national park and just how much of a tourist industry has developed around Kilimanjaro, especially when compared to the shanty tea houses just outside the gate. Just past these buildings is the official start of the ascent marked by vast signs warning of the dangers of altitude, and recommendations of plenty of water and descent if you feel any of the symptoms of altitude sickness as listed also on this sign. This point is also the official weighing point for the porters, which is the image shown in most guide books.

MARANGU GATE to MANDARA HUT
8th June 1999 (1970m - 2700m)

We began walking up through the rain forest at about 1.00pm listening to the sounds of the monkeys in the trees over head as we went. You can actually see them running through the trees when you look up. One thing I couldn't help noticing as we walked up this trail was the tyre marks in the muddy track. I figured that this trail must run all the way up to Mandara Hut to ferry supplies such as fizzy drinks and chocolate, which this popular route is famous for and sometimes referred to as the "Coca Cola Trail". I learned later that it was the main route used to rapidly evacuate victims of altitude sickness form Mandara Hut to ambulances waiting at the park gate.

I had talked to people throughout my travels in Africa about climbing Kilimanjaro, in particular people who had submitted successfully. The most useful piece of information was given to me by an American lady I had met at Cape Maclear in Malawi. She had recommended not to over exert yourself. By that she said, "If you can't breathe through your nose comfortably, then you're walking to fast, especially in the early stages of the trek". She also said that this technique had worked for her some years ago, when she was told this by a German trekker she had met. I kept reminding myself of this advice constantly through the rainforest to Mandara Hut. This section of the trek is detailed in the guide book I had read as taking between 5 and 7 hrs, but I found I completed it in 3 hrs comfortably chatting on the way, but finding myself very sweaty on arrival at the huts. Straight away we went up to the hut warden and bought some cold Fanta's, this is one of the perks of trekking on such a commercial mountain, but the further into the trek and the more altitude you gain the greater the price of your luxuries. The reason for this being that every bottle has been carried by a porter to that hut, so it costs you for his labour.

The group did become broken up at this early stage, but I felt this was everyone finding there own pace, and trying to stick to there own strategies. I found my own pace was well matched to that of Wayne's so I walked with him. The porters were walking slowly probably to conserve energy for there slog ahead over the next few days and looking forward to cooking our meals. Each time they cooked a meal, they would be lightening their loads.

My first impression of Mandara Hut was that it wasn't actually a single hut but basically a little village of huts with electric lights and bunks in each one. The village sleeps about 40 with each hut sleeping four. There is a central eating/common hut, a lot bigger than the rest with a veranda, but all the huts are timber A frames and really nice! The cooking is done in little corrugated iron huts a little down the way by the porters on open fires set in the floor, then carried up to the dining hut. The cooking amenities are basic and reminded me of a typical allotment shed.

Walking around this area really gives you an idea of how basic the cooking and porters facilities are. I looked into one hut which was full of porters from another group huddled around the fire in a hole in the ground and a guy in the doorway hacking apart some part of an animal to feed to their clients for the evening meal. We had actually insisted on a vegetarian menu because some of the group (like myself) were vegetarian, and we all knew that eating meat would increase our chances of stomach upsets resulting in the diarrhoea. Which isn't advisable when your body is already dehydrated! But the good news is that the toilet facilities on this mountain were better than most experienced in the rest of Africa, but I'm sure they would come as a shock to those who had just arrived from user friendly English ones.

While I was wandering around the camp I couldn't help but notice that we had been constantly swamped in cloud. On the walk up to the hut we were in cloud but now that we were at the hut, I had hoped for clear skies. I should have known better considering we had been walking through a rain forest and now at 2700m we were still in rain forest in the monsoon period.

I found that the other trekkers I met were very friendly and had come from all over the globe to try and bag this peak. At this early stage though I only managed to speak with people who were on there ascent, and not descending, which I found disappointing but I wanted some juicy details of their experience - no such luck. I wondered where all the successful summiteers were.

The standard procedure once the group had sorted out there hut, was to meet in the main hut and have a snack, usually popcorn, biscuits and plenty of tea. The porters claim an end of one of the long benches that line the sides of the eating hut and spread out a table cloth to have your afternoon tea and biscuits from. Very civilised I thought, especially when I compared this to how the meal down the way was being prepared. This seemed to be standard with every group, as all along these benches were groups having their afternoon re-hydration session, and talking about their first experiences on Africa highest peak.

It is also usual at this hut to be shown the Laundi Crater which is approx 15 mins walk up a trail from the camp. From the rim of this crater the border to Kenya can be seen. The crater looked to me to be a large grassed over depression with vegetation around its rim, but is in actual fact a inactive volcano!

Once we got back from our little excursion it was time for the evening meal, which considering the circumstances was excellent. It was three courses and geared to again re-hydration and carbohydrate loading. This may be a third world country, but the menu was definitely first world and thought about. We had soup for starters, noodles and vegetables for main course, and fruit salad for desert, accompanied with as much tea as you could drink. I had expected a bowl of rice and hot drinks nothing like this. But at this point and based on everything I had seen on my first day on the trail, this trek really is like an adventure hotel deal, which seemed to be making sure we were looked after sufficiently enough to hopefully summit.

I did wonder what the guides and porters ate, while we gorged ourselves on this feast, and when I enquired our head guide Babuji reluctantly told me rice. I think we all felt compelled to offer whoever from the porters was waiting on us a cup of tea, but when we did they would always decline. Whether this was an instruction or pride I couldn't tell. But they were happy to talk particularly to our new team member Margi because on her travels in Africa she had learnt the Swahili language. This seemed to break the ice. Well this and free cigarettes from Wayne.

During this time of year and due to the low cloud base the sun sets around 6.00pm so after a sort dairy session in your bunk its time for sleep ready for an early start on the next section.

READ PART TWO

  

Jason's Account
BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4


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