Kilemakyaro (Kilimanjaro): Hakuna Matata (1/3)

Note: this hike write-up has not been specifically written for VE like my previous reports and will therefore be different to normal. There is a lot more to this story than 7 days spent on a large mountain in East Africa

This particular story starts in 2000 (wow – that sounds like Ted from HIMYM, but don’t worry, this won’t be 200 episodes long)…

Anyway – the year is 2000 and an unathletic 12 year old sits in front of a TV listening to a documentary. The narrator talks about the large glaciers on top of Africa’s highest mountain. The narrator mentions that by 2020 these will probably be entirely non-existent. Sitting in front of that TV this 12 year old decided then and there that he would climb this mountain before the glaciers were gone.

Fast forward 9 years. Having wanted to go to the top of the Drakensberg for a few years, myself, my brother and cousin head out from Garden Castle. I struggle to reach Pillar Cave. We pitch a tent just past the cave and spend the afternoon playing cards in the tent. That night I saw the mountain under full moon for the first time – what a sight!

The next day we walk up Mashai Pass in thick mist, get lost a few times, and I realise how unfit I really am. Somehow I reach the summit of Rhino Peak in a strong wind. The Berg bug bites! The following 5 years are relatively well documented on this site!

Fast forward to around 12 January 2015. Having just recovered from a bad bug picked up on a GT, I have under 2 months to go before I tackle the highest mountain I have ever taken a shot at. Over the next few weeks I book plane tickets and pay various costs associated with the trip. I am not in the correct physical state to climb the mountain – even though I should be the fittest I have ever been, having done more than 800km of hiking in the last 365 days, but the bug really took it out of me.

Early February 2015 – a dream I have held for over half of my life is coming within reach. I haven’t been at altitude since 3 January and I know that I usually feel altitude when I haven’t been up in the last 6 weeks. I send out an email to all my hiking mates, only 1 is available. I also send out an email on the MCSA mail.

1 week before heading out to Kili I have a team of 5 guys. The goal is very simple – Saturday up Mashai Pass, camp on the river between the Mlambonja and Leqooa Ridges. Sunday morning we will shoot up to bag Tsepeng (3431m) and return via Mashai Pass.

9AM on Saturday we are on the trail. We make very slow progress up the pass. I have done this pass so many times now that I really don’t feel it warrants a description.

It is cloudy on the pass, and occasional rain greets us. As we near the top of the pass it begins to pour with rain. We sit under a small rock overhang with some locals for about an hour. The rain isn’t passing, so we move out from the shelter. We walk around the Mlambonja ridge in pouring rain before finding a good spot to pitch tents. Somehow I manage to pitch my tent on my own faster than the others, but within 10 minutes we are all in our tents.

After about an hour of shivering in my sleeping bag, I finally start to feel normal again. It continues to rain for a while, but eventually we are all chatting and making plans. Only Nick is keen to join me on Tsepeng, but I know that after a warm night sleep, things may be different.

Sunday morning – the sun is rising, but the Mlambonja Ridge keeps us in the shade. Nick and myself set out toward Tsepeng. After about 45 minutes we finally reach some sunshine. We stop and sit in the sun for a few minutes. We make our way up the ridge very slowly. It is an exceptionally steep ridge. We wind around the valley, not entirely sure which summit is the top, but figuring it out as we go along. 2h30 after leaving our tents we find ourselves in the saddle between the 2 summits. The steeper one looks higher, and my GPS points to it. We make our way up – and it is clearly the highest.

The summit has a trig beacon. There is also a massive cliff that tops out right at the top – if one was to open a trad line on this, it would probably be the highest route in Southern Africa.

The view from Tsepeng is by far the best I have ever found on a 3400m peak. The weather is perfect – a gentle breeze blows on the top and the view extends to Thabana Ntlenyana to the north and Knuckles are sticking out to the south.

For those who enjoy good views, this one is highly recommended. After about 30 minutes we began to make our way down from the top. After just under 4 hours from our departure time we were back at the tents. About 6 locals were crowded around the tents. The guys had given them a lot of food.

I explained to the others that they shouldn’t give food unless they get something in return – be it a story, a song or a photo – they told me that guys had been rather demanding. I told them that they must only give things to people who are kind and friendly in order to avoid encouraging a beggar mentality. The guys noted what I had said, and we began to get ready to leave.

1 hour after returning from Tsepeng we were walking towards Mashai Pass. SA was in thick mist, but the escarpment weather was still perfect.

