Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb - July 2016

In mid-July 2016 we took a trip to Tanzania with the goal of climbing Kilimanjaro and then following it up with a more relaxing safari in the Serengeti.  The “we” were Nancy, her two daughters, Erica and Arden and myself.  We signed up for the trip with a tour company (Tusker) who were based in the USA, in Truckee, California of all places, just a few miles up the road from Sacramento.  We didn't choose them because they were close to home, we chose them because they could provide a trip that fit all our timing needs. We were extremely happy with the company and would certainly recommend them to anyone heading that direction.

I had always wanted to climb Kilimanjaro ever since an aborted attempt to climb it by myself in 1973. I have no doubt that my earlier attempt would have been destined for failure even if the police had not taken me off the mountain for failing to get the required permits and engage guides and porters. I was seriously ill equipped for such a climb at that time but then I had youth on my side.  This time I no longer had youth working for me but I was a better prepared equipment-wise and at least fully permitted.

I flew out from the USA early to spend a week in the UK before traveling down to Tanzania. Then after I had recovered from jet lag, I flew from London to Tanzania via Istanbul. I arrived in Istanbul a week after the terrorist bombing at the airport.  All appeared to be business as usual when I landed in Istanbul and there were no problems with the transfer to my Tanzanian flight.  I flew into Kilimanjaro International Airport which is the airport positioned between Arusha and Moshi that serves the safari and Kilimanjaro climbing industry in Tanzania (that industry is a significant earner for the Tanzanian economy).  I landed in the middle of the night and patiently joined the queue to get my $100 visa to enter the country.  $100 is, of course, a significant cost but I checked the tourist visa requirements for a Tanzanian visiting the US and for them there is a $160 application fee and an interview at the consulate is needed prior to issuance. That has to hurt way more than my $100 visa issued on entry at the airport.

With my visa in order and despite the early hour I was met outside the airport by the tour company representative who whisked me off to my hotel in Moshi (the quite adequate but not too luxurious Parkview Hotel).  

Moshi is the closest large town near to the base of the mountain and it appears to be the location for all the Kilimanjaro climbing tour companies, of which there are many.  It is not a particularly pretty town, being a bit shabby and dusty, though it is quite bustling with activity.  The center of town can be walked in an hour or so. I walked around the old railway station but alas the train doesn't run there anymore. It was encouraging to see churches, mosques, and hindu temples all within close proximity of each other - Tanzania so far appears to be one of the more stable countries in Africa.

Moshi Market

Nancy, Erica and Arden came in via Qatar the next afternoon (Sunday).  We had a quiet evening as they wrestled with their jet lag after a very long flight from the west coast of the US and we spent most of the time trying to get our equipment organized.  Climbing a mountain from tropical rain forest up to snow capped peak requires a lot of different clothing and equipment, not to mention all the additional gear for a follow on safari.  We all had a lot of stuff to sort out.

The next day Monday, our guides for the climb (Elyakim and Stanford) came over and gave us a briefing on what to expect on the mountain.  They checked out our gear in great detail to make sure we had everything we would need.  Any items we didn’t have could then be hired or purchased in Moshi. In the afternoon, we wandered around town some more and in the evening we had a meal at a "reasonable" Italian restaurant (you don't come to Tanzania for the food) before retiring for the night.  If the truth be known, we were all a bit anxious about our ability to complete the climb - 19,000ft is not an insignificant altitude and from Moshi the mountain looked absolutely immense.

Machame Gate - start of the trail

Tuesday morning we set off early for the trail head.  We were climbing the Machame Route - a 7 day trip that allows a reasonable amount of time to acclimatize on the ascent.   We would be 6 days climbing up, and then 1.5 days coming down. The downhill route is a much shorter and more direct route.  When we arrived at the trailhead it was drizzling with rain so we geared up with our wet weather clothing and anxiously awaited our depart while our guides did all the paperwork at the Park office. There were several other groups starting at the same time and all of which looked better equipped than we did.  

