Kilimanjaro. Machame Route. 6 Days.

 Feb 16th to 21st 2014.

We were both pretty excited about doing the hike, though I was a little more anxious than Rich. I was concerned about fitness - despite doing some preparation on those Cairo Street Steps in Coogee, I really don't think there was anything to prepare us properly for what lay ahead - except for altitude training and marathon running!!

Day 1. Machame Gate (1800m) to Machame Huts (3000m).  Distance: 10.5 km

We were picked up at 9am from the Hostel. Stine a 20 year old Danish girl joined us, as well as Volkmar, a 63 year old German Man, who decided to hike, only 2 days prior! It was raining. We had been told to go in February because there was less chance of rain on the mountain - well!!!!

We drove to the Machame Gate via the shops:

At the gate, we signed in, and the porters went to organise the food and bags.  Each porter is not allowed to carry more than 20 kg each.  We were a group of four.  For our group, we had Dennis (Head Guide), Benadict and Jochim (assistant guides), John (Cook) and 16 porters, (Dennis the waiter stands out amongst those) 

Day 1 was quite gentle.  We hiked through the rain forest in light drizzle, which was actually quite nice as it kept us cool. It was a continual uphill walk, but we learnt how to walk 'Pole Pole' which in Kiswahili means Slowly Slowly and this was THE most important thing to remember every day!

On arrival at camp, the porters had got there before us, set up our tents, there was hot water and soap for washing and a 'restaurant tent' with hot drinks and popcorn awaiting our arrival. 

 The toilets were probably the worst feature of the camp.  A simple wooden hut, with a hole in the ground and the smell was close to unbearable.

Day 2. Machame Huts (3000m ) to Shira Caves (3839m). Distance: 5.2km 

On leaving Machame Huts, after our breakfast of Maize Porridge, Eggs, Frankfurter sausages and toast, we had a steady incline for the rest of the day.

The walking uphill wasn’t too bad and we took it steady.  The views in the morning were lovely over the valley.  

 

We were in Alpine Forest, and passed many waterfalls and streams, but as we got higher up, the mist came in and continued to settle and then rain as we arrived into Shira Caves Camp site.  

It was difficult to see the surrounding area.  We ate a nice beef curry and rice for dinner and went to bed very early. 

Luckily, at this campsite, there was a hut with a sit down toilet, rather than a hole in the ground! Unfortunately, it was still a hole in the ground rather than a flush so the stench was still the same ‘cover your nose’ type!

Day 3. Shira Caves (3839m) to Lava Tower (4627m) for lunch, then down to Baranca Huts Campsite (3986m)

The morning was glorious, with amazing views of Kilimanjaro as the sun rose behind it and then over the Shira Valley from outside of our tent.  

But this was the most challenging day for us yet.  This was where the altitude sickness and pain really began to take hold. 

For the morning, we walked from the west side of the mountain steadily up to the south side of the mountain to a place called Lava tower.  The area was desolate, with just rocks and dirt.  Occasionally we’d see a mouse or a bird.  Walking 1000m uphill for 7km until lunch really started to hurt.  I could feel my head pounding and breathing getting shallower, the rain made it cold every time we stopped, that at lunch, I sat against a rock and cried. My head felt like it was going to split open, I felt nauseous.  I kept thinking to myself, what am I doing? Why am I doing this?  This is not enjoyable!!!

One thing that kept Volkmar and I going, was that we kept passing a rather large Canadian woman.  And we kept on thinking – If She can do it! So can We!! Nasty I know, but at times like this you need some incentive!!  She had almost collapsed about 5 minutes prior to my tears, BUT she got up and kept on going!!!  So must we!!!

By Lava Tower and 4627m, I started to feel a little better.  Everyone had headaches, little appetite, we were the highest we were going to be before summit night and getting through it ok.  The bad news was that, having climbed so high, we now had to go back down almost 1000m to sleep!!! The knees were about to get a good bashing!!

