Good bye Africa....

When leaving the hotel, I had a very heavy heart. I felt it all went too fast and I did not have the chance to integrate with local people as much as I wished. Even though I was still there, I was already missing it.

When the plane took off from the Kilimanjaro airport, the enormous Kilimanjaro was visible on my side of the window. Seeing that sight from the plane made me realise how high and enormous that mountain is and I couldn't believe I had climbed to the top of it! Its size was mind blowing. What a beautiful scene!

Kilimanjaro taken from the plane

Some Facts

Campsites
Day  1  ==>  Mkubwa   ==>   2,750 m
        2  ==>  Shira 1      ==>   3,500 m
        3  ==>  Shira 2      ==>   3,840 m

        4  ==>  Barranco   ==>   3,950 m

        5  ==>  Karanga    ==>   4,200 m

        6  ==>  Barafu       ==>   4,550 m

        7  ==>  Mweka     ==>   3,100 m

Distance (approximate figure. Below figure is from the itinerary. We did more than the itinerary.)

Total       =   98 km
Ascent    =   60 km
Descent  =   38 km


Distance & hours per day (distance figure is approximate)
Day  1  ==>  20 km   ==>    4 hrs

        2  ==>  18 km   ==>    6 hrs & 45 min

        3  ==>  13 km   ==>    6 hrs & 15 min

        4  ==>   15 km   ==>   7 hrs & 20 min

        5  ==>    7 km   ==>    4 hrs

        6  ==>  13 km   ==>    3 hrs & 15 min

        7  ==>  30 km   ==>   12 hrs & 35 min

        8  ==>  15 km   ==>    2 hrs

Swahili words that I learned and used to communicate with the porters...  :)
jumbo   (hi)
mambo   (hi)
poa   (reply to Jumbo/Mambo)
habari   (how are you?)
misouri   (fine, reply to habari)
twende   (let's go, we used it after each break)
kala   (brother)
dada   (sister)
ndio   (yes)
habana   (no)
tosimami   (please stop)
asante sana   (thank you)
karibu   (you're welcome)
kchiz comandizi   (cool like a crazy banana)
kchiz coma tango   (cool like a crazy cucumber)
ume choka?   (are you tired?)
sige choka.   (I'm not tired.)
sige eleva.   (I don't understand)
habari sobuhi   (good morning)
pole pole   (slowly)
sana   (a lot)
totananabadai   (see you later)
moye   (1)
mbili   (2)
tatoo   (3)
mne   (4)
tanoo   (5)
seta   (6)
saba   (7)
nane   (8)
tesa   (9)
kumi   (10)

Finally, looking back, it has been an extraordinary experience and I felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to experience it... Great group, great guides, great weather, I was not hit by altitude sickness and all of us got to the top... What else could I have asked for? The group members were easy going... I admired Ryan for having been to Himalayas and feeling very sick out there and still dared to attempt another high altitude... I admired Scot for his courage and for attempting Kilimanjaro at the age of 62. It was his first mountain climb and his first trip outside North America... And Eitan (Tony) was the fun of the group. He teased everyone in a funny way. At the end Wilibard asked him if he was a comedian in Canada! :) I was at ease with the group right from the first day as if I had known them from before.

And Africa! What a beautiful continent and what a beautiful people. Their smiles, the colourfull dresses of African women, the red dusty ground and the green fields.... and much more...

Good bye Africa.... I will miss you.... But I am sure I will visit you again one day........

Day 8 - Mweka Camp, Mweka Gate, Moshi

Facts

Starting altitude (Mweka camp) = 3,100 m

End of hiking altitude (Mweka gate) = 1,980 m

Moshi altitude = 890 m

No of hrs walking = 2 hrs

Distance covered = 15 km

I had a very good sleep which proved to me that the fact that I was waking up numerous times in the previous nights was because of the altitude. After the breakfast, we took a photo with the whole crew, the porters, the cook and the guides. Once the photo was taken, all of them started singing for us. I just loved it, absolutely love it! It was too surprising, so I didn't have the time to go and find my camera. Luckily Eitan had his and took the video of the second song. That is the one I liked, "Kilimanjaro... Hakuna matata...". That is the one Gideon and the other guides were singing during the summit climb throughout the night. Here is the link to the song:

     Click here to see the video of the song, "Kilimanjaro... Hakuna matata..."

In the song they say the name of all the camp sites and also all our names. The lead singer calls Eitan "Tony" again and that makes us laugh... :)

Mweka camp - with the porters and the guides

After that, we started walking towards Mweka gate. It was another 2 hours downhill walk, through a muddy road. This was a killer for my knee which was already in pain from yesterday's 6 hours downhill! Ryan and Eitan went ahead in full speed, followed by Scot. I was the last one. I didn't want to go as fast as them, since I didn't want to damage my knees any more than what it was. I was happy with own pace anyway. Apart from my knee problem, the road was so muddy and so slippery that I couldn't go any faster even if I wanted to. Actually I'm surprised how I managed to stay on my feet till the end. I slipped a few times and just managed to keep my balance.

After some time Wilibard caught up with me and we had good conversation about various topics, about Tanzania, education also about the hike. He asked me if there was something I wasn't happy with. I said the only thing I could think of is that it would've been nicer to have been introduced to the porters much earlier. He told me he has started off as a porter, then a cook and now a guide. He is 28 years old and he was desperately looking to find a job in another country particularly in Dubai. I think we were chatting for about 45 min when Gideon joined us. Wilibard said he will go ahead and Gideon stayed behind with me. I had a very nice conversation with Gideon too. 

