Kilimanjaro, Slowly

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
3.0674°S, 37.3556°E

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was the first item on our “must-do” list for Africa.

Sarah and I weren’t sure exactly why we felt this pull to climb the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, but we have a few friends who have summited Kilimanjaro and told us how amazing it is to stand at the highest point in Africa and watch the sunrise up and over the Serengeti. We’ve read about the experience of camping underneath the stars along the mountain’s many trails and seeing all of the flora and fauna unique to the region. And we’ve even heard that a hike up Kilimanjaro can permanently change perspectives on life.

But if I’m being honest, I think Toto made me do it. Dammit that song is catchy.

Regardless of our reasons for making the climb, we landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport knowing there was no turning back.

During our Precision Air flight from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, the pilot announced that he had a “special treat” in store for his passengers. He told us that normally flight 722 doesn’t pass close to Kilimanjaro, but for whatever reason this morning we were going to fly right next to the mountain’s highest peak, Uhuru.

Meeting our Climbing Family

Sarah and I signed up with a group trek through Peak Planet, a U.S.-based company that organizes Kilimanjaro climbs and other activities in Tanzania. We chose Peak Planet from the many guide companies out there based off of their stellar online reviews and a recommendation from Sarah’s friend Alexis, who used them a few years back when she and her husband climbed Kilimanjaro.

We arrived at our lodge in Moshi, Tanzania the day before the start of our climb. After dropping our bags and grabbing a late lunch, we headed into town to pick up our rental equipment. Sarah and I have been traveling light, so instead of purchasing a bunch of new – and expensive – equipment for Kilimanjaro, we found a business in Moshi (Ascend Tanzania) that rents gear, allowing us to borrow nearly everything needed for the climb.

That evening, we met the three other people we’d be spending the next eight days with on our journey up the mountain. Everyone in our group was very friendly and seemed both nervous and excited to begin our ascent – just like us.

We first met Lawrence, a 24-year-old medical student from California doing research on malaria in Africa for the summer. Before dinner we met Michelle and her 12-year-old daughter Eliane (yes, 12!), traveling from Sydney, Australia for the climb. (Side note: As part of her Kilimanjaro experience, Eliane raised money at her school for the Loreto Vietnam-Australia Program that provides assistance to rural children from Vietnam seeking higher education opportunities. If you’re feeling generous I understand they are still taking donations. Just click this link and when filling out the “How did you hear about us?” box include “2017_MC_CLIMB“.)

The night before the climb our Kilimanjaro “family” had dinner together and then our guides from Peak Planet came by for a briefing and equipment check. Our chief guide, Davis, led the briefing with help from our two assistant guides, Magnus and Alkad. Our guides made us feel very safe from the beginning, and gave us a one-word piece of advice for making it to the summit:

Polepole.

Polepole (pronounced “pole-Aye, pole-Aye”)is the Swahili term for “slowly” and is the word you hear the most from the guides when ascending the mountain. Moving too fast in a high altitude environment like Kilimanjaro can make you very tired very quickly, and can lead to altitude sickness. The main reason people don’t make the summit of Uhuru is because they try to get up the mountain too fast. Polepole is the best way to ensure a successful summit.

Our Path to the Top

There are several different trails that take you up to Uhuru, and most of them take between four and nine days to complete.

Lots of conflicting information exists on the Internet regarding success rates for reaching Uhuru, but it’s safe to say not everyone makes it to the top. The longer you are on the mountain the more time your body has to adjust to the high altitude and lack of oxygen, so typically longer treks result in a higher percentage of successful summits. This is the main reason Sarah and I opted for the eight-day Lemosho route (summiting Kilimanjaro wasn’t something we wanted to fail at and try again). An eight-day climb would minimize the chance of us not making it to the top while also maximizing the number of comments from Sarah about not showering for such an extended period.

The Lemosho route starts from the west and heads southeast before arriving at Barafu Camp, where we’d be starting our Day 6 climb to Uhuru.

So here’s how it went down (or up I guess)….

Day 1 – Lemosho Forest Camp

We had breakfast at the lodge before loading into a 15 passenger van with our guides and a handful of porters. The porters carry most of our equipment up the mountain (e.g., tents, sleeping pads, extra clothes, etc). Each of us had our own 30-liter backpack, primarily used for water, snacks and any clothing layers needed during the day. For a group our size, we had 14 porters traveling with us for the duration of the trek. Over the course of the eight days, we would learn just how hard these guys work, in addition to each of them being incredibly skilled at carrying heavy objects up and down steep inclines and declines. And then can sing too (more on that below).

Our first day of hiking lasted about four hours and included a bit of steep terrain but nothing crazy. Sarah and I had never hiked with walking sticks before, and only a few hours into our start we were very happy we had rented these poles for the hike, especially for the muddy and rocky areas that can be slippery when wet.

Kilimanjaro has five separate climate zones, and during our first day of hiking, we made our way through the first two, the cultivation and forest zones. Much of our eight days would be spent in the third zone, the moorland zone before we’d cross into the alpine desert zone and the summit zone (a.k.a., the arctic tundra zone) before the final ascent.

The scenery on our first day was beautiful, as we followed our guide Alkad through the dense tropical forest. We realized quickly how walking and taking in the scenery at the same time was not a safe option. Given the unstable terrain, we had to keep our heads down while we walked, so frequent stops to look around and take pictures were definitely necessary.

