DAY 86 - Kili 1
It all started with a frantic prep. Climbing that mountain requires a big organization. We have a crew of 19 for the 5 of us and everything has to be carried with us (tents, food, cooking stuff, …). Obviously the guys are used to it but still it looks a bit hectic. We all board what could be a school bus and are on our way. The ambiance is great in the bus, probably not unlike what you can have in a merry school bus :D The only problem we have is with the music... Celine Dion again! They need music therapy to get over that!!!
It's cloudy today once again so we don't even get to see the mountain we're about to climb. We're beginning to think the mountain does not exists since we couldn't see it from Moshi either. Our gate is far to the West and does not have an office so we stop by Londorosi gate to pay the fees. There's a maximum weight for each porter obviously even though we're told it's not respected by all agencies. There's an inspection at the gate but since we eventually enter through another one it would indeed be easy to circumvent. While we're there we weight our own day pack and get the confirmation that they are too heavy (7.5kg for me). It'll do for today since it's a short walk but I'll shed some weight for the next days. Curious, I also weight myself (without the bag) and learn that I lost about 6-7kg since we started traveling! I don't remember seeing that as a recommended diet but it works great and it's easy. I can see the ad from here: “Want to lose a few pounds, travel for a few months!”
An hour of bus later we're at the Lemosho gate, starting point of our expedition. We're at 2400m, it's 3:30pm and the mountain is still nowhere to be seen! Today we hike in the forest. Mar spots colobus black and white monkeys and we come across a trail made by something big. They tell us there are forest elephant on the Kilimanjaro but I'm not sure they're not joking... ;) It goes steadily up but it's a very nice hike and we arrive at Big Tree Camp at 5:50pm (7km). It's at 2810m and still the mountain does not deign revealing itself to us. The camp is very crowded and dusty and someone is blasting some Celine Dion again! We're not very high yet but it's perfect to start using our travel companions as guinea pigs to study the effect of altitude on their (and our) mental calculation abilities. For that purpose we've been carrying the very fun and simple game of Lobo77 :D We'll play again as we go and see if we get slower and slower as we gain altitude.
DAY 87 - Kili 2
After breakfast and a bowl of hot water to freshen ourselves up we're back on the trail. It's 8:10am. We're still in the forest for sometime with the porters overtaking us but the vegetation changes brusquely as we reach a given altitude. The trees are much shorter with a darken green hue. Vegetation is sparser but still quite diverse. It's called moorlands... and we still can't see the Kilimanjaro! The easy part for the day is over as we start the elephant tail trail. It's steep and the trail is narrow and dug by countless hikers. It has natural stairs but they are quite big and our pace slows. When we finally finish the tail, we keep going on the elephant back trail; and it's more of the same. Entering the clouds, it gets chillier all of a sudden but when we're through them, the mountain finally reveals itself to us! And the Shira camp 1 is in sight... lunch break! Hunger gives us wings it seems because we overtake our first porter ;) The Kilimanjaro is a massive shield volcano and right now it's draped in clouds. Majestic sight.
A little drizzle starts while we eat and continues as we cross the Shira valley. Hopefully we won't have too much of this because it feels miserable to hike in these conditions. Luckily the rain stops as we climb out of the valley. The vegetation is once again taller even though we keep gaining altitude. Maybe it's more protected and makes the trees' life easier... 3 hours after lunch we arrive at Shira 2 camp. We're at 3900m; we walked 15-16km today (26,000 steps says my iPhone) in 7h30... not a great pace; The elephant was tough. Once again Celine Dion is there to great us and makes us feel welcome at camp... sigh :/ Faithful to its reputation of shyness, the Kili is once again hidden in the clouds.
We have a fun night but everyone is tired. Our legs especially took a hit today. The day was long but it's the better option. Hard day tomorrow too but the 2 days after that should be a piece of cake so we'll be at our best for the summit day hopefully. The other option was to camp at Shira 1 but to have a long day just before summit day. Bad idea...we all agreed on this. We test ourselves at Lobo77 but our overall performance is unchanged.
DAY 88 - Kili 3
The clouds are mostly gone this morning and our morning sight is the Kilimanjaro, just behind our tent. After the morning ritual (bucket of hot water and breakfast) we're sent off by singing and dancing perfectly executed by the crew.