At one point I asked him if he liked his job. He looked at me intensely and said with a serious tone, "No Mojgan, I don't like it!". He said that in such a tone that cut through me. He said the job is very difficult and that he has been doing it for 6 years. He is 31 years old. I asked him if he was thinking of leaving it and doing something else. With a smile and confidently he said, "Yes, I already have a plan!". He said he is saving his money and hopefully after 2 years he can leave the job and go back to the college. He said he wants to be an animal doctor. :) I sincerely wish he could make it. This was all a reminder to me that not every one has easy access to the basic and simple things in life. 

I asked about his family. He said they are 9 brothers and sisters, but 2 of his brothers have passed away. One of them by accident and another one by Malaria about 3 years ago. He was 42 years old. I was shocked to know that still people out here are dying of Malaria!

After 2 hours of walking we arrived at Mweka gate. I had not been looking forward to it, as I knew seeing that gate meant the end of the trip. So the sight of it gave me a sad feeling. At the gate, we signed the registry book and got our "Gold certificate". We then drove back to the hotel. I could not believe that my trip was already over.

After not having a shower for 8 days, you could imagine the state we were all in. I did not even want to see my greasy hair and was wearing my hat to cover it up. So the first thing we all did was jump into the shower and I think that was the best shower I've ever had! :) As we had planned, we waited in the garden for the guides and the porters to come. This was to give them their tips and also me and Eitan gave them some of our clothings. I also gave them my boots. I was emotional (ok, I'm exaggerating here a bit! :) ) to part with my boots. They have been with me to the hills of England & Wales, mountains of South France, all around Latin America, and... in the past few years. It was time to replace them, so I thought I'd rather leave it here, where someone can actually make use of it. They all turned up apart from 3 of them. I was disappointed to see that Gideon hadn't come either.

Tonight will be the last night I'll be sleeping under the African sky and breathing the African air..... I'll be flying back to Dubai tomorrow...  :(

Day 7 - Summit Day! Barafu Camp, Uhuru Peak, Mweka Camp

Facts

Starting altitude (Barafu camp) = 4,550 m
Crater altitude (Stella Point) = 5,685 m
Summit altitude (Uhuru peak) = 5,895 m
Camp site altitude (Mweka camp) = 3,100 m
No of hrs walking = 12 hrs & 35 min
Distance covered = 7 + 23 = 30 km

The sign board at the summit

12:10am was exactly the time we took our first steps towards the summit. It was full moon and even though we had our head lights, we could see even without it. Hence I turned it off as I liked the idea of walking under the moon light without any artificial lights. Gideon led our group, followed by Scot, me, Ryan and Eitan. Wilibard was at the back. In addition our waiter was accompanying us. The extra guide was in case one of us had to quit and return back to the camp. For sure I did not want to be that person.

It was extremely cold. We were asked to put our water bottles inside our rucksacks otherwise the water would freeze.  I was wearing my ski jacket, two thermal tops underneath it, a hat, neck warmer, ski gloves, thermal trousers under the hiking trousers, thick winter socks and feet warmers, but I was still cold ! It was mainly my fingers and my toes. This is something I knew that I would face, since I have low blood circulation in my hands and my feet, so I always get this. Even the feet warmers that I had put in my boots were not really helping. I had given the guys the extra feet warmers and hand warmers. Eitan used them and said that they were not really helping him either! I was very disappointed with my ski gloves too. They seemed to be a bit small and useless, so taking them off and putting them back on was taking all my time and energy. With them I could not do anything and when I took them off, my fingers would freeze and it used to take me sometime before I could put my hands properly in there. That's why I hardly had a proper break and was struggling with these stupid gloves. 

Proud to be here! :)
From left: Wilibard (our guide), Ryan, Scot (Ryan's father), me, Eitan, Gideon (our assistant guide)
and sitting down is our waiter who was came with us to the top as an extra guide

Yes, I was there! :)

Some groups were slightly ahead of us and I looked back and saw a trail of headlights going all the way down. It was like a snake path. All of us were using the same route and all of us had the same target. Everyone was walking in silence and that made it sensational. I was wondering what was going on inside each person's head right at that moment. I was overwhelmed with what I was experiencing. I was trying to concentrate, not to underestimate the situation and not to make any mistakes. At every break, I tried to drink and had a small bite of the biscuits or energy bar that I was carrying. 

Our pace was very slow so that we could not feel the low level of oxygen. On the other hand, we were not getting warm, specially that the wind was quite strong. Our breaks were very short because of the freezing condition. Just enough time to catch up your breath and have a sip of water. I was fully concentrated. I knew the ascend was going to be difficult and long. I knew it would be uphill all the way up to the summit and I knew it would be daylight by the time we reach the summit. I tried to look ahead, mainly at Scot's feet who was in front of me. Unconsciously I stopped looking at my watch all together. I did not care what time it was or how long was left. I wanted to absorb fully what I was experiencing. I knew this was all new to me and I also knew that there was a little chance I'd be doing this again. So slowly my mind adjusted itself to the harsh condition. I tried to block the cold and the fatigue. My mind was absolutely loving every moment of this strange night. 