We made our way down the pass in the mist. We stopped for coffee in Pillar Cave before storming the finish line.

Tsepeng had been a long outstanding Berg objective for me, and conquering it was something I really enjoyed. It was a worthwhile goal indeed!

Now my eye shifts towards the 5895m peak in northern Tanzania. 1 week to get a lot of work done, and then, a 14 year old dream will be shot at. I know the stats – roughly 60% of people who try Kili fail, around 40% of people who reach Stela Point also fail to summit (i.e. only 2 in 3 even reach Stela Point). I also know that it is usually the unfit guys who go slow enough to get up – strong individuals and experienced hikers are the ones that usually fail. Flying out to Tanzania I knew I was yet to meet my team mates, knew very little about my destination country – many variables await.

Coming in part 2 (out of 3) of this report, covering days 1 to 4:
- Does Ghaz safely arrive in Tanzania?
- Does he get along with the complete strangers he will hike with?
- Will Ghaz feel the effects of high altitude en route to Karanga Camp?
- Will Ghaz climb Lava Tower on day 3 of the route?

Stay tuned and find out soon!

I love the suspense. Looking forward to the next episode

Kili Part 2 – Start to Karanga Camp

Jambo
Jambo bwana
Habari gani?
Mzuri sana
Wageni
Mwakaribishwa
Kilimanjaro?
Hakuna matata!

Sitting in OR Thambo airport at 6PM on a Sunday evening – check-in only starts at 9:30. Passing the time by listening to some music on my phone. With no phone charger I have to be careful of running my battery flat.

Eventually I decide to move across to the Kenya Airways checkin queue. They have opened 10 minutes early and I get in the queue. An airport is an interesting spot on a Sunday evening, it vaguely resembles a ghost town. Waiting at the boarding gate, using my hand luggage as a pillow. Most shops are closed already, not many people waiting to board the flight.

It is 00:30 on Monday, we should already be ready to take off, but the plane has only just arrived.

01:00 – we taxi to take off. This Kenya Airways Boeing 737-800 must be the cleanest plane I have ever been on. When your flight leaves at 1AM there is no waiting to take off. The air is stable and we are soon gaining altitude. Supper at 2AM always seemed a bit strange to me when taking a late flight. Nonetheless, the food is not as stale as usual in flight food, so I can’t complain.

The seat next to me is empty, and using my raincoat hood as a blindfold, I am semi-sleeping – although I have never really managed to sleep on a plane before.

The flight proves uneventful, and soon, as the sun is preparing to rise, we are getting welcomed to the Kenyan capital.

Waiting to board my connecting flight I find that my boarding gate is the boarding gate for 3 different flights to different venues. When the announcements are in Swahili and garbled English, it can be a bit hard to hear what is going on.

We board the propeller powered 72 seater aircraft. I specifically chose a window seat on the right hand side of the plane hoping to get a good view of the mountain. In case I chose the wrong side I had also booked my return ticket on the right hand side. As it turns out, I was all set to get a great view of Meru, but not Kili.

When the mountain first came into view, even though I was looking across the plane, it is something really special to see that ice high on top of this giant mountain.

We come in for a bumpy landing. It is very hazy and nothing is visible from the ground. A Zara employee is waiting for me with a sign. I get stamped through border control – no passport required for SA citizens.

The driver used to be a guide on the mountain, he tells me some stories and tries to teach me some Swahili.

I arrive at the Springlands Hotel at Moshi. After a night of flying, my bed is really calling my name. My team mates are complete strangers, I assume we will meet up at some point.

Around 1:30PM I am up and make my way across to have some lunch. While eating my food the team arrives back from a morning of exploration in the marketplace in Moshi. The team seems to be an interesting bunch – Jeanine tells me that they are all fans of dry humour, this should be good!

At 4PM we meet our guide – Dickson. Dipak had specifically requested him off a reference from a friend. He tells us what we are in for and the group excitement is clearly apparent.

The mountain has been hidden by the smog. I hoped to see it by moonlight, but still no luck.

Tuesday morning we are all up relatively early. First priority – see if the mountain is visible. It is. And I can’t overstate how ridiculously massive it is.

We are soon in a vehicle en route to the Machame Gate. The mountain is much clearer as we get closer.

When we eventually arrive at the gate we realise how many other people are climbing at the same time.

Thembi put her lunch pack down for a minute. We soon hear very load running commentary of what the monkey is doing with the food – it is always funny to see how people who are not used to monkeys react to a situation like this.

