Kilimanjaro: Machame village to Machame camp (1)

Today is D-day! 
My bags are packed and I’m ready to go.

This morning at 9 o'clock a small group of people (12) were waiting for the bus that would transport us to the starting point of our journey. After a while a small bus arrived to pick up the group. Our guide jumped out and greeted us with the words “Hakuna Matata”. 
This dude looked like a real Rastafarian with his dreadlocks and colourful clothing. 
We had to throw all our bags on the top of the bus and then we drove towards the starting point.

We had to drive 40 minutes towards the Machame gate. Plenty of time to get an impression of how the local people live here as we drove past many little villages.

During the ride we saw an impressive mountain dooming up in the background. Damn that’s high, and there is definitely snow at the top. 
Everyone on the bus was suddenly silent, which empowered the relaxing Bob Marley jams on the radio.

Once arrived at the Machame gate the chaos began. There are a lot of porters here that want to carry our stuff up the mountain, but only a few can join us. 
The guides select the once that they seem to find fit enough for the journey. They will be carrying food, cooking supplies and even a large tent that we can use to eat in. Too much luxury from my point of view, but it’s standard for all groups that go up the mountain. You can't start the journey without a guide and people that carry your gear. Every year people die on the mountain and the government wants to reduce the number of casualties by assisting the climbers to the top.
I’ve planned to carry my own backpack during the whole trip and I really had to discuss this for a while with the guide. I assured him that I was experienced and that I wanted to have the real experience of concurring the mountain. Everyone else didn't bring a hiking backpack. Instead they brought a standard travel bag with way too many gear inside. The porters will follow us and carry their bags towards the base camp near the top.

After al the chaos at the gate we ate a quick lunch,  filled up our drinking bottles and payed a last visit to a decent toilet. Bye bye hygiene for the next 7 days :)

The Machame gate is located at the edge of the rain forest, the first monkeys were already greeting us. Their hungry eyes were focused on the leftovers of the lunch. 
Minutes later we entered the warm and humid forest.

The guide was setting the tempo, which was pretty slow in my opinion. I really had to adapt to this slow pace and he kept repeating in Swahili “pole, pole” which means “slow, slow”. 
Well, that was maybe the best choice considering that not everyone in the group has the same energy and training level.

After a 5 hour walk the forest slowly began to change. The vegetation was less dense and the trees were getting a lot smaller. We almost reached the tree line. A half hour later we entered a new vegetation zone with low bushes and grasses. We will set up camp here for the first night. 
We have walked for almost 6 hours and gained 1200 meters in height. Pretty good for the first day.

The evening meal was absolutely delicious. We had fried fish with potatoes and mixed vegetables. The chef did an excellent work.

After diner people were looking forward towards a warm sleeping bag and it didn’t took long before I heard the first tent zippers.
When walking towards my tent I could see the top of the Kilimanjaro bathing in the light of the moon. A beautiful scene to watch. I already know what the theme of my dreams will be.

I’m now typing this when laying inside my sleeping bag but I feel that I’m not really tired yet. 
Hopefully I can catch some sleep. 
Goodnight!