Throughout the hike, Gideon was chatting with other guides and singing the Kilimanjaro songs. I think the summit day was his favourite part of the hike as he was much more talkative than the previous days. On the other hand Wilibard was more quite and occasionally chatting to others, but was not singing. I enjoyed Gideon's singing. He has that typical deep African voice and the songs kept me going. I could already pick some Swahili words, so whatever I could recoginse, I tried to sing along with them. This took my mind away from the difficulty of the hike. 

The beautiful view from the summit - Glaciers blending into the clouds

View from the summit - glaciers blending into the clouds

4,600m was the highest altitude I had ever been, so I was very conscious to see if/when it would hit me, specially that I hadn't taken any diamox. As we ascended higher and higher, the guys started having headaches and slowly we saw the fatigue in Scot's movements. Because of this, Gideon slowed down the pace even more, but still Scot was finding it very hard. Every step was a struggle to him. I asked Ryan to replace his place with me, so that he could be next to his father, as I could see that Scot needed his support. It seemed to me that Scot was suffering a lot. At one point he told Wilibard: 

"Don't let me become like those two girls we saw yesterday!"

Ok, at least he was still conscious and knew where he was! :) After sometime, the supporting guide had to stay close to Scot and support him by holding him under his arm. I did not know what altitude we were at, what I knew was that if for any reason I walked fast, I could immediately go short of breath, feel my heart beating fast and my lungs shouting for air!

At the summit with my guides: Wilibard (left) and Gideon (right)

It was sunrise by the time we reached the Stella point (5,685m). The view was incredible. We had a very short break and then started off again, since we still had another 200 meters to Uhuru peak (5,895m). At this point we were all exhausted. My back had started aching as well. It was then I realised that I had underestimated the weight we had to carry each day. My rucksack did not have any waist support, so my shoulders had to take in all the pressure, hence the back ache.

The walk from Stella point to Uhuru peak was one of the most difficult sections so far. It felt like you were already at the top, but in theory you were not. So we had to keep going and it felt that we'd never get there. This part felt like an infinity. None of us was talking and we were dragging our bodies in silence. It was in fact an unforgettable scene, walking in between the glaciers towards the summit. 

View from the summit - glaciers blending into the clouds

I heard Wilibard and Gideon saying congratulations to us and pointing at a sign board. Oh, this must be it then! I came out of somewhere deep deep semi-unconscious world. It was then that I really looked up and around and saw the astonishing natural beauty of the roof of Africa. The glaciers were blending into the clouds in the distance. I also looked at the time for the first time since we started the summit hike. It was 6:45am. So it had taken us about 6 hrs and 35min to reach the summit. I was specially happy that I had come all the way up without having any headaches or any signs of altitude sickness.

After some time, I started feeling extremely cold again. It was very windy and I could feel my fingers and toes freezing. They estimated the temperature to be -20 up there. I don't know, it could've been even lower. After taking a few photos, we started our descend at 7:15am. We were going down in full speed. The path was all loose gravel and very slippery. At times we where sliding rather than taking any steps and it felt like skiing. In fact I was using the same technique. I was enjoying this new path until I felt that my knees were burning!! I could feel something underneath my knee caps. "Oh, not the knee pain again!"  As we started going down and down, my knee pain became worse. In fact, this was a different knee problem and that definitely worried me. Some of us, fell down that slippery road, including myself. In one of the short breaks, Ryan said that he was feeling nausea and threw up right over there. 

On the way down from the summit

After 3 hours of continuous torturous knee-killer downhill, we reached the Barafu camp. We only had one and a half hours of rest. When we were about to start off, I bumped into Moses!!! My young Moshi guide. I just had enough time to greet him and then had to run down and join the guys. We had to do another knee-killer downhill to Mweka camp (3,100m), ie another 3 hours! It felt like a never ending downhill and my knees were getting worse and worse. The hiking poles were not helping any more either. After a while my 'usual' knee problem (runner's knee) started and by the time we got to the camp I was limping and in pain.

Mweka camp site is a misterable place. It is in a forest area with no view. It is crowded, dump, muddy and wet. Nothing like the mountain camp sites. I was already feeling nostalgic and missed the free spirit of the mountains. This would be the last night we were camping outside and my journey was near the end... :(

Day 6 - Karanga Camp, Barafu Camp

Facts

Starting altitude (Karanga Camp) = 4,200 m
Campsite altitude (Barafu camp) = 4,550 m
No of hrs walking = 3 hrs & 15 min
Distance covered = 13 km

Worshiping the sun! :)

After another freezing sleepless night, I was looking forward to that hot tea, hot water and hot porridge. I unzipped my tent and looked outside. Wow, it was all clear again. No clouds, no mist. We were lucky, otherwise hiking through that thick cloud wouldn't have been fun, since you would miss out on scenery all around you. Something that made us laugh was that the previous night, the toilet looked so far away, but this morning under clear condition, it was just a few steps away from our tent! Also those big rocks looked ridiculously close as well! This made us all laugh again, since last night I had told them about my adventure walks and the big rocks somewhere in the mist! :)

Worshiping the sun ! :)

Outside the tent was extremely cold. The tea and the hot water helped just a little. We were impatiently waiting for the sun to come out behind the mountain. My tent was the first one that got the rays of the sun, so all of us jumped over there! That first weak rays of sun felt so warm, that we started worshipping the sun!! :)

We set off at 8:45am and reached Barafu camp after 3 hrs and 15 min. It was almost all uphill, but we were going so "pole pole" (slowly) that I didn't find it difficult at all. In spite of this, the rest of the team were complaining, though I never knew whether they were serious, or just joking.

