[Disclaimer]
I wrote this part back in December 2009 but found it to be a good start for my Medium stories… and a good test for the Medium import feature… Enjoy!
On Sunday Anna and myself returned from our trip to East Africa. We were in a group of four together with Anna’s parents. Starting on 5th December we flew via Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha (actually more in the middle between Moshi an Arusha).
From the airport we were brought straight to the Outpost Lodge in Arusha where we stayed for the first two nights. The first day in Arusha was a classic African or Arabic experience. Hundreds of locals followed us like a swarm of flies on our walk through the city center. As this is not much of a recreational experience we soon decided not to come back walking in the city.
In the morning of the second day in Africa we left Arusha for Mt. Meru which is located near Arusha in the Arusha National Park. This silent volcano with its 4566m is the fifth highest or so mountain in Africa and we had chosen to climb it as a preperation for Kilimanjaro.
At the gate of the Arusha National Park we had our first sights of lots of giraffes and, therefore, we now we felt like we had really arrived in Africa. Bureaucracy is everywhere in Tansania so we had some time waiting at Momella Gate (about 1500m) until we got our ranger and the porters for the tour to the summit of Mt. Meru. To climb Mt. Meru it is obligatory to be accompanied by an armed ranger because of the many (sometimes aggressive) buffalos striding all over the area.
After the first day’s walk we reached Miriakamba Hut (about 2500m) where we stayed our first night on the mountain. On the second day we ascended to Saddle Hut and climed the Mt. Little Meru with its 3801m as a first summit. The third day was the summit day and so we reached the top of Mt. Meru which rises 4566m above sealevel and they call Socialist Peak. To acclimatize for Kilimanjaro we stayed that night again at Saddle Hut at about 3500m. On day four we descended all the way down again to Momella Gate. On our way back to Outpost Lodge in Arusha we got a little extra game drive to the Momella Lake which at that time hosted some 2 million flamingos (they could be seen from Mt. Meru as a big pink area around the lake).
Kilimanjaro
We now spent only one night at Outpost Lodge before we left for Machame Gate (about 1800m) where we started our ascend to Kilimanjaro (of course again only after plenty of bureaucratic paperwork). As one might already have noticed our ascend route had been the Machame Route which is accepted to be the most diversified (but also the wettest and definitely not the shortest) route to climb Kilimanjaro (more precise: Kibo with Uhuru Peak as it’s highest point at 5895m). This first day’s march was very hard due to the heavy rain. Arriving at Machame camp we realized that almost all of our clothes and equipment was wet. Without any other reasonable possibility to dry our things the only method to get at least some clothes dry was to wear them wet and dry them with our body heat. Even if there had been no rain that evening with the dense fog it weren’t possible to dry the clothes by hanging them outside.
It took some time to cope with the frustrating situation of everything being wet. But Anna had a good idea how we were able to at least keep the things dry that were already dry and the things we were going to dry on our bodies. With that plan our mood got better again and we felt ready for the days to come.
From Machame camp (2980m) we departed for Shira camp (3840m) at the wide Shira plateau. Again there was some rain but not as heavy as the day before and with our new tactic for keeping/getting things dry we managed to get more and more parts usable again. The Shira plateau is the remainder of the former Shira volcano that ages before even towered above Kibo but evetually exploded and was planished by lava streams erupting from Kibo (the huge crater that is mostly called Kilimajaro despite the fact that Kilimanjaro is the name for the whole massif).
After a little cold night at Shira camp we left for Barranco camp (3900m) with an extra climb to the so called Lava Tower (4500m) for better acclimatization. This day was again a long walk through thick fog and some rain with occational impressive views to the glaciers on Kibo.
Now at an altitude of almost 4000m and still some wet clothes we left Barranco camp, climed the Barranco wall, and crossed two fantastic valleys before we reached Barafu camp (4600m). At Barafu I first feared not being able to acclimatize to that altitude. It took almost an hour until my pulse normalized to an acceptable rate. With the pulse rate again at normal levels I felt comfortable and also confident for the close last part to reach the top of Kilimanjaro (that is called Uhuru Peak which is Suaheli and means Freedom Peak).
At 23:10 in the night we got up to prepare for the last ascent. We were quick to get out of our tent that was coated with ice that night and at about 23:45 the real adventure began. With head lamps mounted we walked in a very slow but steady pace. Anna had the lead and controlled the pace with respect to her pulse rate as a provisional reference (we had no device for measuring blood oxygen so we relied on this indirect method). Every time we felt starting headache or Anna’s pulse rate increased we reduced our pace. With this primitive method Anna and I reached the crater rim at Stella Point (5745m) without any problems or symptoms of mountain sickness.
For Anna’s father it was a little bit more problematic. He suffered from disturbance of equilibrium and had some difficulties with his eye. Even after he took a pill of Diamox (pharmaceutical against acute mountain sickness) the symptoms got worse. Nevertheless, he made it to the rim and also to Uhuru Peak with the rest of us. But our guide supported him and took him down faster than we went down. Anna’s mother had also some beginning symptoms but was fine again after one Diamox and was then free from symptoms for the rest of the ascent.
From Stella Point we went along the rim on to Uhuru Peak (the summit, 5895m). Past impressive glaciers the path took us on a smooth slope towards the not very accentuated highes point of Africa. The views into the huge crater, over to the vast glaciers, and towards the sun rising smoothly above the rim in the east were breathtaking. One feels very small as a human in the universe with all these fundamental impressions of the surrounding landscape.
As Anna’s father was taken downwards by the guide only after a short while at the summit we also were not very inclined to stay much longer. We started the descent with our second guide and it appeared to be not even remotely as hard as I would have expected. So we were really fast descending and back at Barafu we even decided to not only walk down to Millenium camp but to Mweka camp (3100m). That is we did on that day an ascent of 1300m followed by a descent of 2800m.
On the sixth day we had only a relatively small walk to Mweka Gate where we left Kilimanjaro National Park. After about two hours driving back to Arusha we checked in at Outpost Lodge once again.
Safari at Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater
To kill the remaining time in Tansania we went on a two day Safari to Lake Manyara National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Game Reserve. First, we saw this part of our journey as some add-on part but not really as a highlight of its own. When we got to Ngorongoro Game Reserve (after an almost luxurious stay at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge) early in the morning everything seemd to be asleep still. But soon all the wildlife began to show up.
If one can remember the old documentary TV series which was called “Paradiese der Tiere” (originally BBC?) then one can imagine what it looked like. There were animals all over: zebras, gnus, antelopes, gazellas, buffalos, warthdogs, hyena, lions, cranes, buzzards, vultures, rhinos, hippos, elefants, jackals, and many more.
Final thoughts
To sum up the journey I can only say that I really appreciate all the diverse impressions. I am happy having reached the roof of Africa. Even the horrors of all the rain and especially the wet clothes and equipment faded to the background in view of all the magnificent nature that we were allowed to observe and experience.
The whole adventure as a book
My wife wrote a little book together with her father an account of our adventure to Tanzania, especially the part on Mt Kilimanjaro.
Find it at Amazon Kindle Shop:
https://www.amazon.de/Pole-pole-Kilimanjaro-Reisebericht-Perspektiven-ebook/dp/B01AARFTAI
Originally published at http://doblander.blogspot.com in December 2009
