Kilimanjaro 5 : Best and worst

Best moment

Every single one – from watching the sun rise to going to the toilet tent in the middle of the freezing night and cannot help but stop to gaze at the stars. I am not sure if it was the endorphins produced through exercising or the sheer fact that I was in the park, I was really happy all of the time. Happy and nervous somewhere in the middle but still savouring everything that was happening. Sure, it was great to have reached the peak but given that the summiting process was broken into 5 days and the amount of effort everyone had put in to make it possible, the 'reaching the peak' event was just something that happened along the way.

The first sunrise

First glimpse of Uhuru Peak

Best food

Soup category – carrot soup (which surprisingly, tasted like the tom yum soup flavouring that comes along with instant noodles) 

Main course – a close fight between tomato and cheese toast and fried chicken with chips

Dessert – the crème brule that I was dreaming of and never arrived (Well, I really believed that the chef could whip up miracles! Either that or diamox causes hallucination. Ha!) 

Beverage – hot tea at Hans Meyer Cave, Redbull at Gillman's Point and cold mango juice from sweet Ernest who walked up the trek to meet us outside Kibo Huts. They never tasted so good.

Ernest (in yellow)

Best game 

A toss between the guessing game “what are we having for soup/ main/ dessert” (even Ernest and Aloyce joined in this game) and the betting game of “who has the biggest/ smallest card stuck on the forehead” (too many sweets at stake).

Best joke

Too rude to repeat here.

Best riddle/ trivia 

From Simon – name 3 fishes with names starting and ending with the alphabet 'k'. I cannot remember the other 2, but I like this one – 'killershark'.

Best footsteps

I like to walk behind Geoff, PJ, Guido or Jonas because they had sure and safe steps that I could follow (without using my brain or spraining an ankle). 

Worst footsteps

Hesbon tended to skip as he walked. Simon and Dave often walked beside another person, which meant that they would be walking on unbeaten and not so nice path. Jessie just walked all over the place/ jumped down from rocks, wherever his long legs took him. Very irritating. ;p

Most meaningful conversation

With Hedson. The kid was reading Our Daily Bread (in Swahili) before dinner and we had a chat about why I believe there is no/ more than 1 God. He did not try to force his religion on me but came up to me every evening after the conversation to tell me he is glad I made it to the camp safe and sound. You stay safe on the mountains too.

Best 'great minds think alike' moment

5 minutes before Geoff asked me what I would like to have when I get off the mountain, I was thinking of having a coca cola and a beer (don't know why the combination but I just felt that I had to have both). He was thinking of the same!

Best fitness

Jessie, who carried his backpack from Day 1, to the summit and down again. 

Best comeback 

Gloria, who overcame stomach upset and nausea on Day 2 and the summit day and completed the whole trek.

Favourite song 

This one. I hummed it most often.

Best equipment

Most of the items I bought were used and worked well. I used my Salomon hiking boots and the rented Black Diamond trekking poles most. 4 out of 7 of us from the group wore Salomon and the boots supported me without any issues. The trekking poles was great and I was very glad Toño taught me how to use them.

Worst equipment

My 1 litre Liquitainer which sprung a leak on the side and wet my day pack (I have only used it once). The 2 litre Liquitainer worked fine though.

Worst fashion crime

PJ, in his socks and sandals. TWICE! Serious fashion faux pas, mate! 

Favourite camp

Mawenzi Tarn Hut because there was a tarn, it had great views and offered lots of options to roam.

Mawenzi Tarn Hut camp

Favourite flower

Red hot poker (sci: Kniphofia thomsonii) because they looked like flames that have set the mountain on fire from afar.

'Flames'

Careless injuries sustained

3 bumps on the head, sunburn on the back of my legs, some scratches on my legs (to add on to the 3 scratches from cat in Madrid and 54 bite marks from sandflies in China).

Sunburn

Kilimanjaro 4 : Descent

Uhuru Peak (5895m) to Kibo Huts (4714m) to Horombo Huts (3705m), 9.6km

Going down was not easy, especially the bit from Gilman's Point to Kibo Huts. Now that we had daylight, we saw what we were getting into. It was a case of “Holy shit! Did I come up this way earlier?!? How am I supposed to get down now?” for me.

Half way through the scree and still a long way to Kibo Huts (circled)

We forgot about the zigzags and simply used ski-style to go vertically down the scree. It was the same method as how we descended on snow in Posets but faster. This time, we also had rocks and potential injuries (from tripping) to content with. Hesbon held on to my arm, I put my trust in him and we ran down. I was breathless by the time I reached the bottom of the hill.