Barafu camp is at the altitude of 4,550m and is the last camp before the summit. Tonight we'll be starting our summit and I could already feel the excitement. The camp site was on a steep slope and extremely windy. We had to wait sometime for our tents to be set up, since the previous group who had done the climb this morning were still there. A couple of them were still in their tents and looked exhausted. After they finally decided to get up and start their descend, our tents were setup and we had our lunch. Wilibard told us that after having some rest, we'll be go for acclimatization walk at 5pm. We all went inside our tents. I was there lying down and listening to the mix of noises, the wind shaking the tent, the porters, the hikers and a voice inside my head telling me how close I was to the roof of Africa! I was way too excited and could not get any sleep. After about an hour, I could not take it any more and came out of the tent to explore the area.

A Porter carrying heavy load

This was a very big camp site and there were various groups and many tents. I could see on the mountain high above me that there were still people coming down. They had started their climb the previous night. We could not see the people, but the path of dust indicating to us their route. We will be coming down on the same route tomorrow morning. After walking around a bit, I sat down near the edge and absorbed that mesmerizing scenery in front of me. The summit was very close, it looked like a giant overlooking our camp site. Below me  was an arid rocky valley and the wind was pushing the thick clouds towards us. A number of white-necked ravens were flying up and down the valley. The clouds seemed to be getting closer and closer. At this point, it looked as if it was going to cover our camp site within a few minutes and I doubted that we would be able to go for the acclimatization walk. The wind was getting very strong and I was feeling very cold sitting up there.

Having a short break

Later on the wind decided to change its direction and forced the clouds backwards. At 5pm, we started our acclimatization walk. We had just started going uphill when we heard the shout of a girl from above. I looked up and saw two girls and three porters some way up above us. We could not recognise what she was saying. We continued going up and her shouts got louder.

"Stay there! Don't come up!..... I said don't come up!! These people are dangerous!"

We all looked at each other puzzled by what we were hearing. "What the hell is she talking about?!" We ignored her and continued to walk upwards, getting closer to them. She shouted again in an agitated tone:

 "Don't come any closer! Go back to the camp and call for help!.... One of them is armed!"

We all looked at each other again, not knowing what to make out of it. At this time one of the porters said something to Wilibard in Swahili. Wilibard then turned around and told us that these girls have been affected by altitude sickness badly and that is the reason they are behaving like this. They had been in high altitude since last night, ie more than 17 hours and now they are not trusting anybody and are not coming down to the camp.

Barafu camp site

All four of us were listening to what Wilibard was telling us with astonishment and also hearing her shouting in the background made us realise that this was really a serious case. Every step we were making, made the girl shout louder and more agitated. The other girl was more quiet and I had the impression that she was under the influence of the louder girl. At this point I felt that I had to do something here. These girls were affected badly and could not trust anyone. Being the only female, they might have more trust in me. I walked quickly upwards and asked the guys and Wilibard to stay behind. I told Wilibard that I will try to convince her to come down.

I got close to them and introduced myself. I told them briefly about my group and I told the girls that they can trust my group and my guide. Both girls looked simply exhausted, frightened and lost. The loud girl kept saying that they have been kidnapped by these people and now they've lost their group. She said that a guy from their group was still up there and the porters have got him as well.  I told Wilibard that I will take the girls down and will find their group. Wilibard asked Scot to come with me and they decided to go up and find the other guy.

As we started going down, she kept looking backwards and shouting:

"Look! look! They are still following us!!"

Of course the porters were following, since they had been made responsible to bring these two girls down to the camp. I told them not to come, but they knew little English. So I shouted to Wilibard and ask him to tell the porters not to follow us, since they were frightening the girls. I tried talking to the girls to calm them down. The loud girl was called Anita and the quiet one Jes. Jes was more conscious and not a problem at all, but Anita was just out of control and had totally lost it! I had never imagined that altitude sickness could have such an effect. Anita was suspicious of everyone and refused to cooperate. It was difficult to keep her in one place. She simply did not trust anyone. Just a few steps before we reach the camp site, she stopped in her spot!

"I am not going there! See, they are all the same... I don't trust any of them..."

Barafu camp was located on a steep slope. This is the last
camp site before the summit.

I tried to convince her to come along. I told her that she could wait over there with scot and that I would ask the people in the registry office about her group. First she agreed, but then got agitated again and at one point ran off to a higher ground. Scot was also shocked and didn't know what to do. He suggested to find Gideon, as he could at least speak to the porters and should be able to know where the girls' group was. Meanwhile I tried to talk to them more and to take their minds away from the current situation. Apparently they were a big group. They said there are 30 of them and they all came from UK. Their tour was called "Really Wild". At times she would point at a group of tents and would tell Jes: 

"Jes.. Look! I found it! That's our group! Let's go there!"

She wanted to run down the hill and I really had to grab her and calm her down. As I was doubting her judgement and I wasn't sure that was her group.

View from the Barafu camp. That is the route we had been walking the
whole morning to reach the camp.

