Day 1 – Moshi - Londorossi gate - Mkubwa camp

Facts:

Starting altitude (Londorossi forest) = 1,300 m

Campsite altitude (Mkubwa camp) = 2,750 m

No of hrs walking = 4 hrs
Distance covered = 20 km


After an early breakfast, we jumped into the jeep and drove off towards the Londorossi gate. There was no turning back now! Wilibard introduced us to our assistant guide, Gideon. He was a typical African with that distinctive deep African voice.

Londorossi Gate - That is our jeep. The porters are waiting for their weights to be measured.

Londrossi gate

Towards the end the road was getting very rough. We stopped at Londorossi gate. This is where we had to register for the climb and were also given our first lunch box. This area is forest region and is lush green. We had to wait here for quite some time since this was where the loads that the porters had to carry were being weighed one by one. Also their personal items were checked to ensure they have enough warm clothes and proper shoes for the hike.

There were a number of boards with all sorts of instructions. On this one, it was written that we have to drink 4-5 litres of fluids each day! I just couldn’t imagine myself being able to drink that much water!

Everything pointed to the fact that this was really not a simple hike. I had also read that each year a number of people die attempting to do this climb. But that did not worry me at all, in fact it made me even more excited, since I knew I was attempting something new and I was very keen to know how my body would react to the extreme condition, mainly the high altitude. 

Gideon - our assistant guide

We then jumped back in the jeep to go to the starting location of the hike. We saw monkeys of various colour and shape. One of them was very pretty. It was black and white, with pure white hair. We were told that because of the recent rain, the condition of the road was very bad, so they would drop us off before the starting point. It was a forest track and the roughest and bumpiest track I’ve ever been. The jeep was swinging from left to right and we all wondered how it could manage to stay on its wheels! We gave the credit to the driver... You can have a slight taste of it here:

Click here to see the video - Inside the jeep on the bumpy track

The sign showing the start of Lemosho route

After nearly 45 minutes of this exciting drive, we started our hike at 1:45pm. Each of us carried what we needed for the day: rain jacket, rain trousers, extra layer, sun block, energy bars, hat, camera and 3 litres of water. It was quite heavy, but of course nothing like what the guides or the porters were carrying. As I was taking my first steps, I could feel this urge of excitement inside myself. This feeling of total freedom and complete contentment. This is where I belonged. That feeling of being part of nature, getting rid of the crazy madness of the outside world, the rush, the noise, the pressure, the boring routine. This is where time stopped and you could free your mind totally from anything in the past or the future. This is where the mind existed and lived only in the present tense. This is how I had felt during my South American trip. “Oh, how I had missed this feeling…”

Starting point of the Lemosho route. We had already walked
for 2 hours once we got to this point.

The forest path

We walked for about 2 hours until we got to the starting point of Lemosho route and continued walking towards the Mkubwa camp. The walk was through a beautiful forest trail. At certain points it was steep but our pace was very slow, so I had absolutely no problem. The guides kept saying, “Pole Pole…” means go slowly. The other guys found it a bit tough. Ryan (the young guy) already felt a bit of altitude sickness. He started having headache and stomach upset.

Some parts of the path were
very steep

We arrived at Mkubwa camp at around 6pm. So on day 1 we had hiked for 4 hours.

The campsite was a crazy place. It was a small place in the middle of the forest and there were tents all over right next to each other and very noisy. Being in the middle of the forest, everything was dump and wet.  

We had our dinner in our designated dinner tent. It was then I remembered that I had forgotten to take my malaria tablet once again! That is not good !

There were beautiful flowers along the path

How about the toilet? Ok, I’ll leave that one to your imagination ! J A wooden cabinet, with no door, and a hole in the middle of the ground ! Don’t forget that it was dump and wet and not the best odour! J

Today’s path was all in the forest and green, but with little view. I could not wait to get out of the forest and see the real mountain. Tomorrow is going to be a longer hike…