Day 1 – Machame Gate to Machame Camp (13km – 1800m to 3000m)

Around 11:30 we begin to walk. The trail starts off as a gravel road, and soon becomes a dirt road. We are in a thick forest and don’t see the mountain at all.

We decide to start off by walking slowly. Day 1 is one of the longer days – 13km with 1.2km in altitude gain.

There are enclosed toilets every 2km, and after about 5km the road becomes a very wide trail. There are erosion barriers all over the place. The trail is very well maintained. Dickson tells us that this section used to be muddy and narrow.

We stop for lunch around 2PM. The rainforest is thick, but there are occasional small clearings where you can stop without obstructing traffic.

When we get moving again I notice a porter with a different company that seems to be really struggling. Porters carry around 20kg on their back and another 20kg on their heads. I try to pick up this porter’s pack on his head. I can barely lift it, it must be at least 32kg. I find it shocking that people are expected to carry such a heavy weight. Our company limits our packs to 15kg, and even that seems excessive to me.

My duffel bag with the porter is 10.5kg – I could easily cut 3kg from this. I have a spare rain coat and a new shirt for every day. I have more than enough warm clothes just in case the mountain is colder than I expect.

My daypack started off around 7kg – mostly water. You are not allowed to collect water from the rivers on Kili. The porters do this each day, boil it for you, put it in your bottles and then you must further treat it yourself. A mountain with so many people on it will always have water contamination issues.

As we get further along, the trail continues to gradually climb through the forest. The trees are now getting much more spaced out and smaller. The mountain is still hidden, but we are clearly now in the Heathland terrain zone.

We walk into camp around 5:30PM. There is a sea of tents. The 4 of us are in 2 large 4 sleeper tents. The ladies are shocked when I point out that these tents are massive. I laugh at the fact that a 3 man tent is smaller than a double bed – they don’t seem to find this funny.

We all move across to the dinner tent. A flash of boiling water awaits us, along with a large plate of popcorn.

Supper includes a large container of cucumber soup and various other items. We all chat – it turns out that I have managed to end up with a group of really good individuals. This is important when you know you will be spending a week around the same people.

My team mates are all marathon runners. They had come to the region to participate in the Kilimanjaro Marathon. 1 of them had hiking experience, but none had climbed a substantial mountain before. I was comfortably the youngest in the team, although that is not unusual for me.

Day 2 –Machame Camp to Shira Camp (12km –3000m to 3700m)

I am up nice and early. However my enthusiasm for early starts is clearly not shared by my team mates!

While waiting for them to get ready, I find a good spot to observe the great Kibo peak.

When we eventually get walking I find the trail to be more of a conventional hiking trail than the day before. I like this – there is no need to have ultra wide trails on a mountain.

We soon leave the Heathland to enter the Moorland terrain zone. The trail follows the side of a large ridge, but the mountain is obstructed by the ridge itself. In the distance there is an interesting complex of mountains. Dickson tells me this is Shira.

Shira was one of the 3 volcanic cones making up the Kilimanjaro range. Officially Kilimanjaro is the highest freestanding mountain on earth, but all 3 cones (the 3 cones being Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira – highest to lowest) have prominence in excess of 7% of height and thus all constitute mountains. While my subsequent online research has found no arguments against this claim, at this stage I was already convinced that the claim of Kili being the highest free standing mountain on earth was false. In a few days’ time I would find some even more conclusive evidence.

I ask Dickson what the name of the mountain means. Dickson tells me that “Kilimanjaro” is actually not the true name of the mountain. The missionaries that first travelled through the area couldn’t pronounce the names given by either of the local tribes. They joined the names together and gave the mountain this name. The true name of the mountain is Kilemakyaro “kill-emma-key-are-oh”. This means something along the lines of “difficult mountain covered in ice”.

The trail begins to turn to the left – away from Kibo. There are a few rock scrambles before our camp comes into view. Nothing difficult, but hands are occasionally required. We are definitely not far from the Alpine Desert zone now.

We have a late lunch at camp. The team moans about having had no snack food along the way – most companies advise that you don’t need to take snacks along. You should ignore this advice. You leave most of your snacks with the porters anyway, so the weight is a non-issue.

After lunch and an hour long break, we take a short acclimatisation walk up to Shira Cave. The cave resembles that of a Berg cave. Camping in it is banned. I chat to an American lady who is planning on coming to do a GT soon. I tell her to log onto VE for some tips and remind her that the Dragon has its name for a reason.