I came across Gideon by chance and explained to him the situation. I really liked the way he spoke to the girls. He was very calm and gently introduced himself and asked them their names and where they came from. Jes was responding normally, but Anita was giving him this suspicious look. I told Anita that Gideon is our assistant guide and that he knows where "Really wild" camp is and that he would take us there. I asked Anita whether she can trust him and she said:

 "No!... How do you know he is not with them!!!"

With much difficulty and with the help of Gideon we eventually managed to take them to their group. The first person she recongnised was their cook and then all of a sudden she got paranoid and blamed him for being part of the plot. She then tried to run and three people had to grab her to keep her still. Their guide then came over and she recognised him. First she greeted him and then she asked him:

"Why did you leave us? Did you know about this too?"

At this moment, Wilibard, Eitan and Ryan arrived. They had found the other guy. He was not in a good condition either. Wilibard then asked us to return. He said that these people are with their guides now. There is not much we could do here. On the way back, he explained to us that this has happened most probably because the tour was not organised properly and did not have enough guides for the number of hikers in that group. He said that the girls have to be taken to a lower altitude immediately, otherwise it could have a lasting effect on them. I just could not imagine how they could manage to take Anita, specially that it was already 6pm and they had already spent more than 17 hours on their feet in high altitude and most probably were dehydrated as well.

Just reached Barafu camp - Waiting for our tents to be set up

By the time we got to our tents, it was too late to go for acclimatization walk. We were joking that we were a rescue team. After dinner, Wilibard came to the tent and gave us our final briefing before the summit. First of all, he told us to forget what we had experienced that afternoon. He said we need to clear our minds from that event and simply concentrate on what was ahead of us. He also said that no matter how much reaching the Uhuru peak is a dream to us and no matter how much we want it, it is not worth losing our life for it! He said that at any stage of the climb, if he thinks that any of us is not able to continue and if he asked us to stop the hike and to go back,we should listen to him. He said he has got enough experience to judge when someone has crossed the line. When that line is crossed, then he/she must not take any steps higher and should immediately descend. In fact I liked the briefing he did that night. I thought he did it well and made an impression. 

Our luxury toilet. This was the most decent looking toilet out of all other camp sites. For some reason
it was located right on the edge of the cliff. The weird thing was that the wind was somehow
coming through the hole on the ground, so you had to be careful that the toilet paper
you were intending to drop in there, would not fly back and hit you!!!
It took some effort to drop the toilet paper in there!!! :)

So we all went to our tents and by the time I lied down in my sleeping bag, it was about 7:30pm. We had to get up at 11:30 to start the climb at 12 midnight. So only 4 hours of sleep. But I could hardly get any sleep as I was extremely excited. The wind was also very strong and shaking the whole tent and it felt as if any moment, the whole tent would be blown away. Even though I tried to do what Wilibard had asked us to, I could not clear my mind from this afternoon's event. My mind was going over it again and again. I guess I still hadn't come to terms with the shock of seeing the real effect that altitude sickness could have on people. I was so awake and I felt like starting the walk right there and then.

Finally 11:30pm arrived and they woke us up for the hot tea. We had half an hour to get ready and start the climb. We were about to take our first steps towards the summit... And for me personally, this was a big test ahead of me... I was very curious to know how my body would react in that altitude... I could feel my heart beating fast with excitement...........

Day 5 - Barranco Camp, Karanga Camp

Facts

Starting altitude (Barranco camp) = 3,950 m
Campsite altitude (Karanga camp) = 4,200 m
No of hrs walking = 4 hrs
Distance covered = 7 km

Dinner tent

There is absolutely nothing like washing your hands and face in warm water under the sub zero temperature. Every morning the waiter would greet us with a hot tea and a bowl of hot water. It was so miserably cold outside that if it wasn't for that hot tea, I don't think I would've dared to leave the tent! Eitan was always the last one to come out and it was in fact really funny. The waiter would first poke his tent and say "Jumbo", means hi in Swahili. Eitan would hardly respond the first time, so the waiter would shake the whole tent and say "JUMBO", we could then hear Eitan's sleepy voice, "jumbo" and the waiter wouldn't walk away until Eitan opened the zipper and took the hot tea.

It was always so so tempting for me to have a cup of coffee instead of tea. But being the only girl in the group, it wasn't really convenient to go to toilet 10 times during the hike! :) So I had to stop myself from reaching out for that coffee specially during breakfast. It was right there on the table in front of my eyes and this felt like a torture! It was so cold that while holding that tea cup, my hands were shaking. I only used to get warm when the sun was out. Not to forget that the hot porridge at breakfast would help as well! We also had the option of hot chocolate for breakfast. It is called Milo and I remember we had exactly the same one on Inca Trail hike. The first time you try this Milo, it tastes so bland. It is simply tasteless. No matter how many spoons you put, it does not make much of a difference. But after the first day, somehow you get addicted to it. We drank it so much that we ran out of it on the last day! 

Climbing up the Barranco wall

Today's walk started off with climbing the Barranco wall. It looked very steep from the camp and it was in fact like a wall. We had to get rid of our hiking poles and use our hands to climb up. It was a bit like rock climbing and at one point we had to hug a rock in order to pass. Any mistake would've been a disaster. This path was definitely the most exciting part of the whole trip. I really enjoyed it. I was feeling great today. No headaches, no stomach upset and no tiredness. I hoped that I could stay like this for the remaining days. Only 3 more days left and I was already beginning to feel sad that it was going to end.

