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9th June (2700m - 3700m)
We were woken at 6.30am by the porters with a flask of hot tea and a bowl of hot water left on the step of the hut to wash our faces in. On emerging from my bed and venturing outside with my mug of tea the weather this morning seemed to be clear. While the other's got up, I made the most of the hot water to wash my face, drank my tea and took in the surroundings, then we all headed for the dining hall for breakfast. The hall was a hive of small groups all having breakfast and chatting over cups of tea about day two of the trek. Once our breakfast arrived we again were shocked by the standard of the food. We had toast, omelets and salad, with lashings more tea. I was eager to get going and I knew Wayne was too so we got geared up and ready for the off. During breakfast the clouds had drawn in again and with them some fine rain. We put on our waterproof jackets but left our shorts on, it didn't seem to desperate if our legs got wet. It was still a tad too cold to be standing around waiting for the others to finish getting ready so Wayne and myself set off slowly to keep the blood moving. On our way out of camp we let Babuji know of our plan and he gave us a packed lunch to take with us.
As we wondered through the last section of the rain forest we broke out onto what seemed like a vast alpine meadow, an undulating landscape of shrubs dotted with colorful little flowers and giant groundsel (apparently indigenous to Kilimanjaro) with a backdrop of snow capped Mawenzi.
The Kilimanjaro National Park actually has two peaks, Kibo and Mawenzi. Kibo 5895m has routes for the trekker and the technical climber, and the highest point on Kibo is Uhuru Peak, while Mawenzi slightly smaller 5149m has only technical routes and in my opinion is a far more impressive peak to look at, with it's jagged crags.
We spent a little time along the route photographing Mawenzi because the further along the trail we walked the more the cloud seemed to separate and bring the peak into view, each time the cloud did separate we would snap away in case this would be the last of the peak we would see. Eventually though the cloud cleared completely showing the peak in it's full glory, another perfect photo opportunity!! The temperature had warmed up now that we had been walking a while so this section of the trek was pleasant, and involved crossing endless streams, and an excellent opportunity to refill the water bottles.
This section of the trek traverses a lot of densely vegetated gorges which carry the mountain watercourses, but as the trail rises with altitude, the vegetation becomes sparse and less dense, all except for the giant groudsel. We had encountered all along this trail porters belonging to other parties carrying loads down, but we noticed most of the porters we were seeing recently were all carrying fire wood in the opposite direction, so we deduced that we must be near to Horombo Hut. On reaching the crest of what turned out to be the last ridge on the day's section of the trail we could see Horombo Huts and our first glimpse of snow capped Kibo emerging from the higher ground behind Horombo, meaning that the guy's with the firewood were a good indication of the end of walking for the day.
We walked into the camp with high spirits finding a suitable boulder to rest on and re hydrate. We mixed up some re hydration salts in our water and lounged in the sun and looked down on the clouds. This felt quite rewarding considering up until now we had been walking in the clouds. This section had taken us approx. 3hrs rather than the recommended 7hrs in the guide book.
This seemed surprising since we had made sure not to over exert ourselves by monitoring our breathing. This moment of feeling that we were finally making some progress and this peak wasn't going to be so difficult to bag based on what we had already experienced was quickly shadowed by the realities of the effects of altitude. As Wayne and I were lazing in the sun, we heard a lot of shouting and commotion from a group of what looked like porters or guides running into camp and headed towards the wardens hut. After some speculation we walked over and it turned out to be a casualty of altitude sickness. This guy had just been brought down from Kibo Hut strapped into a stretcher fitted with wheels which the guides run down the track with. It's quite reassuring to know that the guides can react should they need to, and I also noticed that the wardens hut had a C.B. radio.
It was at this point that I realised we had only been making our way to the foot of Kibo up until now, and once we arrive there it is only the tip of the iceberg, already we have seen our first casualty of mountain sickness and ironically this was the first person I'd met coming down and I couldn't exactly ask him any questions about the peak.
Once the rest of the group arrived and we had dinner we decided to walk further up the trail to gain more altitude and hopefully get a better view of Kibo. We walked up to just below 4000m that afternoon and got our first real whole views of the peak. It was almost totally covered in snow and it looked like we still had our work cut out for the next 2 stages.
We spent most of the afternoon gaining altitude and looking at Kibo trying to predict the route we would be taking on summit day, then it was back to camp for a feed. The camp was almost full now with a lot of people sitting in the dining hall in there trekking groups, or on the veranda looking out through the breaks in the cloud to the plains below.
Once we had eaten dinner which was again a 3 course delight the cloud had rolled in so the view had almost gone. The sunset again was disappointing because it set behind the higher ground behind the huts, so the next task was to chat to some fellow trekkers and see if I could find someone that had already made their ascent. Well, I couldn't find anyone, but I did learn that some people stay at Horombo Hut for an extra day to help acclimatize, taking in another minor peak of approx. 4000m. One of the most interesting things a lot of people said was that they try and walk at the pace set out in the guide book that they have. That is if the guide book says that a section should take 7hrs then they make sure that they take 7hrs. I personally do not see the point in this, surely if you can achieve your goal for the day without over exerting yourself in a shorter time than recommended, therefore resting at a higher altitude for a longer period thus allowing your body more time to adjust, then this must be more beneficial than taking longer than needed breaks along the way to pad out the time scale.
Well after chatting for a while it was time to turn in for the night and fill in the diary for the day. Once I was in my bunk I couldn't help noticing the cloud rolling in through the gaps in the door, it looked quite eerie lit up with the beam of my head torch, this gave us all load's of laugh's reminding the person next to the door about the film the "Fog!!!"
Once the jovialities of the fog were exhausted and we settled down for sleep, the real horror of mites chewing on your skin set in. The mattresses in the hut we had must have had bed bugs or something, but everyone was fidgeting, scratching and then letting out grunts of annoyance. Eventually we got some sleep.
READ PART TWO
| Jason's Account |
| BACKGROUND |
| INTRODUCTION |
| PART
1 |
| PART
2 |
| PART
3 |
| PART
4 |
| DOWNLOADS |
| Word File - 7.3Mb |
| Text File - |
| Zip File - 4.3Mb |
| Photographs |
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FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS WEB SITE,
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