We sit at around 3850m for a few minutes, the longer we stay here, the better for acclimatisation.

We then move back to our camp. The camp has a much better view of Kibo and Shira. Shira Cathedral looks remarkably like North Saddle, while the Shira Spire resembles the Bell.

Day 3 –Shira Camp to Baranco Camp via Lava Tower (12km –3700m to 4600m and back down to 3900m)

Day 3 is where the trip really begins to pick up. It is a key day to the fact that Machame Route has such a high success rate. They say that acclimatisation is about walking high and camping low. The walk up to Lava Tower takes you to 4600m – the height of base camp for the summit push.

We wake up to find a strong wind. Well, strong for people who don’t hike in the Berg. We all start the day dressed up nice and warm. Dickson tells us that our lunch will be set up at the spot where the porters take the low road and we take the high road to Lava Tower.

The trail gradually climbs into the Alpine Desert zone. Very little plant life is to be found here, although there are still a few birds around. There is some interesting algae attached to the rock. Rock types look very unfamiliar to me. I pull on the featured rock to see how solid it is – small holds easily hold my weight. This volcanic rock is very different to what I am used to!

Jeanine is feeling very sick. It turns out that she has not been taking electrolytes. We give her some and she seems to be looking a bit better. But we are all worried about her.

We stop for lunch around 4400m. Our most senior porter – Martin – is added to our team of guides. Dickson had noticed that there are 3 distinct speeds in our group. I walk very Pole Pole (Swahili for slowly slowly), Dipak with Thembi walk more pole pole than me, and Jeanine is doing Pole Pole on expert difficulty level.

Martin and I go ahead at the lightning pace of about 2km/h, while Isaiah and Dickson look after the others. Hiking at 4000+m is interesting – you don’t feel less energetic than at, say, 2000m. But when you walk at 4km/h for a minute you find yourself completely out of breath. This pole pole thing is working well for me.

Martin and I reach Lava Tower well ahead of the others. I had wanted to climb Lava Tower, but Martin told me the rock was dodgy. I left my pack with him. The climb itself looked easy, maybe C grade, and the rock felt properly solid. I decided not to risk it just in case I got injured while far from help. If it was on the way back I probably would have gone for it.

I sat about 30m above the spot where Martin was waiting for me. As the others approached I shot back down to join the others.

I noticed a clear trail heading up the hill from here. Dickson told me that this was the Arrow Glacier route. From Lava Tower you head up 100m to Lava Tower Camp – the base camp for the route up the Western Breach. If I ever return to this mountain, this would be my choice of route.

At 4600m I am yet to feel any impact of the altitude. This is a huge relief.

While the others take the 30 minute break at the point where the trail reaches its highest point, I walk up the Arrow Glacier ridge to have a look around. About 50m above the others I hear someone shouting something and think they are telling me it is time to get going. When I get back to the others I find they were just trying to see where I was.

Martin and I decide to give up on Pole Pole and do some Haraka Haraka (quickly quickly) as we descend to Baranco Camp. This was a concious move as I know I get stiff when I walk down a hill slowly.

The descent toward Baranco camp is beautiful. As I pass all the other teams I hear that one of the ladies in the large group hoping to summit on Woman’s Day has sustained an injury. Apparently she fell and twister her ankle. It serves as a reminder of how easily your road on Kili can come to an end.

We cover the group quite quickly and can soon see the camp. It is about 10 minutes away. Martin and I stop to wait for the others to catch up. Even though we had all been far apart for this entire day, I thought it would be nice for us to finish together.

After about 10 minutes Dipak had caught up. The mountain was begining to show its face behind the mist that had been covering it all day. Tonight was full moon, I hoped for a great view.

I have no clue how long I waited for the others to catch up. It was a while. But I can think of a worse way to spend the afternoon than lying down on the grass and staring at a massive mountain as it partially reveals itself through the clouds.

We all walked into camp together. We got a group shot with a disappearing mountain behind us. Didn’t work out as planned, it was a very rewarding day. This day was probably the one I enjoyed most and the Baranco campsite is easily the best view from a campsite that I have ever found.

The camp has a dramatic view of Kibo. The lights of Moshi can be partially seen at night. The camp is flanked by Baranco Wall and a large ridge to the east.

After supper Jeanine, Dipak and myself watched the full moon rise over the Baranco ridge. It was quite a sight!