After the hail subsided and the mist lifted, I actually really began to enjoy the valley we descended.  It was beautiful with interesting trees and waterfalls and a great view of the mountain.

By around 5pm, we arrived at Baranco Huts to camp having descended from lunchtime at 4627m to 3986m to sleep.  

Tea and biscuits awaited our arrival – the porters will always race ahead to find the best camp spot for our tents and get the food ready for our arrival.  Again, we were blessed with some rather nice new sit down toilets, but unfortunately, at night, they were about 100m away from our tents, so the bush was top choice!!

Day 4.  Baranco Huts (3986m) to Barafu Base Camp (4662m). Distance: 9km

Up down up down up and up!!! This was today’s agenda!

We began the day with a warm up song with the porters and guides below the mountain, “Chaka, chaka jinja, bbbrrrrrrrra Baranco” (or something like that).  

Our spirits were back up again as we got ready to climb – and I mean CLIMB – the Baranco Wall.  This was not a path as such, rather, a rock climb up a 300m vertical wall!! How these porters did it with the loads they had to carry, I do not know.  But it was fun.  It took the monotony of ‘walking’ away for a few hours.

Sadly, when we reached the top at 4200m, we than had to walk DOWN again to 4000m, and then up, and then down to 3900m before the climb to lunch at 4034m at Karanga Huts.  If we had chosen the 7 day trip. This is where we would have ended up camping for the night and we think it would have made it much easier for us on summit night.  However, as we were a 6 day trip, we had to plod on after lunch, and climb back up to 4662m to Camp.  This was the hardest part for me.  The hail and rain came back, the wind was chilling and my body was really starting to hate me.  After a steep hill up to camp, I was drenched though, and walking so slowly, my hands were freezing and I just had to cry again.  Rich and Stine had already reached campsite.  Volkmar was way back behind me with Beni, and I had Jochim with me all the way, offering to carry my bag – though I was too stubborn at first to give it to him – when the tears started, he insisted.  Took of my gloves, rubbed my hands to warm them.  Fed me my hot water and honey drink from the thermos and kept me going.  On arrival at camp, I was too busting for the toilet to get into the tent to put dry clothes on, so I sat under the hut finishing my hot drink.

Finally, the rain subsided, and Stine and I took a trip to the toilet.  This had to have been the worst one.  This one had no door, so I just squatted, not caring who could see me, and Stine went next door.  This toilet REALLY smelt, and I’m not sure whether it was that, or exhaustion, or a mixture of both that made me projectile vomit over the rocks outside.  I decided then I would not be visiting that toilet again, and it would be better to go over the side of the cliff behind the tents.  Not quite as safe, but a lot fresher!!

We were fed an early dinner and sent to bed at 7pm because as 11pm, they would wake us up to begin the summit.

Summit Night.  Day 4 (11pm) to Day 5…4662m to 5756m return and then down to 3800m to sleep.

So for most people, leaving at midnight means that they are at the summit by 6 or 7am.  Are above the clouds for sunrise and back down in their tents by around 10am.  Not us!!

We crawled out of bed and forced down some biscuits, snickers, hot chocolate, milo and various other energy providers!  On went the head torches and off we went.  It was 12.20am when we left the camp.  Above us we could see lines of head torches all the way up the ridge of the mountain.  Each step was slow, each kilometer was 1000m ascent, it hurt, breath was short, darkness was all around us.  Volkmar was struggling and so he stayed back with Beni and was separated from the rest of us.  Volkmar – we found out later – walked to 7am but never made it past 5000m.  Though he gave it one hell of a try!

We plodded on through the ice and snow.  We passed many people who were returning as they were too sick to continue.  When the sun rose, we were still a long way from summit. As it got light, we could see the top, it didn’t look too far away, but my god, each step hurt. 

By about 7am, I said the Stine should go on.  She had the ability to make it to the top, but I wasn’t sure I could.  My thighs burnt, my head hurt, and energy was little.  I asked Rich whether he was ok, and he said he’s stay with me.  Dennis took off with Stine and Rich and I stayed with Jochim, who was carrying my bag.  I only had the energy every now and then to say ‘water please’ and he would stop and let me take some water.

