Kilimanjaro: Introduction to Tanzania

On Thursday I had to pack my bags last minute as I just returned from another hiking trip in Luxemburg.


The first day of my journey is all about airplanes and airports.
I had to stop in 3 Airports in order get to my destination in Tanzania. First I flew from Brussel to Paris, where a sudden snowstorm was keeping up lots of plains. After a 2,5 hour wait the plain needed some de-icing, which was really necessary considering the amount of snow on the wings. Because of this delay I almost missed my flight from Ethiopia to Tanzania. I had to rush so fast to the gate that I almost didn't notice the temperature difference of 25 degrees.

Hopefully we can teleport to our vacation destinations in the near future :)


When the airplane arrived at the airport in Moshi I could mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. The first view on that I wanted to climb for many years. My hart rate raised and my hands got sweaty as I suddenly realized it finally was going to happen.


A friendly driver took me to my hotel in Moshi and he gave me a basic introduction to Tanzania. Along the way we've seen lot's of cattle that was walking freely on the highway, a sandstorm that hit us by surprise and the crazy traffic in the city.

Moshi seems to be a very busy town. 
On every inch of the side walk there is some kind of small store, or at least someone that is selling something. 
From car parts and plants to food and clothing (actually everything you can imagine). Combine this with a temperature of 35 degrees and you have a very interesting mix of smells flying around these streets.

I can’t seem to sleep on an airplane, so that means I’m already awake for 32 hours. Currently it’s 16 o’clock so I try to stay awake or a little longer so I can get into the right rhythm.

I still have 2 nights before my actual trip to the top of the Kilimanjaro starts. That should be enough to catch up on some sleep and start the journey well rested.

But first food! I’m going to explore the local food today. Wish me luck :)

Kilimanjaro: Exploring Moshi

Wow! Today was a pretty intense day!

In the morning I went for a walk inside the busy streets of Moshi to find out what they were selling in the local outdoor gear store (Gladys Adventure). It turned out that they only have second hand gear that you can hire. They get donations from people who climbed the mountain and didn't want to take their gear back home.
I have seen some really vintage stuff over here. I guess that you only hire a sleeping bag that’s 20 years old if you have no choice at all. Funny to see that there were summer models as well that they recommend to take with you on to the mountain. Seems like a bad idea to me considering the -15 degrees on the top. So always check what you rent or buy, the conditions will be harsh!

On my way back I passed by the most chaotic bus station ever. People were shouting that their tickets were cheaper than the ones from their neighbours, others tried to sell food and drinks to the ones who were waiting for their bus to arrive. 
And on the border of this bus station people were selling chickens and other small animals. 
Absolute chaos! But it was fun to watch :D

At lunch time I met with some people who were planning to help as a volunteer at a local orphanage. 
I asked if I could help and soon the 4 of us were on our way. 
We arrived at the orphanage we got a very warm welcome from the principal, teachers and the kids. 
There are 550 children living here from different ages. (even babies)

We donated some books, colour pencils, ballpoints and other stationary that we bought during the trip towards the orphanage.

Recently they received a donation of 48 I-Pads and a laptop. So they reserved a special classroom to be turned into a computer class. 
Today I helped with the cleaning of the classroom and getting it dust proof to protect all the electric equipment. There are a lot of sandstorms in the area, so extra isolation on the windows and doorstrips are a small but effective adjustments. 
They also told me that they have been trying to set up the WiFi network for all the equipment but they didn’t succeeded. They work via a satellite transmission over here, but it seemed to be the router that caused the problem. I fixed it in a half hour and everyone was very thankful.

Afterwards we had one of the kids guide us through all the buildings and than we had a chat with some of the children in a class room. 
It was very moving, they hugged us many times and they even made some drawings and wrote a letter specially for me.

After this intense day I went to a nearby bar to taste one of the local beers to cool down a bit. They had Kilimanjaro branded beer and it was super tasty and refreshing.
I met some Dutch people from my hotel that were going to follow the same route to the top and they even start on the same day. Seems like a lot of fun to travel together with these people!

Afterwards I took some time to relax because tomorrow morning the climbing will start. From the humid jungle to the rock fields all the way up to the glaciers on the top. By tomorrow evening I should already be at around 3000m. From there we still need to cover lots of kilometres in order to reach the path on the other side of the mountain that will lead us to the top of this magnificent mountain.

This means that there will be some radio silence for the next 7 days. No worries, I’ll be back soon. 
Goodnight!

