So it’s been a while, a few years even >_>
But I’ve decided to try and revive this old blog, but first, I thought I’d better finish off the last episode of my travel journey, the climb to Mt. Kilimanjaro’s peak.
After the safari’s I split with the girls, they headed back to Kenya, whilst I stayed in Tanzania. The idea of climbing Africa’s biggest, most famous mountain was just too awesome a thought.
My journey started with a matatu ride from Arusha to the mountains base passing through the small town of Moshi to pick up equipment, you hardly expect to need warm gloves and snow pants when you visit Africa, but there I was sorting through piles of clothing for the right sizes.
The mountains peak hid itself behind clouds the whole ride there, I didn’t get a single glimpse and from the base it’s impossible to see the top.
I started climbing at early midday and had an easy walk through a thick rainforest, the world was a million different shades of green, laced with threads of vibrant colour as strange and amazing flowers popped out at me the whole way.
My group consisted of my porter, a cook, my guide and me, the cook prepared food for both me and an Egyptian fellow who climbed with his own guide, but we camped at a shared campsite each night.
Walking to the first campsite, I wasn’t alone, there were a few other groups climbing the mountain as well, which meant there were other porters, cooks and guides as well.
My porter (Simon) walked with me to the campsite, but I was amazed at the way many of the porters carried the equipment on their heads, many of them not even wearing proper shoes. (On the trip back I found out my porter didn’t have a proper sleeping bag and gave him mine.)
The trees on the climb up turned from typical lush rainforest to thick mossy drier trees, the moss on these old trees would hang down over their twisting branches, like long beards or scraggly hair.
I arrived at the Machame campsite after about 4 hours of relatively easy walking, the mountains peak was still clouded from my view, but I was told it would be there to greet me in the morning. The elevation here was about 3000m.
I took to bed soon after dinner and when I awoke, the magnificent mountain sure met my eyes, it seemed so far away, its strange oblong peak covered in shining white. It hung there for only half an hour before the clouds once again surged to hide its glory.
The bearded trees soon made way to low lying scrub, sprinkled with flowering plants and abundant birdlife, most notable were the ravens, loud, wily and not afraid to steal your lunch out of your open hand.
The halo of clouds over Kilimanjaros peak parted during the day to allow a spectacular view and a few camera shots to boot.
The next campsite, Campsite Shira 2 was on a slightly inclined plateau at elevation 3840 metres, the sloping landscape down into the valleys around the camp were fantastic during sunset, especially since we were above some of the lower cloud cover now.
The next day saw us walking up rocky slopes, the scrub having disappeared and replaced with patches of low grass. The reason for this was that the landscape was all igneous rock, cooled lava formations from past volcanic eruptions littered the area.
Many of these formations were strange and wonderful, ranging from soccer ball sized to gargantuan. Though the largest visible was indeed a sight to see, the aptly named ‘Lava Tower’, a mammoth of rock, you could see where the past movements of the lava flows had taken part in its formation. (elevation 4600 metres)
Another added bonus of the odd formations of this cooled lava was that it made for great climbing walls.
Throughout the day I found the walk almost too easy, powering through it and made it to Barranco campsite in no time, an elevation of 3950 metres.
The amazing thing about Barranco campsite was the pre-historic like vegetation littering the area, waterfalls flowing down through the camp and the giant rock Barranco wall standing behind us, I felt like I had walked into the age of the dinosaurs.
The vegetation I later found to be called ‘Giant Groundsels’ amazing vegetation that only occurs in the higher altitudes of tropical African areas.
This campsite was where I got my first taste of altitude sickness (and luckily my last), I began getting headaches and eventually threw up, it was not a good feeling when you’re thousands of kilometres from friends and family.
I took a nap and managed to sleep it off, waking much more refreshed, I learned from my guide that the mountains motto was ‘Pole Pole’ which is Swahili for ‘slowly slowly’ and that the trick to making it to the top was taking small, slow steps.
When morning came we ascended Barranco wall making our way to the top we passed Karanga camp and upwards towards Barafu hut. Past Karanga the landscape was barren of vegetation, save for a few occurences of moss or lichen growing on the boulders of igneous rock which scattered themselves around the steepening slope upwards.
The temperatures began to drop significantly and hints of frost could be seen in some of the crevices around me, eventually we made it to camp at an elevation of 4550m and set up .
Just in time for the snow.
Though not heavy, it was enough to keep us in our tents for the most part, well most of us, I decided to brave the weather for a little bit to explore the campsite and see the sunset.
I have never seen such a fantastic view from a toilet window, and I doubt I ever will again.
Getting up from a tent at midnight in below 0 temperatures is not one of my favourite things in the world, neither was the gruelling 6 hour hike through a layer of ice and loose rocks. At points I couldn’t feel some of my toes and I have to say, it was the toughest and most painful hike I’ve done in my life, added to this, my camera battery died, even the moon looked foreboding having turned a blood-red hue.
But it was more than worth it, when I reached Stella point at 5685m.
What I saw then is one of my favourite memories of my life, and the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.
Sitting down on a light dusting of snow to watch the sunrise, well above a scudded cloud line stretching out as far as one can see, suddenly the world turned to gold.
Around the rising sun the cloudscape erupted into a fiery splendour of vivid oranges, red and yellows as if the clouds themselves were burning.
The once white dusting of snow over the entire mountain became molten fire, burning ferociously then settling slowly into a sea of heavenly glowing gold.
Looking down upon the vivid green of the rainforests far, far below I felt far removed from the earth, sitting above the clouds on the throne of gods.
Though I could have sat and watched the sun curve its way across the sky forever, my guide urged that we had to move onto the final destination, Uhuru peak.
The hour and a half climb to the peak was far easier than the previous hike up and on my way I saw a palace of ice.
The glaciers near the peak of Kilimanjaro are sub-lime, blues so deep and clear, ice so pure it stunned me to look upon it. Icicles and natural contours on the side of the glacier reflected in the perfectly still water made it seem that the glacier was twice its size. The freshest air I’ve ever breathed, here was a piece of the world that seemed untouched by man.
Finally making it to Uhuru peak I sat down and relaxed, taking a snack, 5895 metres above sea level, the highest point in Africa!
It was a journey well worth it, but not over just yet, making our way down the mountain toward Mweka Camp (3340m), the climb down is covered with slippery sediment and shale rock, most of the time I found myself riding the sliding rock down the slope.
To help pass the time I made a friend, an American rancher who had also summited on the day, finding a comradeship in the sharing of the experience we made it to camp. I slept like a log that night.
The last part of the walk was a simple matter, heading back along a beaten path through the layer of thick rainforest bordering the mountain we walked through a little village at the base, but not before stopping for a celebratory drink and jumped in a Matatu for a quick ride to Arusha where the comforts of internet and a real bed to sleep in awaited me.
The following days leading up to heading back home after my trip in Africa were mostly taken up with heading back to Kenya to meet the girls from my group again, staying with a family whom we made exceptional friends with and passing through Mauritius to see my friends on the way home.
An adventure of a lifetime indeed.
-JoshG
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