At about 8am, I said to Rich, “I don’t think I can do this”.  Jochim said “you can, you are only 1 ½ hours from Stella Point.  You can do it”.  At the point of almost giving up, we plodded on Pole Pole like I’ve never walked slower in my life Pole Pole, and at 10.15am, Rich and I made it Stella Point.  We’d been walking for 10 hours.

We gave each other a huge hug and took some photos.  We were told that the summit was only 40 minutes away, but in our minds was that, 1) it was misty and we couldn’t see anything anyway, and 2,) we had to get down yet!!!  We both knew how hard on the legs going down was too!!  So we decided to make Stella point our finishing point for the summit. 

It was quite funny, because we had heard many people stop there, and that the summit at Uhuru peak was only a little further, and wondered why people may stop there and not go on.  We now empathize completely with those people! Because it hurts!!!!

The descent was interesting!! Loose scree over the snow was the only path down.  We both stacked it a few times.  At one point, I think I slid about 30m down on my belly after slipping.  It took us over 2 hours to get down the mountain and my legs were really struggling to support the weight of the downhill step.  Luckily, Dennis, the waiter/porter, had realized we were late back and had started the walk up to meet us.  He took my bag and my arm and strongly held my hand and took a lot of the weight of my body.  My legs followed me down the rest of the way as Dennis practically carried me down.  My eyes felt like they were rolling back in my head, I was so exhausted.

We finally go back to Base Camp at around 1pm.  I got straight into the tent, fully dressed, boots out of the door and collapsed into a deep sleep.

They woke us up around 2pm for some lunch.  We then had to pack up our bags and get ready to descend to the next campsite.  Yes, MORE WALKING!! As if we weren’t in enough pain!!  Luckily, they organized a camp for us that wasn’t as far as the original camp and we only had to walk down for about 4km (although that took around 2 hours).  We arrived at Millenium High Camp at around 5pm.

Poor Stine couldn’t get out of her tent for dinner and slept the entire night.  We went to bed around 7pm and did not leave the tent and slept until 6.30am the next morning.  Exhausted was an understatement.

Day 6.  Mweka High Camp/Millenium High Camp, (3800m) to Mweka Gate, (1800m)

The last day!!  Appetite had returned, moods had lifted, we were finishing today!!  After breakfast, we tipped the porters with a little thank you ceremony.  They returned thanks with songs.  Each porter receives around $10 per day tips from us, the cook around $15 per day and then the assistant guides and guides between $15 and $20 per day depending on how awesome they were I suppose.  We gave Jochim a little bit more as he was such a saint.  Volkmar gave more to Beni as he had stuck by his side behind the group for the 6 days, and Stine gave Dennis the Head guide a little more, as he was her legend.

We then began the 12 km descent to Mweka gate.  We walked down the ridge, into rainforest, the knees were still a little sore, but bearable.  We started to hear and see more wildlife in the rainforest, including monkey’s and really pretty birds.  I found running down actually more bearable for the knees.  Until I stopped! I realized that they were suffering.

Rich made the gate about 40 minutes before Stine and I, and even Volkmar had run ahead.  We guessed it was becasue they could smell beer at the finish line! We were right! 

A cold Kilimanjaro at the end was satisfying.  We waited around for the porters to load the bus and that’s when my body ceased up.  I needed helping to the bus as my knees could no longer work!!

The next day, Saturday, I had to use my hands to lift or move my legs and it took until Sunday to be able to walk properly again.

Kilimanjaro was certainly an experience we will never forget.  But it’s also made us realize that we are not mountaineers’ and that we would prefer to have spent the money on a weeks holiday in the Seychelles instead of causing our bodies pain and suffering!! But it’s done now and the thought of doing Base Camp Everest in the future is waaaaaaay off!!!

Watch our Experience here: