Journey to Mount Kilimanjaro
Journey to Mount Kilimanjaro
After hiking Mount Whitney in October, 2018, I had an urge to listen to mountains more and more. Towards the end of our trip, a friend of mine asked if I was interested to go to Mount Kilimanjaro. It is the tallest mountain in Africa with an altitude of 19,341 feet. Many people climb it - young and old and so it was a good challenge to take on and I signed up.
There are three phases to any mountain climbing trip; 1) Training, 2) Preparation and 3) The journey. Each one is unique in its own way. It teaches us different things.
Training:
This is the hardest phase. For last 9+ months, during the weekdays, I went to the gym early in the morning (5:30 am) for an hour to do cardio and strength training. During the weekends, I hiked on Saturdays (8-20 miles) and biked for 35-50 miles on Sundays. Most of the time, I hiked and biked on my own, which I enjoy. Training is the hard part; on days when you do not feel like it, you still have to do it. On days when your toe may be hurting, you have to continue hike to make sure if it happens on the Mountain, you can still proceed. I have to force myself to go home early from Friday or Saturday parties so that I could wake up early to train. I am sure some of my friends thought I was crazy (yet all of them were supportive of my adventure).The part that is harder to train for is the altitude. At high altitude, both altitude sickness and mountain sickness (*headache, nausea, ... ) come into play. Even if you take Diamox, you are not immune and so it is hard to train for. The best we could do is to go to Mount Dana in Yosemite - 13K feet to train. That was the closest peak with the highest altitude.
Training is also part of the journey - the clouds, the sunrises, the flowers, and the quietness during each hike makes it interesting and exciting. Sometimes you meet strangers during the hikes and share/learn experiences - that is also part of the journey.
Preparation
Since this was a 8 day hike on a extreme climate, you have to prepared with proper clothing, gears, medicine, and a whole list of things. This should not be taken lightly. My hand gloves were not adequate and I paid for that mistake during the summit hike as my finger tips were freezing.Mount Kilimanjaro
There are six most popular routes. We selected an 8-day hike on the Lemosho route to give us the best chance for altitude acclimatization. The total distance is only 67km (41 miles) over the 8 days. The distance is not, it is the altitude and elevation gain each day.The Journey
Day 1: Start of the Journey to Mkubwa Camp (Elev:8,694 ft, x km)From the hotel (Weru-Weru lodge), we drove for an hour and half to the Londorosi gate for registration. It felt like a bazaar there with all the hikers and porters getting ready. After the registration, we drove for another 30 min to the Lemosho gate - the start of the hike. It was around 12:30 pm and we decided to have lunch before starting. Around 2 pm, we started the hike. It was only a 7 km hike which took around 2 hrs. This hike went thru a tropical forest - it felt like Costa Rica.
The camp area was a bit wet and cold and it took some time getting used to the tent and portable toilet. I only got a few hours of sleep in the night.
Day 2: To Shira Camp-I (Elev: 11,843 ft , 7 km).
Woke up in the cold. I got a glass of lukewarm water to brush and wash (that would be the norm for rest of the mornings). After getting ready and having had breakfast, we starting hiking by 8:30 am. This was an easy hike and we reached the camp by noon, had lunch, and then took a nap (or tried to).
Beside the hikers (11 of us), we had a additional team of ~40 people to help us (guides, cooks, camp, porters, toilet helpers, water team, ... ). In the evening, there was a camp celebration with Swahili songs. It started with the welcome song ("Jambo Bwana")
Jambo, Jambo bwana,
Habari gani,
Mzuri sana.
Wageni, Wakaribishwa,
Kilimanjaro
Hakuna Matata.
.....
It was beautiful song and I love the spirit of it. We all joined in the singing and dancing. We also sang the Hindi song "Jimmy Jimmy Aja Aja .. " for our guide named Jimmy. He was funny and a positive leader. Each night he would brief us on the next days plan and how to keep a positive attitude.
We had dinner at 7:30 and then retired to our tents for the next day.
Day 3: To Shira Camp-II (Elev: 12,631 ft, 10 km)
This was the first long hike. In most cases, the hike took us to higher elevation and then we would come down to camp at lower elevation. This was a hike across moorland vegetation - mostly shrubs and rocks. The day started with a nice rainbow and a clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro for the first time. It did not look that daunting at all but we knew that it will not be easy.
Day 4: To Baranco Camp (Elev: 12,795 ft, 10 km)
The goal of this day was to hike to Lava tower (elevation above 15,190) and then come down a lower elevation for camping. The vegetation was again moorland but we started to see big lava rocks. We had lunch at the lava tower. and reached the camp around 4 pm.
Day 5: To Karanga Camp (Elev: 13196 ft , 6km)
To go this camp, we had to go through the Baranco wall. Some of the videos we had seen during preparation looked pretty dangerous. I found the hike to be not that difficult at all - I rather enjoyed it a bit. I like these kind of hikes on rocks. There was one place where you have to walk on a narrow path and your nose is almost touching the rocks. It is called the "kissing rock". That is the only part which required us to be careful. Once we reached to the top, it was an awesome view. It took us 5 hours to reach the camp.
Day 6: To Barafu camp (Elev: 15331 ft, 4km)
The goal of this hike was to reach the base camp, relax, and get ready for summit hike. It took us a little more than 2 hours to reach the camp. In the evening, we watched the sunset. It was an awesome experience.
Mount Kilimanjaro awaits ...
Getting ready
In the afternoon we tried to catch up on sleep for few hours and then at 9 pm we had dinner and started to get ready. It was already cold. For the hike, I put on 6 layers of clothing on top, 3 layers for the bottom, 2 layers of socks, 2 layers of gloves and a balaclava and woolen cap for the head. My right pinky toe was bruised and so I put couple of band-aids to alleviate the pain.We started the hike at 11:30 PM.
Day 7: To Summit (Elev: 19,341, 6 km)
It was full moon night, but there were clouds which made it little hazy. I think 300-400 hikers had lined up for the hike. Along with the hikers, there were another 300+ guides. For us, we were a team of 20 people (11 hikers and 9 guides) for the hike. It was a narrow trail and felt like a traffic jam few places which required careful while hiking. Some of my team members started getting headaches and having nausea, but they kept pushing one step at a time. Everyone was positive about making it.
The first destination is Stella Point (Base Camp) - 4.3 km, but it took us almost 7 hours. It was a steep climb. It was a tiring hike- we kept drinking water and taking small 2 min breaks to grab a snack. It was cold; my fingertips and toes were freezing and felt numb. This was the toughest part. The guides were very helpful.We kept moving and after 7+ hours were at the Base camp (Stella point).
After a brief rest, I started hiking to the top with two of my team mates. The rest were catching up and needed extra few minutes. The hike to summit was only 0.7 km but it took almost an hour. Only a few glaciers remain at the top of the summit and it is expected that they will all melt away in few years due to climate change.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a crater. The lava rocks and glaciers makes it a unique place. Finally, I had moment of glory and humbling experience. Without Mt. Kilimanjaro's blessing it would never have been possible. All 11 of us made it to the top. What a team!
We had lunch at 2 pm and then started to hike to Millennium /High Camp (Elev:12959 ft , 12 km). It took us almost 3 hours. Everyone was tired.
Day 8 : To Mweka Camp (Elev: 6430 ft , 13.5 km)
This was the last day. We woke up and had breakfast by 7 am. All the team members sang songs and we thanked everyone for their support for making it happen. We gave each one of them tips. It is a hard job for the porters carrying 20 kg across the mountains.
We started to hike down around 8 am. It took us almost 5 hours to reach to the bottom. We went to the park rangers office to sign-off and celebrated with a beer!
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The goal of this journey is not to cross a bucket list item but to discover oneself from the start of training to the final climb. It is a journey to listen to the mountain. It is a journey to find positivity in oneself. It is a journey to listen to oneself.
All the glories to Mount Kilimanjaro for allowing a traveler in its midst and blessing the journey.
Ashante Sana Mount Kilimanjaro!
Ashante Sana Mount Kilimanjaro!
Ashante Sana Mount Kilimanjaro!
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