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" !!! "