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!

Kilimanjaro: Machame to Shira (2)

I made it through day 2!

Last night I had about 1,5 hours of sleep and I was worried that I would feel tired all day. The thought that I'm climbing one of the seven summits is providing me with a serious amount of energy so I didn't felt sleepy at all.
Not being able to find sleep is actually one of the symptoms that you can experience when your body is adapting to a higher altitude.

We slept at a height of 3000 meters and the temperature was dropping towards 10 degrees, which isn't very cold considering the height.
In the morning the guide brought us some tea, which was nice to start the day with. Afterwards we cleaned out the tent, packed our bags and quickly had breakfast. 

Around 8.30 am we could start hiking. The first part of the track was very steep and it was basically a boulder field we needed to get across. It was also very dusty and the low vegetation could not protect us from the blistering sun. There was so much dust that I put my sunglasses on to keep the sand out of my eyes.

We past by a series of jaw dropping viewpoints today and every time we looked in the distance we couldn't believe our eyes.
For a while the beautiful mountain Meru could be seen. Clouds were whirling around the top, this created a nice shadow play on the sides of that mountain. 

After 4 hours on the road we spotted the first Moorland Lobelias. These trees are shaped like a pineapple when the tree is still young. When it grows bigger it starts to look like an exploded cabbage. Funny little trees.
When looking into the distance my eye spotted a small crawler. A chameleon that didn’t hide well enough :)
It willingly cooperated in a photoshoot. Funny little creatures.
The guide told us after 5 hours that the hardest part was behind us. However, just 5 minutes later we had to climb with our hand and feet next to some steep overhanging rocks. Our guide seems to have a weird sense of humor. 

Near the end of the day the weather changed and soon the first raindrops fell on the dusty trail. Suddenly the thick raindrops changed into a hail storm.
Luckily we were close to the end point, it took us just another 20min. to reach the Shira Caves campsite.

After a few hours the clouds were pulling away from the top of this old volcano and we could see all the way to the glaciers on the summit. A magnificent view.

My belly was singing the song of the lions. It was a pretty hard day and by the end of the afternoon I got really hungry. Tonight we had rice and a local variant of goulash on the menu. Very tasty.
Well, at this point I would eat everything :)

Kilimanjaro: Shira to Barranco (3)

Let’s start with last night.

Because of the risk of altitude sickness you need to drink around 5 liters of water everyday. So that means that you need to run out of you’re tent at least two times during the night. It really starts to freeze now during the night, so it's difficult to crawl out of your warm sleeping bag to go outside.
However, this night I didn’t mind the trouble, because once outside I could see the snowy top of the Kilimanjaro bathing in the light of the moon. The stars around made this scenery stunning.
A few more days and I will hopefully be at the top…

During the day we had an acclimatization walk planned. This would lead us to the top of a rock that is called Lava Tower.
When we started walking we saw that the ground was frozen. A small stream that we passed a little later was frozen solid.

The vegetation started to change again as soon as we reached the 4000m mark.
The low bushes disappeared and now the rocks were king of the scenery.
Ice cold wind made us stop to put on an extra layer of clothing and we definetly needed gloves.

By noon we were close to the highest point to reach today and we paused for lunch near some lava rocks. Normally I keep myself busy during a break by hopping around, or walking a bit without the backpack. I want to keep my body temperature at the same level as it is freezing all day long. But over here that wasn't necessary. Surprisingly these rocks were warm. We also smelled some typical volcanic gasses. The volcano isn’t active anymore, but it still has some energy left that reaches up to the surface. This was ideal to keep a bit warm during the break. 

At two o'clock we reached the Lava Tower. We were now at 4628m above sea level.
At the top we walked straight into a cloud, which limited our view.
Unfortunately I started to get some headache over here. One of the symptoms of altitude sickness.

When we finally started to descent we saw more frozen rivers. A little more down grass started to grow again. And soon we walking in between the funny pineapple trees.
There was already a huge temperature difference noticeable when we passed the 4200m point on our way down.
The river was flowing again and we took a small break to watch a nice waterfall. It made me dream of a warm shower. But that is still days removed from now.

When we arrived at the camp site we had to register at the office of the park ranger. As we were waiting I had a look at the group. Some of them looked really bad. As soon as they saw their tent they rolled out their sleeping mat and rested. 

Today’s height difference clearly made some victims. Hopefully they will feel better tomorrow morning. But I’m afraid that not everyone will reach the summit…

Again a stary night and a different view on the summit compared to yesterday. We are now much closer but still need a long way to go.