I was surprised to find that for our group of 4 people we had another 24 individuals assisting us - 2 guides, a cook, a waiter, a camp manager, a safety guy (who carried a stretcher and inflatable pressure bag), and 18 porters.  It seems excessive but apparently it is quite normal.  All we carried ourselves was a day pack with extra clothing, water, food for the day, and whatever we needed until we got to camp.  The porters carried everything else along with food, water, tents, etc. Each porter could carry a load not exceeding 25 kilos (55lbs) and each of their loads was weighed as we left the trailhead.

On the trail in the Rainforest Zone - Elyakim, Nancy, Arden, Erica

The first day’s hiking was not the best - we were in the rain forest and it was misty and dripping with rain so we were warm and damp as we climbed.  Being in the forest, there were no real views and the trail was uphill the entire day.  There was never any respite for the relentless uphill slog.  It was however a reasonable grade and the trail itself though quite slick in parts was very well maintained and surprisingly clean considering all the traffic it gets.

We stopped for a box lunch and had our first introduction to the quantity of food we were going to be presented with on the climb. One of the philosophies of our tour company was that a well fed and well hydrated climber has a better chance of making it to the top so we always had plenty of food available to us. We probably only ate half of the packed lunch.

There was some question about the distance we had to cover the first day - one map said 18 km and another said 11 km. Thankfully, I think it was more like 11 km but we were  walking for about 6 hours which was quite enough for the first day.  As we got higher we got out of the damp forest and the rain stopped making it a lot more pleasant.  Arriving in the first camp, Machame Camp, we found it to be quite crowded and busy.   There were a lot of groups each with a lot of tents and we were all quite tightly spaced.  Our group of tents were very good - a couple of 2 man tents for ourselves, another 2 man for our guides, a cook tent, a dining tent, a toilet tent (essential) and then a few larger tents for the porters - all expedition grade equipment.  

Machame Camp

We were now above the cloud level and as the clouds cleared from around the mountain in the early evening we could see the summit ahead of us.  It looked very, very high and a long, long way away.  We had started from the trailhead at 5,900 ft and the Machame Camp was at 9,300 ft - 3,400 ft of gain.

DInner was served and we had the first of our wonderful meals on the trail.  We always had a 3 course dinner with a very excellent soup course, a meat based main course and some sort of desert.  Our cook who went by the name of Tosha did an excellent job in the cook tent with just a couple of propane burners.

Paella - one of the fine food offerings every night

After dinner our guides gave us a briefing on what to expect the next day and then proceeded to check our health.  Each night and morning they measured our blood oxygen content and listened to our lungs and asked a bunch of questions about how we felt.  That gave us a bit of confidence in that we were still healthy enough to proceed.  I should also say that by this time we were all taking Diamox to aid in the symptoms of altitude sickness.  We were also taking Malarone for Malaria as Moshi is a malarial area.  The Diamox makes you pee a lot, not an easy thing at night in a tent, and the Malarone makes you have weird dreams.

The next morning we were the last out of camp and the previously crowded camp was almost deserted by the time we left, just a few porters packing up the remains of their equipment.  The porters then rushed on ahead to pitch camp at the next level while we continued upwards at a more leisurely pace on what was a fairly pleasant trail.  They called this the heather zone - low scrub and bushes and a bit more open than the lower rain forest zone.  It was of course up the whole way.  

Shira Cave Camp

We again were pretty tired when we reached our camp for the night - Shira Cave Camp.  The day's hike was about 5 km and the elevation gain was 3,000 ft up to the 12,300 ft. level.  The air was getting thinner all the time.  Nancy had a few issues early on in the day with nausea that were perhaps related to one of the medications, but other than that we were all feeling pretty good.  

The Lava Tower

Day 3 on the trail took us up to the Lava Tower, a plug of lava that is quite a landmark.  Lava Tower Camp is at 15,100 ft and it was the highest any of us had ever been.  Surprisingly we were all feeling fine - no headaches, no nausea, just a little out of breath.  We reached the Lava Tower at lunchtime and our cook had set up shop to provide us with a wonderful lunch of soup and pork fajitas.  The food was really very, very good, but, instead of taking a nap after lunch, we had to press on to the next camp for the night - not so easy on a full stomach.  Lava Tower was the highest point for the day and the afternoon’s hike to Barranco Camp was mostly downhill to 12,800 ft.   Barranco was a very nice campsite with plenty of space and magnificent views of the mountain.  The mountain still looked a long way away and it was very, very high.