Porters carrying heavy loads having just climbed the Barranco wall

Porters and other groups having just climbed the Barranco wall

When we reached to the top of the wall, the scenery was breath taking. There were many other groups as well. Every one was happy and excited, except a couple of people who were not feeling so good. There was a girl lying down on the ground. She looked really sick. She had her eyes closed and when her friends called her for a group photo, it took her a lot of efforts to get up and take a few steps, and then she immediately lied down again. When we left that place, she was still there motionless. We were wondering whether she'd be able to continue at all. That was the most serious case I'd seen so far.

Above the clouds

All throughout the hike I had been learning more and more Swahili words and practicing with the guides and the porters. Towards the end I could have  basic conversation with them. The guys in my group used to make fun of me for doing this and at times, asked me to translate to them! :) I just found it fun, specially that there were many words similar to Arabic and Persian, eg kaka = brother, dada= sister. So while we were passing by the porters, every one normally used to just say, Jumbo=hi. But I used to say more than that, eg Jumbo kaka (hi brother). That one little word would make them smile and then I'd say to them, "Ume choka?" (Are you tired?). That would make them laugh and reply back... It was all fun! :) I asked Gideon more than Willibard. Wilibard was sometimes a bit weird, so I used to avoid him as much as I could! :) I learned to count up to 10 and some other simple sentences. Gideon taught us a couple of funny sentences and we used to say it throughout the hike and it would make us laugh every time:

Kchiz comandizi = cool like a crazy banana
Kchiz coma tango = cool like a crazy cucumber

Above the clouds

Just before we reached Karanga camp, there were two ways, a very steep one and a less steep one. Wilibard asked us to choose. Of course I knew which one I wanted, but this time I let the others say it. As soon as Ryan said, the steep one, I immediately shouted, Yaaaaeeee ! :) Gideon started leading. He was going with very slow pace to accommodate Scot (Ryan's father). This time I found it too slow and I felt like asking him if I could go faster. By the time we got to the top, I was not tired at all, whereas I could see the others have had enough and were so happy to have reached the camp. This had been the trend since the beginning. The guys couldn't wait to reach the camp site, whereas for me, camp site wasn't the target. In fact I knew every time we reached a new camp site, the hiking day for that day was over. I enjoyed every moment of every step during the hike and it did not matter to me if the hike took 3 hours or 7 hours.

View of Kibo's glacier

The camp was totally immersed in clouds, and because of this it felt very cold even though it was only 2:30pm. We were supposed to go for acclimatization walk in the afternoon, but the weather did not improve, so Wilibard cancelled it. The other guys went inside their tents to get some sleep. I lied down for half an hour and read a bit, but then I got so bored inside the tent. So I decided to come out and walk around. It was a big camp site and many groups were there, but because of the density of the cloud, I could only see a few meters ahead of me. 

Having a short break before attempting the steep path

My discovery walk was quite interesting. The camp was on a slope and our group was towards the bottom of the slope. By just walking up and down the camp site, I felt warm again. There was not much to see, but the feeling was wonderful. It felt surreal that everything was blending with the clouds. I went to the outskirt of the camp. There were huge rocks and the sound of the stream coming from somewhere down below was very relaxing. I sat down there for some time all by myself inside the clouds, breathing the clean Kilimanjaro air and listening to the sound of the stream.

At dinner I tried to force myself to eat. I was just not hungry. On these tours, they keep feeding you lots of stuff. In fact losing appetite is one of the signs of mountain sickness. So I suppose that was the reason. But every time after lunch/dinner, Wilibard would check whether we've eaten enough or not and he used to tell us off if we hadn't eaten much. :)

Karanga camp site

Every night when I went to bed, even though I was wearing whatever I had, I was still shivering in my sleeping bag. The cold was bitterly painful. I could feel it in my bones. I used to contract every part of my body inside the sleeping bag. I could imagine myself looking like a prawn!! :) It would then take about an hour before I could feel warm again and my body slowly started to relax.

Tomorrow we'll be going to our final camp site before the summit... We're almost there!

Day 4 - Shira Camp 2, Lava Tower, Barranco Camp

Facts
Starting altitude (Shira camp 2) = 3,840 m

Highest altitude (Lava Tower) = 4.630 m
Campsite altitude (Barranco camp) = 3,950 m
No of hrs walking = 7 hrs & 20 min
Distance covered = 15 km

Over the night I woke up maybe more about 50 times even though it wasn't as cold as the previous night. It was about 5:30 in the morning that I felt my head wasn't normal. It felt a bit heavy. Then about 6:30am, I had a bit of stomach upset and nausea. I jumped out of the tent and rushed to the toilet. "Altitude sickness?! But how come?!" I knew that this was definitely the sign for mountain sickness, but I was surprised. The highest I had been was 4,600m in South America and did not feel a bit of sickness over there. "Why now?!" I came back to the tent and drank half a litre of water.