We arrived at our campsite for the night, Mkubwa Camp, and found that the porters had our individual tents set up, as well as a larger communal mess tent our group would use for our meals over the course of the trip. We met Eric, the porter who would be our server for our meals, and enjoyed our first dinner of fried fish with veggies along with really good leek soup.

Day 2 – Shira I Camp

We woke up at 6:00 a.m. our second day on the mountain and were treated to tea and coffee in our tents (something that was provided every day!). After a breakfast of porridge, eggs, and sausage we started our day’s hike, which took us into the moorland zone over the course of around six hours. We arrived at Shira I Camp, at about 12,000 feet in elevation, to fresh popcorn and chicken wings before our spaghetti dinner.

Shira is one of the three volcanic cones on Kilimanjaro, the other two being Mawenzi and Kibo (Uhuru is the peak of Kibo). Our campsite provided great views of Uhuru’s peak:

After the climb, we descended into our camp for the evening and were greeted by the porters with song and dance. The song was sung in Swahili but is basically a Kilimanjaro welcoming song that lists out many of the mountains various camps and features. We would hear similar songs at almost every stop the rest of the trip, always sung with great energy and enthusiasm!

Day 3 – Shira II Camp

Our first really cold night, Sarah did everything in her power to stay in her sleeping bag as long as possible. She had heard from a few different people that using the down jackets provided for summit night as a pajama top was the best way to keep warm in the sleeping bag. From Day 3 on I don’t think I ever saw her without her down jacket.

We started off the third day on a four-hour hike from Shira I Camp to Shira II, which wasn’t terribly steep but rocky. The views along the way were incredible, including being able to see Tanzania’s third largest mountain, Mount Meru, seemingly floating on the clouds below us.

After dinner, Davis came into the mess tent and gave us an uplifting speech that culminated is his catchphrase for the week “You are doing good, you are doing great!”

Davis would say this regularly to our group, especially when he could tell we were tired, cold, discouraged or all of the above. In addition to guiding us up the mountain, checking our health regularly, teaching us about the plants and animals on the mountain, and making sure we were eating properly, our guides were also our motivational coaches. Their positivity and encouragement made it very easy for us to remain in good spirits throughout the trip.

Day 4 – Barranco Camp

We were woken up early again to get a head start on a long day of hiking. Day 4’s hike took us up to the Lava Tower for lunch and then down to Barranco Camp to sleep for the night. The hiking took about eight hours and brought us up to nearly 15,000 feet before descending to a lower altitude to help us acclimate.

Eliane – our group’s rockstar 12-year-old – showed the first signs of altitude sickness among us, but was an absolute trooper and after a good night of rest and some stomach settling remedies was good to go the next day.

Day 5 – Karanga Camp

After another early morning wake up call, we prepped for a long day of hiking. This included scaling the “Barranco Wall”, which I had thought was a figure of speech but learned that it was indeed an actual wall that can only be traversed using hands and feet. It was intense but fun, and we all were marveling at the ease in which the porters climbed the wall with 50 or more pounds offer on their backs.

Day 6 and 7 – Barafu to Stella Point to Uhuru to High Camp

After a hike to Barafu, our base camp before summiting, we rested before our middle-of-the-night start to our summit climb. We went to sleep – or tried to at least – around 6:00 p.m. and were woken up at 10:30 p.m. to begin the summit climb.

Everyone was feeling some type of altitude-related symptom on the climb up, which for Sarah was vomiting and for me stomach issues (I’ll leave it at that). Most of us had at least minor headaches but no one was showing signs of problematic altitude sickness.

We were prepared for the worst weather on the way up, wearing five or six layers each and making sure we had water bottles that would not freeze (they did). We did see lots of people struggling with the altitude, getting rushed to lower points on the mountain, or receiving oxygen, which made us all really appreciate the polepole approach our guides insisted upon. It was definitely a long night/morning of hiking, but our prize made it all worthwhile!

We reached Uhuru (woo-hoo!) in the early morning and were lucky in that there weren’t many people on the peak at the same time as us. Davis surveyed our conditions and allowed us to stay on the summit for about 20 minutes. It was an amazing feeling, and it felt even better to know that I wouldn’t have to title this post “Receiving Oxygen on a Stretcher in Moshi“.

After taking lots of pictures, we descended back to base camp and rested for a few hours before descending further to our last camp, High Camp.

Day 8 – Mweka Gate

We woke up after getting our first night of real sleep in two days and had breakfast, although none of us had normal appetites since we were still feeling the effects of the altitude. We headed off for the long hike back, which was all pretty much downhill.

We were picked up at Mweka Gate and waiting for us in the van was our lunch and the greatest surprise of the trip. Pizza. The food was great the entire time on the mountain, but there was something about the smell of the pizza that made us all almost tear up with excitement.

We made our way back to the lodge, where we enjoyed our first shower in eight days. Our beds never looked so comfortable. The next day Sarah and I slept in and then went back into Moshi to return our rental equipment and find cheeseburgers.

So Long Tanzania

After lunch, we went back to our lodge, said goodbye to our climbing partners and waited for a cab to the airport. We were dropped off at Kilimanjaro’s airport to catch our 9:55 p.m. flight to Dar Es Salaam….followed by a 3:45 a.m. flight to Nairobi….and then a 7:00 a.m. flight to Johannesburg. No sleep till Jo-burg!