Kili Days 1-2 Its not a very romantic start to our climb of the worlds highest freestanding mountain. We bump along for 2 hours on a dusty road before reaching Machame Gate our starting point. There, it was another 2 hour wait to get paperwork and various processes sorted. Already this morning we have heard hakuna matata said in greeting a few times (so it wasnt something Disney made up!) and it represents the informal way a lot of things get done in Tanzania. Finally were on our way and Day 1 takes us through the forest zone of the mountain. Its beautiful and lush as we have arrived a the end of the rainy season, and if Im honest looks a lot like other pretty forest I have walked through (apologies to botanists everywhere!). Not so ordinary, however, was walking past an area with a couple of porters and a VERY strong smell of weed. That must be the super deluxe package. 2 hours in, probably the quote of the Kili trek. DT, having planned the entire Tanzania leg, quietly announces I dont actually like hiking. Right ... nuff said. Overall though Day 1 is a gentle introduction and we get through the 11kms and 1200m elevation gain with relative ease in 4 hours, reaching our campsite at 3000m. Day 2 is significantly more arduous. We leave the forest zone and hike through the ether moorland zone - a name that wouldnt be out of place in Tolkien. The flora now takes the form of hardy shrubs and the occasional everflowers which are generally small but extremely fierce looking. All have developed defenses, my favorite being an entire shrub of thorns surrounding a group of small pink flowers - as if to say dont even fkkin think about it to would be plant eaters. We take the same 4 hours but only get through 5kms today. Most of the way is negotiating up a steep rocky river bed with dense shrub either side. This opens out to large boulders and more sparse vegetation towards the top. Perhaps it was the slight mistiness that gave the whole landscape an eerie quality but its what Id imagine the moon would look like if it had plant life. We gain 850m in elevation today and camp at 3850m. At camp were not exactly slumming it. Our 2 person tents have a living area for our gear and a separate bedroom. In addition, there is a large cooking tent as well as a mess tent complete with dining table, comfy chairs and dinner by candle light (which Darren promptly knocks over). At first I thought DT is joking when he tells us the size of our crew. Then Simon our guide confirmed it - there are a total of 20 guides/cook/porters to look after the 4 of us. I feel pretty embarassed, not least of which because I had read somewhere its nice to bring small souvenirs for your crew and I only have 6 rugby ball / kiwi key rings in my bag. Idiot. Simon tells us the importance of climbers to the local economy and his own story of how porter tips allowed him to put himself through school and achieve self-betterment. Something to soothe our conscience I guess despite the glaring wealth gap. What does make me happy is that porters may strictly carry only 20kgs. This is enforced by park rangers at the gate and each porters load is weighed. Freelance porters mill around to pick up the extra work. This seems like a good system and avoids the common situation in Indonesia where porters often carry dangerous loads. The only real problem at camp is SOMEONEs alarms set on multiple devices going off at various times in the night to Michael Jackson, Bad to the bone etc. That along with general camp noises make earplugs a must.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:36:29 +0000
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