Short break at William's Point

Sweet Ernest trekked up from Kibo Huts and brought us cold mango juice.

Ernest

By the time we reached our tents at Kibo Huts, it was 9.10am. My tent was ready but my bag was not in my tent (I think they were not expecting me to return with the boys). The bag appeared in a jiffy. I changed, took a nap and woke up at 11am for lunch.

After lunch, we walked slowly across the desert to our last camp.

Our last camp in the clouds

Final day

As Anna had described – my feeling on the final day was “you mean I have to walk 20.8km and descend 2000m???”. Descending is my weakness and it did not help that have dodgy knees and an even dodgier left ankle.

The boys were all powered up by the promise of cheese burger and fries for lunch and sped off from the word 'Go' at 7.30am. Guido happily let them lead as I tried to keep up behind. Pole pole? What's that??

Last glimpse of Uhuru Peak

We exited from the Marangu gate and signed out to inform everyone we were still alive. Geoff treated us to cola.

Our exit

Treat from Geoff

There were many visitors at the Marangu Gate. By now, we could clearly differentiate who was going up Kili and who had just descended:

Who has the best beard?

We had our cheeseburger and fries and headed back to our hotels. 

The boys could not decide if they want a nap, a bath or a beer first. Maybe they had all 3 at the same time. For me, I jumped in and out of the shower (because the water was too hot after I finally got it to work), passed everything to laundry, dived into internet connection, posted the summit picture on facebook for Anna and listened to her gush “Oh I love this picture!” 1000 times and exchanged stories with the rest of the 11 people who came back in 1 piece. We had dinner, but it was not very important, wasn't it?

Kilimanjaro 3 : Summit

School Huts (4722m) to Hans Meyer Cave (5243m) to Gillman’s Point (5708m) to Stella Point (5745m) to Uhuru Peak (5895m), Distance 10.8km

Pete read aloud from Henry's book and we went through the details again in the afternoon:

We had read this part of the book and discussed the ascending route again and again over the last 2 days and we just had to do it 1 more time.

Dinner took place at 5pm and as usual, Jonas briefed us after dinner. We went to bed at 6.30pm in order to wake up again at 10.30pm for 'breakfast' at 11pm and to ascend at 12 midnight. 

The moment that everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived.

It was very dark, windy and cold. I had 4 layers of top, 3 layers of bottom, a headlamp, a balaclava, a beanie, a scarf, 2 pairs of gloves and 3 pairs of socks on me. Warm and toasty? Nope!  

I was placed behind Hesbon and in front of the boys. I was really sleepy and during the first break, I requested that a song be sung. The guides and summit porters amazingly sang all the way to Hans Meyer Cave. 

Along the way, I was really worried, wondering for the 1 millionth time if I was ready, hoping that I would not lag behind and get ditched by the boys. I thought that if I were to walk with only 1 guide and none of the boys, I would have next to no chances of making to the peak. To divert my attention from the negative thoughts, I tried to think of a song to sing in my head. When that failed, I began to think of the move back to Australia (bad move!). I tried to look at the moon now and then but was afraid I would fall to my death. When we overtook some groups ahead of us to become the leading group on the Rongai trek, I started looking at the people behind us. Henry described this moment in his book as “look behind you and you'll see a line of torches snaking up the slope behind you in a scene that feels almost Biblical”. I am not sure about the “Biblical” part but it was special.

We walked very slowly, in a zigzag manner, on shale and gravel slope. I had no idea where we were. Most of our breaks were very short, enough to catch our breath, took some energy sweets and sips of water, Jonas to check each of us are alright and for Geoff and PJ to encourage me. We would move on without being allowed to sit down. 

We finally had a 15 minute break at Hans Meyer Cave. I think I was slightly (ok, maybe it was “very”) emotional when we reached the cave because I honestly could not believe we reached a landmark. Everyone gave me a hug, I shed some tears and our dear summit porters miraculously produced cups and very sweet hot tea for everyone. Angels!

It was not easy getting to Gillman's Point either as there were some big rock and more loose gravel. Hesbon listened to my breathing – if I were out of breath, we would stop for a 1-minute breather. We managed somehow with me and it was nothing short of a miracle for me to have reach Gillman's Point. More hugs and I could not stop smiling. This time, the summit porters produced cans of Redbull. We took photographs and rested for 10 minutes. 