On the Trail

Each night at camp we had to sign into the register at the warden’s office.  You had to enter your name, country of origin, guide name, trekking company, etc and your age.   Each night I checked to see who was the oldest on the mountain - it was me, and Nancy was the oldest female.  I don’t know if that’s something to be proud of or not. Shouldn't we know better by our age.

View from Barranco Camp

Next day (Day 4) the way out of Barranco Camp was up the Barranco Wall.  This was perhaps the most technical bit of the entire climb.  It was a scramble up the steep side of a cliff.  The hand and foot holds were large and there were plenty of them but you did have to pay attention.  Of course the porters all made it up the Wall with no problems while carrying heavy loads on their heads or shoulders - no fancy packs for them just big duffel bags or baskets - and no fancy boots or clothing either - most were clad in cast offs from earlier foreign climbers.

Scrambling up the Barranco Wall

This day was relatively short, only 6 km and other than the Barranco Wall not too much up hill.  There were lots of the weird and wonderful trees and plants along the way - the Senecio Kilimanjari, the giant lobelias, the pretty white straw flowers whose name I do not know.  

Senecio Kilimanjari

We all welcomed the early sighting of our next camp, Karanga Camp, in the near distance only to find that we had to scramble down a deep and steep valley and up the other side before we reached our tents.  A perfect place for a zip line across the valley. Karanga Camp was at 13,100 ft. and was another more spacious camp but still with intimidating views of the summit looming in the distance.  We were all feeling fairly breathless by now but we had no other ill-effects of the altitude like headaches or nausea.

The view from Karanga Camp - its still a long way up

Our guides made a big deal about being well hydrated and were always chiding us to drink.  They wanted us to consume 3 to 4 liters of water each day.  That is a gallon of water and that is a lot to consume.  I would try and slug down a liter at breakfast and the a couple on the trail and maybe half a liter at night.  Rarely did I succeed in the full amount. That and the diuretic effects of the Diamox did not bode well for an uninterrupted night's sleep in the tent and the simple act of getting out of the sleeping bag and tent at that altitude left me breathless.

Aristide, always followed us with the stretcher and pressure bag

The next day (Day 5) was a short day only 3.5 km up to Barafu Camp at 15,300 ft.  This would be our highest camp and the next day we would attempt the summit.  We had been having doubts as to whether we could make the summit as it always looked so distant and high but as we were still altitude symptom free we were feeling somewhat optimistic when we arrived in Barafu.  That is until Arden started feeling ill - headaches, nausea, feeling like she might pass out.  She was not having fun and she did not look good.  The guides brought her into the warmth of the cook tent and gave her oxygen and we tried to console her but she was obviously troubled.  That night Nancy slept in Arden and Erica’s tent leaving me all alone and frankly I did not think Arden would continue up the next day.

From Barafu Camp it was still a long way away

The reason that Day 5 was a short hike was that many or even most people ascend to the summit in the night to arrive on top as the sun rises.  We had decided earlier not to do that and ascend in the daytime, and with Arden not feeling well it only reinforced that decision.  I did get up in the middle of the night and saw a long stream of lights making their way up the hill.  That was a wonderful sight from down below, but I don’t think that the sunrise on the top would be much different to sunrise at 15,000 ft and the cold and dark climb could not be all that pleasant.

On day 6, the summit day we were due to get going on the trail by 6:00 am and to my surprise everyone was feeling, if not perfect, at least better than the night before so the summit was on for all of us.  It was still dark and cold as we got ready to leave and the sun came up just as we left camp.  It was a steady fairly steep uphill climb and we were walking slowly, very slowly, taking breaks every hour.  With the altitude and the steep climb it was so easy to get completely breathless and so slow and steady was the only way to do it.  The swahili for slowly was “pole pole” and it became the mantra as we ascended.   Around 9 or 10 we saw the first people descending the mountain. Presumably they had made it to the top for sunrise, though there was at least one poor man who was moving very slowly down and he looked terrible - perhaps he abandoned the quest before the summit.  I saw a statistic after I got home that said only 64% of 7 day climbers reached the top.  That number seems a little low but obviously there are those that don’t make it.