At breakfast, I told the guys that I had a little bit of headache. As soon as I said that, they are shouted and congratulated me for being a normal person! :) Up until then, they all had some sort of mountain sickness, except me. Eitan had nicknamed me "the tank" ! Since according to him, I never felt any headache, never was out of breathe, never was tired and kept on walking with a smile! :) Little he knew how much this trip meant to me. I was living my dreams and enjoying every moment of it. Tiredness and complaining just wasn't in my dictionary! :)

I asked the guys what I should do and they told me to have a couple of paracetamol. In fact, Ryan said that every morning he takes 2 tablets just to keep him going and still he had the headache. I only took one to see whether that would sort it out. It was at this moment that I was having doubt for not taking any Diamox. "Maybe I should have!" It was too late for this anyway. I had a light headache when we started the hike, but no stomach upset. I made sure I had extra tissues in case of emergency in the middle of the hike! :) I did not mention my headache to Wilibard as I did not want him to make a fuss about it. I knew I had it under control at that point.

A short break just before we reached Lava Tower

The walk was along a steep path. Today Gideon was guiding us and Wilibard was at the back. He was going "pole pole" very slowly. I tried not to look around too much and at every stop I drank water. Slowly the headache got less and less until maybe after about an hour it completely disappeared. I was thinking to myself, "so this is how it feels!" During the past 3 days the other guys were having headaches and Ryan even had stomach upset. This is what they were going through. In fact mine was just a light version of it. It is not the best feeling, specially that you get worried that it might get worse. I was still surprised that I had this headache at 3,840m, but maybe because I walked a lot yesterday and hardly had any rest until the night. From now on, I had to play it more wisely. As we were being told all the time, "pole pole (walk slowly), drink a lot, eat a lot".

White-necked Ravens
These very nasty creatures. They were all over the camp sites and would
nick anything they see. One of them took Eitan's soap !

Those ravens were after Eitan for some reason. First they nicked his soap
and here one of them dropped a big sh** on his light colour trousers. That made us all laugh of course!  :)

Lava Tower

This day was another interesting walk. We had to go from altitude 3,840m to 4,600m. There were lots of climbs. Today Gideon was guiding us and Wilibard was at the back. He was going "pole pole" very slowly. In fact I liked the pace. With that pace, I could walk for hours and climb the steepest path without feeling tired! After 5 hours of walking, we reached Lava Tower, 4,600m. After a short break, we started descending all the way to the camp, located at altitude 3,950m. It was a full speed descend. I really enjoyed this part of it. Somehow I was feeling so light and so alive. Maybe because I had got rid of that nasty headache. Whatever the reason, it felt like I was flying. Gideon was going super fast and I was behind him and the rest of the team were following.

A raven flying off Lava Tower

Behind the Lava Tower

The scenery was changing drastically as well. The rocky landscape was changing into a terrain covered with various vegetation, due to the lower altitude. Later on the guys complained about the pace since they all had headaches and Ryan has had nausea/stomach upset on top of that. But none of them said anything during the descend, otherwise we could've slowed down. They only complained afterwards. I did notice that they were all quiet, but I thought maybe they were tired and didn't know they were all suffering from mountain sickness.

After 2 hours and 20 minutes we arrived at the Barranco camp. This camp has a spectacular scenery and is overlooked by Kibu peak. Once we got there, the others went straight to their tents for a nap, but I just couldn't do that. As soon as I decorated my tent, I came out to explore the area. This was my way. As soon as we arrived to a new camp, I used to go inside my tent, re-arrange my stuff, put aside what I'd need for the night and for the next day and then that was it. I did not got back inside until the night time. I used to tell the guys that I decorate my tent! :) If I was very tired, I would lie down for half an hour or maximum an hour and then come out. I would then either walk around or sit down on a rock and read the book that I had brought with me. This was another reason that Eitan had nicknamed me, the tank! Since I hardly took any rest. :)

As we got closer to the Barranco camp, the variety of the vegetation
was also increasing. It was a pretty sight.

Barranco camp was the most beautiful camp so far. I walked around and tried to take in all that stunning beauty. At one end of the camp, there was a huge flat rocky surface with a straight drop. From that point you could see the green valley below you, the mountain on both sides of the valley, the river that in the distance seemed to be joining the white clouds. I sat there and got totally absorbed in my surroundings. I was looking all around me and once again I could not believe I was there. I felt truly happy at that point. I felt honoured to have had the opportunity to experience all this.

The beautiful Barranco camp

Back in the camp, apart from my group, I came across a number of people who were suffering from altitude sickness. There were two guys just outside my tent who looked miserable. One of them had a bad headache and had put a wet towel on his head.

Barranco camp - That is the straight drop. Can you notice
someone standing up there?

Tonight I told Wilibard about the headache that I had in the morning and he told me off for not having told him at that time! I felt like a little girl having done something naughty! :) Back in the tent, my mind reviewed today's events. Even though the day had started badly, but the rest of the day I had felt just superb. In fact it was interesting to have experienced that light altitude sickness, because now I could understand more what the other were going through. Tomorrow we had to climb that wall overlooking the camp. I was already getting excited. I only hoped that that nasty headache would not return in the morning....

Day 3 - Shira camp 1, Shira camp 2

Facts
Starting altitude ( Shira camp 1) = 3,500 m
Campsite altitude (Shira camp 2) = 3,840 m
No of hrs walking = 5.15 + 1 = 6 hrs & 15 min
Distance covered = 13 km

Every where was covered with these plants which were full of
shiny white flowers. They sparkle under the sun.

In the morning, as soon as I peeked outside the tent, I noticed the frost on the whole world! The grass and the tents were covered with a thin layer of ice. No wonder it was so freezing last night! It's amazing how strong the sun is at that altitude. As soon as the sun comes out, it becomes nice and warm, as if someone has turned on the heater!