(Kick off the song and keep reading, it's for the ambiance)
We take off at 8:15am and start walking towards the Kili. It's rocky today with sparse vegetation. In front of us the mountain is a gorgeous sight with the sun, snow and clouds painting a magnificent picture. Looking behind us, there's a long trail of porters and hikers, like multicolored ants laboring on the slopes.
Eventually, the Kilimanjaro shows us its summit. It was the last bit it kept concealed until now. The hike is much easier than yesterday's and our pace increases accordingly. The vegetation disappears completely at some point, welcome to the moon! We hit some traffic at the junction with another route and keep overtaking porters with our energetic pace. It's of course easier when you're not carrying a 20kg bag. It's 12:00 when we reach the lava tower. It's a big chunk of rock sticking out of the landscape that sits at 4644m. The reason for going there is acclimatization. We'll climb back down to camp for the night but it gives our body an advance warning of what's coming up. We have lunch there, protecting our food against the same raven-crows we got to know in Ethiopia.
The clouds invite themselves to the lunch and the temperature starts dropping. We put our layers back on and leave the place. It's a steep way down in a very rocky terrain. We all summon our inner goat to arrive safely at the bottom. After that tough piece, it's a gentle downhill hike all the way to Barranco camp (3980m). As we come near the camp, the vegetation reappears. The very last stretch before camp is the Kilimanjaro version of “Allee des Baobabs” with cactus (senecio) posing as baobabs ;)
Everyone had great sensations today and we covered the 13-14km (17,600 steps) in 5h30; faster than expected. Morale is back up after the difficult day we had yesterday. On top of that no one had any altitude symptom at the lava tower or after and we have the rest of the afternoon to chill and rest. We do that listening to music, comfortably seated on chairs and facing the sun to stay warm and toasty. Life is good :D I take advantage of the first cloudless night we have to do a bit of night photography. It's way to cold to stay outside for very long but I get my night shot with the shadow of the mountain ;)
DAY 89 - Kili 4
No need for an alarm this morning, the raven decided to have a party right by our tent... There's frost on the tent and the poor birds we see this morning look congealed too. I walk right past them on my way to the bathroom and they don't even fly away. It's getting serious it seems! The Kilimanjaro is still without a single cloud this morning, towering above us. It's a sight that demands respect. When we leave at 8:45am we can already see the Barranco wall crowded with hikers and porters. As we're about to start the climb, a porter's pack goes tumbling down with the cooking stuff making dreadful noises... chilling! The porter didn't fell thankfully but we'll be extra careful. The wall is tough, it's more climbing than hiking but we're done with it in 1h30.
Then it's down a valley than up again and finally a steep way down to the Karanga valley and a very steep way up out of it. The vegetation makes a reappearance in the valley along with the dust. We are happy to see the first but the dust was clearly not missed. Even though it was more challenging than yesterday, we once again kept a very good pace and covered the 5km (6800 steps) in 3h30. The crew welcomes us to camp with singing and dancing; great spirit! The camp is at 4030m, not much more than the previous one... less than what they claim. It means we'll gain more than the recommended 300m of altitude tomorrow :( Let's hope it does not affect us.
After lunch we see 4 groups (3 big ones we passed on the way here) headed to Barafu camp. That was one of our option. Instead we chose to have a hard day early in the trek. These guys will arrive at camp around 6pm, have lunch, try to get 2-3 hours of sleep and go for the summit... Rough. It looks even more like a terrible idea now. We all were glad we chose the other option. Instead of having to face that dreadful prospect. At 3:45 yet another group pass by en route to Barafu. We pity them even more. They will arrive at night around 8pm with the dinner, nap and takeoff to fit in 3 hours. And at 4pm another group of 2...ouch.
Since we have the afternoon free, we take a short walk on the way to Barafu to take some pictures of the amazing sea of clouds. The Kili does not want any part of the photo shoot and hides itself in the clouds...As the sun goes down, the sea of clouds becomes even more mesmerizing, the Kiki joins the party and shed its cloud cover. After dinner and briefing, the sea of clouds is gone and we instead have the lights of Moshi under a sky studded with stars. The views from up there are really something.