Kilimanjaro: Barranco camp to Karanga (4)

I had a good night rest at the Barranco camp.

When the guide woke me up and handed me a large cup of tea I already knew that today would be a good day. The warm cup warmed up my hands.
All tents were covered in ice this morning. This night the temperature went down to -7 degrees. I'm happy that my sleeping bag is tough enough for these conditions. (My sleeping bag is filled with goose down and has a comfort rating of -13, Limit -21, extreme -42)

When I crawled out of the tent there were almost no clouds around the summit.
We are now walking at the side of the mountain and we must reach the base camp on the other side. From there a path will lead the way through the snow and glaciers towards the Uhuru peak. But that’s still two days walking away.

So first things first. When looking left from the summit I could spot the Barranco wall. A steep climb of 300m that requires some technique and agility. There isn't a fixed trail at the Barranco wall. You just try to get higher by looking for the easiest way up. It's very steep and you have to use your hands to pull yourself up or to secure yourself when you walk on the edge of a cliff. It didn't take long before the camp underneath us started to get smaller. Sometimes I took a small break to enjoy the view and to snap a quick picture. This is really a beautiful location.

The lava rocks gave me surprisingly a lot of grip because of their rough surface. This part of the journey is my favorite one so far. I had so much energy that I quickly left my group behind and started to make my own trail. “See you guys at the top!”
The guides started to call me spiderman for the rest of the day :)
I made it to the top in 45 minutes, an half hour quicker than the rest of the group.

After this section we had to cross three valleys where we always needed to ascend and descend around 250m. Some people slipped on their way down in the second valley. It's a very steep slope and the small gravel isn't providing you with grip.
From the second last top you could already spot the camp. And you could also see the road towards it. Not super motivating I must say. Again 200m down on a steep trail and 250m up on a slope with big rocks. At a height around 4000m this is an exhausting activity.

After diner I let someone check my hart rate and the oxygen saturation in my blood. The values were very good. 88% for oxygen (considering the height this is very good) and a hart rate of 68bpm. 

That means I'm fit enough to go to the base camp tomorrow also called Karanga Camp. Tomorrow evening we will be at a height of 4600m.

Headlamp out and time to close the sleeping bag, it’s starting to freeze again.

Kilimanjaro: Karanga to Barafu (5)

Another freezing cold night. Luckily we had warm tea in the morning. I could feel the heat going up my spine and my body was warming up again.

Unfortunately There was some bad news this morning. One person of our group got acute mountain sickness this night. He had problems with his lungs and he had to go down to a lower altitude this morning. Too bad, because he was really fit enough to make it to the summit.
By the end of the day we heard that he was hospitalized to get the moisture in his lungs removed. His condition is stable.
The height and the lack of oxygen really changes the way your body works. At the top there will be only 50% of oxygen in the air. I already know that I will need to push my limits.

So today it was an easy walk towards the base camp.
We had to pass through different valleys and had to gain 600m in height. We had a clear sight on the summit early in the morning. But around 11 am the top was covered with clouds.
We arrived around 3 pm at the Base Camp. Plenty of time to let the body rest before the start of the real work.
Two other routes also arrive at this camp but it’s not crowded. There aren’t that many people climbing the mountain via these routes.

At midnight we will start to climb the last 1200m towards the roof of Afrika. Why do we do this last part in the dark? Well, the weather on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is quit stable. Every morning there is a window of  a few hours where there are no clouds at the top. And as of 9 am in the morning the top starts to get misty and soon thick clouds will cover the top. We aim to be at the top at 7 am. In that way we will catch the sunrise and we will have a clear view on the world bellow.

It will be full moon tonight, so we will have enough light to find the trail. However, this also means it will be freezing super hard. It’s now 7pm and the green tent is slowly turning white as ice is covering the outside. Even on the inside of the tent you can see the ice shimmer like diamonds. 

Luckily we could eat enough food today that will need to provide us with enough energy until noon tomorrow.
We had some soup that was a little spicy. (read very hot!)
After that we had stew with potatoes, bananas, carrots and aubergine. Followed by spaghetti. Power food!
It was a little too much but we need the calories. I already know that I lost some weight during these days. My pants is a little too lose right now.
Hopefully I don’t accidentally “moon” the other climbers :p

So time to go to bed and dream about floating to the top. In a few hours it’s gonna be for real. Wish me luck…