Day 4 –Baranco Camp to Karanga Camp (6km –3900m to 3930m)

Day 4 starts with the infamous Baranco Wall – the crux of the Machame Route (and the Umbwe, Lemosho and Shira routes).

As we were preparing to leave we heard that the site ranger had decided to revoke our permit. Apparently someone in our group had done something against park rules and they were going to kick us off the mountain. After about 15 minutes of Dickson talking to the ranger, the ranger came over to us and we all appologised and he then said it is ok, we can keep going. It was a moment of concern – the permit fees on Kili are rediculous, to be threatened with revocation of our permit for something minor with no warning seemed rather ludicrous. But all is good.

We started the day with a short walk down to the river before starting up Baranco Wall. The wall is very steep, and sometimes you need to use your hands, but the moves are all on large solid jugs that are very close together.

We took a while to get up the wall that tops out at 4300m, but it wasn’t particularly challenging. It took around 1h30 to get up. For the first time we had completed a morning climb without every other team on the mountain passing us.

The Kissing Stone is supposed to be the crux move on the Baranco Wall, but with a massive 2m of exposure and large footholds, you can probably do it without even using your hands. I thought the moves earlier on were harder, although I doubt any of it was harder than a grade 4. Barely even B grade.

Near the top of the wall there was some water, and I did almost slip right at the top. I wouldn’t have fallen more than 1m, but it was still a clear case of taking things a bit too casually! This slip managed to give me a small cut on my hand. Nice to have a first aid kit...

We got yet another group shot at the top of the wall. The normal morning mist was rolling in over the summit of Africa, but this time we got our shot in time.

Everyone in the group was feeling good today – Lava Tower probably did wonders for all of us.

The trail – now properly in Alpine Desert – goes up and down over small ridges. It eventually drops back down into the Moorland Zone before dropping steeply down to the Karanga River. The drop to this river is very loose, but unlike similar spots in the Berg, there is plenty of vegetation to grab onto to support your descent.

From the river you climb steeply up to Karanga Camp. As always – Pole Pole does the trick. Dickson tells me that this is the last water before the summit – the porters have to carry water from this river up to Karanga camp for today, and up to Barafu Camp for summit night. I do not envy these porters – they have a tought time and are underpaid and underappreciated. In reality – they are the true heroes of Kili.

We get into the camp nice and early – with good time for lunch and later some supper as well. Dickson asks if we want to do an acclimatisation walk, but we all agree that walking to 4100m when the day took us to 4300m probably won’t make any difference.

Karanga Camp is an optional stop along the way – if you do Machame Route in 6 days you only stop here for lunch. The success rates amongst teams that stop here are substantially higher.

We all relax and enjoy our first full free afternoon – tomorrow is an important day, tomorrow we reach base camp and prepare for summit night.

Coming in the series finale:
- Does Ghaz manage to complete his 14 year old dream?
- Who in the team will make it to the top?
- Will the team manage to cover the full 23km on summit day?
- Will Ghaz forget his SA and school flags in his overnight pack on summit day?
- Will the early flight from Kilimanjaro Airport to Nairobi get cancelled?

Stay tuned and find out soon!

How did you get through the marshes without quoting Gollum?

AndrewP wrote: How did you get through the marshes without quoting Gollum?

Oddly enough I didn't find a single marsh on the trip. I kind of expected the moorlands to be marshes, perhaps they are during the rainy season.

The Manxome Jabberwock poem and the Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost poems did come up often though...

Kilimanjaro International Airport:




The mountain from the Hotel (note that it is about 30km away)


Porters wait at the Machame Gate


Thembi's lunch - fortunately Dickson had a spare lunch for her


L-R: Ghaz, Dipak, Jeanine, Thembi








End of day 1

Dickson - our senior guide




The team with our 2 guides (Isaiah left and Dickson right)


These ravens are everywhere on the mountain. No zoom required for this photo






We arrive at Shira Camp


Shira Camp




Mount Meru

Lava Tower








The view of Kibo from the spot where I waited for the others to catch up




Baranco Camp

Group shot at Baranco. Clouds not playing ball...


Full moon rising at Baranco Camp


Baranco Wall:


The "Kissing Stone" - Baranco Wall


The Baranco Valley


Jeanine coming up where I almost fell on Baranco Wall


Group shot at the top, the cloud doesn't win the race on this occasion. L-R Isaiah, Jeanine, me, Dickson, Dipak, Thembi:






The substantial hill before Karanga Camp