I was about to take an artistic photo of the dead trees & the Kili in
the background, that Ryan went  there & started peeing! The
guys dared me to take the photo & I did! :)

After the breakfast Wilibard told us that the path to the next camp is rather short and easy and it would take us only about 2 hours. So he gave us the option of either taking that path and having a relaxing day or deviating from the path, going up a hill with a good view of Kilimanjaro and coming down along the hill. If we take the 2nd option, it would take us an additional 4 hours. I knew which one I wanted and he had barely finished his sentence when I shouted, "the 2nd option! " They all turned around and looked at me. Now I had put them in this situation that they couldn't say the easy option, even if that's what they wanted! So, that was how we ended up doing 5 hours instead of 2 hours that day and I loved every bit of it! :)

Admiring the view

The scenery had changed drastically. Where we were, looked nothing like the green forest area of the first couple of days. It was now semi arid. Most of the hike was on a flat surface accept the hill. On our path, we came across a number of big footprints. The guides said they are buffalos'. I really wanted to see one, but no matter how much I tried staring at distance space, I could not find a single movement of a living creature let alone a buffalo.

As we were getting closer and closer to the hill, the guys started making jokes about the altitude of that hill.

Ryan: "It's not a hill, it's a mountain!!!"

Eitan: "hey, Wilbert! This doesn't look flat to me!" (Wilibard had said that the path is mainly flat)

At the top of the hill

Gideon - at the top of the hill

This area was covered with these gorgeous plants. The black parts are the
old leaves that don't fall off to keep the warmth. This is how the
plant has adopted to the harsh cold temperature.

It was indeed a steep hill, but the view from the top of that hill was just incredible. We all got so excited and were jumping from one place to another and showing it to each other. The plantation around this area was  fascinating as well. Scot was excited more than others, since he was a pharmacist. There were plants with lots of tiny shiny white flowers. These were in abundance and also some other pretty plants that I hadn't seen them anywhere else. Wilibard explained to us that since in this altitude the temperature is very low, the flowers are smaller and tend to grow next to each other. That's how they've adopted to the harsh condition. We also came across a huge area covered with dead trees! None of us could explain what had caused it. It looked like some time ago there'd been a fire, but the guides couldn't explain it properly why they were like that. Very strange!

Gideon and Scot coming up the hill with the view of Kili in the background

 

"gole gaari" :)

After 4 hours of walking, the guys started teasing Wilibard, since he had told us it would take us only 4 hours to reach the next camp! :) We finally got to Shira 2 camp site at around 2 pm, having walked for exactly 5 hours. After the lunch with the usual nice and hot soup, Tony (Eitan!!) was getting edgy to send a text home. I could not really be bothered so much. I was in fact enjoying the mobile/email free condition. Then I thought ok, I might as well let parents know that I'm still alive! :)  Wilibard told us where we might get some signal. Tony and I went up there. Luckily I had the signal and managed to send out a few texts, whereas Tony couldn't send a single one! It wasn't his day! :)

Right from the beginning, Wilibard started calling Eitan, Tony! Eitan corrected him a couple of times, but then he gave it up. We ended up calling him Tony as well and every time it made us laugh! The funny thing is that we were calling our guide Wilbert for 8 days and he never corrected us! We only found out his real name after the climb when he gave us our certificates!

In the afternoon, Wilibard said that we could go for an hour of hiking to the Machame camp site. Tony shouted from his tent:

Eitan: "Wilbeeeert !!! You must be joking! It can't be for acclimatization since Machame has a lower altitude!!"

Wilibard: "It's a good walk. You can see your friends in the other camp."

Eitan: "Friends? I have no friends there!"

Wilibard: "Ryan you want to come? Mojgan, how about you? Scot?!"

Shira 2 camp site - my yellow tent

So, only Ryan and I ended up going with Wilibard. It was about 35 min easy walk. Machame camp was huge. It was much mored crowded than our camp. I prefered ours, as it was more peaceful. We'd been told that tomorrow we will be joining the Machame route. Next to the Machame camp, we saw a cave. Wilibard explained to us that up until a few years ago, the porters did not have any tents to sleep in and they had to spent the night inside the cave. They used to have a fire and sleep around it. I could not even imagine how could someone sleep in the open in that freezing condition! It must've felt like hell! Now it is forbidden to sleep in the cave and the porters must sleep in the tents. 

View from Machame camp

Wilibard walked right to the end of the camp and tried to use his mobile. This was another place that you could have a signal, as I saw many others trying the same. It was then that Ryan and I realised why he was so keen to come to this place. I suppose as a guide, he wasn't allowed to leave us, that is why he wanted to drag us here with him and at the end he didn't even manage to get a signal! :) In any case, it was interesting to see this place too. 

The cave at Machame camp that porters used to spend the night.
It is now forbidden to sleep in the cave.

Once we got back to our camp and updated the other two guys, Eitan started making jokes saying that Wilibard wanted to text his lover! :) Specially that when Wilibard during the evening briefing said that tomorrow we'll be going to a place called, "Lava Tower". Eitan said, "Wilbert wanted to set a date with his love at "Lover Tower" and that made us laugh hysterically. Throughout that evening and the next day Eitan kept saying, "See you at Lava Towa !!!" and that was enough to make us laugh! :)

Tomorrow we'll be heading towards "Lava Towa" !!! "