On the way to the Summit from Barafu Camp

The steep part of the climb to the summit finishes at the rim of the crater, a point called Stella Point which is at 18,900 ft. I guess I hadn’t been paying attention to how far we had climbed so it came as a complete surprise when we popped out at the crater's edge.  From there it was a gentle rise for about a kilometer to the summit at 19,300 ft.  Arden was again not feeling great so a little oxygen was administered to get her to the summit.

On the Summit - 19300ft

When we got to the top there was only one other group of three climbers there so there was no waiting to get summit photos like there must be for the sunrise summit.  I heard there might be 30 or 40 people there queuing up for photos in the early morning - not something I would want to do in the extreme cold. We snapped the required photos of us looking oh-so-happy and then really didn’t spend too much time at the summit.  It was 2:00 pm and we had a long way down ahead of us.  

The Snows of Kilmanjaro

There is certainly some snow and a few small glaciers at the summit though the amount of snow and ice is decreasing as the years go by. We didn’t have to walk on snow at all - the trail was completely clear.  The crater at the top is quite spectacular and there is even a camp in the bottom of the crater for the more adventurous climbers.   Not many people seem to stay there.  

On the way down my boots started to give me a bit of trouble and although the going was easy and quick it was a little painful for the feet.  The ladies were assisted on the way down by the porters and apparently this was quite a ride - they were each grabbed on the arm by a porter and then they both took off downhill at almost a running speed. I couldn't understand how quick they were moving, usually with my long legs I can get down quite fast but I could barely keep up.

When we arrived back in Barafu Camp, there was a celebratory welcome from all the guides and porters - a kind of song and dance routine.  All well and good but at that moment all I wanted to do was collapse in the tent.

After a small meal we were back on the road again by about 5:30 pm.  Onward downhill by a more direct route to the next camp - Millenium Camp at 12,500 ft.  That is quite a descent, some 7,000 ft in just a few hours.  On the way down we were passed by a stretcher party hurtling down the trail with an injured porter (not one of ours).  The stretchers with handles at either end and a wheel in the middle don’t look like they give you a smooth ride down but they certainly move fast.  We learned later that the injured ported had fallen while transporting water up the hill to his camp.  

It was dark when we came into Millenium Camp - our last camp on the mountain.  We were exhausted and probably would have collapsed into our tents but as usual they had prepared another meal for us.  When we did retire we were completely exhausted but quite pleased with our efforts.

Our Porters on the way down from Millenium Camp

The next morning (Day 7) we had the usual fine breakfast and then left for the trailhead and our transportation back to Moshi.  We passed into the Tropical Rainforest zone and things got damp again but it wasn’t cold enough to make me put on waterproofs.  On the way down we went through Mweka Camp where we were passed by the young Australian group on their descent.  We had seen these folks several times before on the way up and they were always a quite boisterous and fun group.  On the way down they were all clad in animal suits - zebras, lions, giraffes.  Very weird - how on earth did they have the room to pack those things up the hill and they certainly didn’t look like the most comfortable of hiking gear for the warm climate.

As we got lower down and closer to the trailhead, we did see some Blue Monkeys.  The only non-bird wildlife that we saw on the entire mountain.  As far as birds go, up higher, we were always accompanied in camp by the White Necked Ravens.  These impressive birds are great scavengers of the debris left behind after camp or after lunch on the trail.

Finished

At the gate, our entire porter team were there to welcome us once again.  We signed out at the Ranger Station and wearily climbed into our van for the short ride back to Moshi and the Bristol Cottages Hotel.  What a relief to shower and clean up.  What a great trip.  We were all feeling quite proud of our efforts.

Elyakim

Stanford

We are very grateful to our guides Elyakim and Stanford, our cook Tosha, our waiter Hassan, Aristide, our trusty safety guy who carried the stretcher at all times, our camp manager Charles and all the other anonymous porters that carried our load to the top and back.

On a more sobering note, we learned later that the day after we summited a young South African Rally Driver, Gugu Zulu, died while attempting the summit.  

Here are some more photos of the climb.