Kilimanjaro 1 : A walk in the park

Acknowledgments

First things first - my gratitude to the following people (in no particular order) who had made the summiting of Kilimanjaro possible for me:


Jonathan Jiang and Henry Stedman  – for anwering my questions on the trip to Kilimanjaro

From Solomonte (www.solomonte.com): Raquel Martos, Toño Guerra and Juanjo Naranjo. Thanks for helping me prepare (upping my fitness level, correcting my horrendous footwork and techniques).

My teammates: Gloria E. Trujillo, Jessie Erwin, Geoff Winterbottom, Dave Goodey, Peter James and Simon Covell. Thank you for your company. You were AWESOME!


From Team Kilimanjaro (www.teamkilimanjaro.com): Jonas Gerald (Head Guide), Guido Massawe (Assistant Guide), Hesbon Ghoti (Assistant Guide), Kefos Loshdrunye (Cook), Daniel Petrl (Assistant Cook), Ernest Peter (Waiter), Aloyce Joalhim (Waiter), Alfayo Emanuel (Dish washer), Aman Erenest (Drinking water), Dickson Amimiel (Camp organiser), Mkare Benjamin (Tent crew), Chemgisti Zeile (Tent crew), Abdi Vuile (Toilet crew), Porters - Hedson Bonson, Kanaeh Sifael, Olesmo Clemency, Magwaip Majenza, Stephano Simon, Goduim Lema, Anaeli Meshkeki, Edward Richard, Hassani Jumame, Athanoj Godfrey, Maicko Gombo, Wilfred R Munrio, Gunson Alfral. Thank you for taking care of our every need on the mountain. I have been spoilt and have had a marvellous time.

The summiting team: Jonas, Hesbon, Dickson, Stephano, Aman, Anaeli, Geoff, PJ, Dave, Simon  and Jessie. Thank you for being there every step of the way. ♫You're unbelievable! ♫

Kili

Uhuru Peak from Mawenzi Camp

Kilimanjaro National Park, covering an area of 75,575 ha, protects the largest free standing volcanic massif in the world and the highest mountain in Africa. It has three main volcanic peaks of varying ages lying on an east-south-east axis, and a number of smaller parasitic cones. To the west, the oldest peak Shira (3,962m), which is formed 750 million years ago. The rugged erosion-shattered peak of Mawenzi (5,149m) lies to the east. Kibo (5,895m), is the most recent summit formed 460,000 years ago, having last been active in the Pleistocene and still has minor fumaroles. Kibo consists of two concentric craters of 1.9km by 2.7km and 1.3km in diameter, with a 350m deep ash pit in the centre. The highest point on the mountain is the southern rim of the outer crater. Between Kibo and Mawenzi there is a plateau of some 3,600ha, called the Saddle, which forms the largest area of high altitude tundra in tropical Africa.¹

The mountain has five main vegetation zones from the lowest to the highest point – lower slopes of savannah bushland and submontane agroforest, montane forest, heath and moorland, alpine desert and summit.¹

According to a 2001 study there are 2,500 plant species, 140 mammals (such as African elephants) and 179 highland bird species (such as hill chat and scarlet-tufted malachite sunbird) on the mountain.¹

Helichrysum meyeri johannis - the flowers reflect light like a CD

Adenocarpus mannii

Mt Kilimanjaro and the surrounding forests were declared a game reserve by the German colonial government in the early part of this century, and this area was further gazetted as a forest reserve in 1921. Part of the area was reclassified as a national park in 1973 and it is designated a World Heritage site in 1987. The national park and forest reserve occupy the upper part of Mount Kilimanjaro adjacent to the Kenyan border just north of Moshi, Tanzania.¹

¹(source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/403/)

Kenya, underneath the clouds

Summary of the 7 day CMK Rongai trek

Let me confess – I did not have a real reason to climb Mt Kilimanjaro (HUGE mistake). I think I googled “What to do in Africa” and “Kilimanjaro” (described as the highest mountain in Africa but a non-technical climb) appeared.

The more I read up on Kilimanjaro, the more it sounded like a possibility (me and my darn good imagination). I discussed with Jonathan (who was going to climb Kili in September this year) and wrote to Henry (who has written the book “Kilimanjaro – The trekking guide to Africa's highest mountain”) and signed up the 7 day CMK Rongai trek with Team Kilimanjaro through Henry. [That was a really difficult decision to make because there are really too many trekking companies, routes (including the Marangu route which is also called the 'Coca Cola trail' due to its popularity) and dates to choose from (such as summiting when it is full moon – wow!). I was glad I chose what I have chosen or I would never met the people I have met nor summit in style, like what we did.]

The 7 day CMK Rongai trek is a special route created by Henry so I shall leave out some of the details and let him sell you what he has. What I can share though, is a summary of the distance covered, altitude of where we camped and the vegetation zone:
Day 1 Distance 7 km, Altitude 2630m, Forest 
Day 2 11.8km, 3670m, Moorland 
Day 3 3.8km, 4300m, Alphine Desert 
Day 4 11.6km, 3930m, Alphine Desert 
Day 5 4.9km, 4720m, Alphine Desert 
Day 6 The summit assault: 10.8km, 5895m, Ice Cap; Descent: 9.6km, 3700m, Moorland 
Day 7 20.8km, 1900m, Forest

Theoretically, one can summit in less than 1 day

The distances sound short but given that the tracks were not straight and on top of that, we zig-zagged our way most of the time, we were pretty sure they were probably more of displacement rather than the real distances that we walked. In any case, by the afternoon of Day 2, every single step was a record for me because I would have surpassed what I have reached on Pico de Posets.

First day

Jessie was already in the bus when Gloria and I were picked up from our lodge at 7.30am. So were the other 20 staff and porters. 

We then drove to pick up Geoff (whose first words to us were "A walk in the park"), PJ, Dave and Simon from their hotel.

At our starting point for the Rongai route. 
From Left: Dave, PJ, Jessie, Geoff, Simon, Gloria

The next stop was the Marangu Gate where Jonas could register all 17 trekkers. Guido showed us around the area which was littered with plaques and signages.

We drove around the mountain to the starting point of the Rongai Route. Along the way, we passed by many local villages and a church procession.