“Redbull gives you wings”? Trust me – it is true. After Gillman's Point, everything was a breeze. I was no longer sleepy. I could breathe. I was still worried - that I had been too slow and held up everyone from watching the sunrise from the peak. We easily made it to Stella's Point and paused for a while to take more pictures.

On the crater rim, we zoomed pass a group who had ascended from another route. (Not sure why they were walking sooooooo slowly. Ha!)

We reached Uhuru Peak at 6.05am. High fives, hugs and lots of photographs. 

It was still dark when we reached the peak 

We waited for sunrise and took more photographs (even though it was difficult to do so with the fat gloved fingers).

Sunrise at Uhuru Peak - Priceless

Glacier

Update in October 2012: 
6 months into my travel, I found that the Kilimanjaro summit was not the hardest climb I had to do. I guess I was overwhelmed by the cold, the darkness and my inexperience. All things being relative, it was really not too difficult. I wish I had enjoyed the summiting a bit more.

Kilimanjaro 2 : A typical day

A typical day for us would be:

• 

  Hot water for cleaning

  Wake up at 5am (the official wake up call would have been 6am but for some reasons, most of us were up almost an hour earlier), have hot beverage at 6.30am, wash up with HOT water at 6.45am, breakfast at 7am and leave on the dot at 7.30am. [THANK GOD we do not have faffers!]. For breakfast, porridge, eggs (lovingly carried up the mountain by the cook himself as no porters are allowed to touch them), toasts, sausage, diamox and hot beverage are served by 2 waiters (Ernest and Aloyce), on a table with table cloth no less. Oh, Ernest and Aloyce totally ignored me when I volunteered to help. It was not allowed!

  

  Waking at dusk

• Walk to lunch spot/ the next camp. Along the way, we have breaks for toilet (in the bush) and/ or snacks. The boys discuss work, share jokes or we will have trivia/ riddles. The guides nag at us to walk “pole, pole” (“slowly, slowly” in Swahili, which the boys, with their long legs, obviously cannot comprehend) and drink water. Jonas takes photographs of us and updates the blog and google map so that family members/ friends can follow our progress (or in Anna's words - stalk us). 
  (http://www.teamkilimanjaro.com/blog/?s=Gewi&submit=Submit) 

  
  
  The walking pace is way slower than what I am used to (slower than those of Raquel's and Toño's). The porters overtake us with their heavy loads and maybe run down the mountain again for a second load and pass us again.

  

  Precious water in transit

  

  Our tents were already set up

  
  

  By the time we reach our lunch spot/ camp, the tents (including the toilet tent) would have been set up and someone would already have hot water ready for washing up and drinking and pop corn (our snack) would have been in the making. Spoilt huh?

  
  

Pop corn time

• 

  Have lunch and continue with trek/ rest until dinner. If we were not trekking in the afternoon, we either go for a walk/ read/ discuss the route/ take a nap/ play card games (we played card games only on 1 afternoon though).
  

Hmmm.... the strategy is...

• Have dinner at 6pm. Again, we were spoilt by Team Kilimanjaro - the 3 course meals were hardly repeated in the 6 days (and we had a good time guessing what will be served). Altitude sickness can reduce one's appetite but most of us did not face this problem. In fact, Ernest had to go source for more peanut butter (we finished a bucket) and chocolate powder for us.

Cooking our dinner (and no, I did not cheat by going to the cooking tent to find out what is for dinner)

Our candlelight dinner at 6pm

• Jonas comes into our dinner tent and begins with “Hi guys, how's everyone doing?”, checks on everyone of us and briefs us on the programme for the next day.
  
  
• Brush our teeth and tuck ourselves into our sleeping bags in huge 2-men tents by 7.30pm. [Although we spent so much energy breathing (yes, it was hard work) and walking, I honestly worried about getting a tummy for going to bed so soon after dinner. Talk about priorities/ being vain. Team Kilimanjaro feeds me better than how I fed myself whilst in Spain. It will be a joke if I look fatter than before I climbed Kili.]
  
  
• Sleep intermittenly. Although I listen to my usual sleep playlist on iPod, it takes longer than usual for me to fall asleep and I will wake up after an hour or 2, check the time and try go back to sleep again.
  
  
• Wake up to go to the toilet tent in the middle of the night (I was honestly quite worried that it would be blown away).

  

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.