Hiking Dude Blog

Over the next week, I'll be posting about my Trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro over 8 days and then experience the Tanzania for a week. My wife accompanied me, along with 20 other people, to climb the mountain so it was quite an operation!

Travel to your destination is often the most expensive part of an adventure. The flight to Tanzania from Minnesota cost a lot of money and time. Our adventure started in the midst of a snowstorm, requiring de-icing of the plane. That was immediately followed by an engine problem resulting in a delay, followed by another round of de-icing. 3.5 hours after departure time, we finally pulled away from the gate. Once we were airborne, it wasn't too bad. Long flights are something of a time warp - an entire day is used up sitting, watching movies, and eating plastic food. 12 hours later, we arrived in the Netherlands.

After a quick sprint through the Amsterdam airport, another 8 hour flight got us to Kilimanjaro airport, 9 timezones in the future. The owner of our safari company and our lead climbing guide met us after fighting and clawing our way through the tangled mess of Tanzania immigration. Get your visa BEFORE your trip to avoid a LONG wait on arrival. Just like at Disney World, go as far to the left as you can in this mass of humanity that just arrived to press ahead as much as possible.

Reaching our first night's camp around 11pm, via a long, bumpy bus ride, we all just claimed tents and crashed until morning. It was nice being out in fresh, cool air with no bugs and unfamiliar stars across the sky. With the morning light, we could see that we really were in Africa - banana, acacia, and mango trees, intense sun, and a far-off glimpse of Kili.

This day was set aside to rest, explore the village, check gear, and meet our guides. I needed the day to start getting used to being pampered. Since I carry all my own gear and food on my long hikes, I knew there would be two challenges for me this time:

1. Having porters carry all my gear, food, tent, everything I didn't need for a day hike
2. Walking very, very slowly day after day due to elevation and size of our group

The company we're using is Tanzania Choice Safaris - a Tanzania-owned family company. Kakasii and Brenda Kimaro run the company and employ many local guides, cooks, and porters to handle a successful Kilimanjaro trek. On Facebook at TCS. It quickly became clear that TCS was a good choice and they did a wonderful job throughout the entire trek.

Now that we're settled in and two sets of lost luggage finally made it from Amsterdam, we'll start the actual hiking tomorrow.

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It seems to be taking FOREVER to start hiking! From our base in Uswaa village, all our gear was loaded on two buses for the long ride to the trailhead. Mind you, we did no work - the tents were taken down, packed, and loaded by our guide team. All we had to do was get our little day packs ready and sit on a bus. And, this was all after a huge breakfast cooked, served, and cleaned up by others!

Our ride up the mountain was often like a rickety, wooden roller coaster ride, and our bus even had a mechanical problem. Just a leaking radiator hose, but enough to be interesting. We leisurely climbed in our air-conditioned bus from the dry African plains through fertile forest land where hundreds of workers harvested carrots and potatoes all day in the heat. I should say that 'heat' is relative - many of them wore stocking hats and sweaters.

We eventually reached the Londorossi Gate to the Kilimanjaro National Park where we registered and our tour operator paid all the fees. And, the hiking and camping fees are big! It cost around $140/day for each person in our party. I don't know what that revenue is used for, but I saw no sign of trail maintenance on our trek.

After a very nice lunch, and watching all the porters get their loads officially weighed, we piled back in the buses for the last leg to our trailhead. Besides the 22 people in our big group, we are being supported by a lead guide, assistant guides, cooks, and porters. All this is a total of around 90 support people - or 110 people all together. It's an invasion!

Yes, we're finally hiking! Scrambling out of the bus, trying to avoid the porters throwing packs off the top, we all tumbled in a mass to the trailhead while adjusting hiking poles, fidgeting with pack straps, and smearing on sunscreen and/or bug repellent, depending on personal concerns. I saw no mosquitoes the entire trip, and this first day was all through rain forest so no sunscreen either.

Have you ever seen a freight train start moving? The engine pulls, the couplings clank together, and the whole thing slowly lurches along, slowly gaining speed. Our group was similar, except we never got to the 'gaining speed' part. The day was a very casual hike on a very worn path through a beautiful forest of exotic trees. It's just as well since it was still quite warm and humid this low. We did gain 1400 feet over 5 miles, but it came from only a very few short, steep climbs. Monkeys occasionally appeared in the trees, but they were the only wildlife - what would you expect with hundreds of people walking past? Ours was not the only group using this trail.

We arrived at Mki Mkubwa camp at 9200 feet as the day wore down. This was a very busy camp and our tents were packed together. I found the tent my wife and I would share for this trek already set up on a nice, flat spot. This would be the norm through the week, our support crew doing an excellent job of racing ahead to the next campsite early to hold the best spots.

Soon after we arrived, we were each given a bowl of hot water to wash with, then gathered in the large dome tent which would be our meal tent for the next week. I dubbed it the Thunder Dome, but it didn't really catch on. The dinner routine developed quickly - coffee, tea, or cocoa at your leisure, followed by soup, then the main meal. All this prepared in the kitchen tent and served with flourish in the Thunder Dome. Folding chairs, tables with table cloths, real plates, cups, and utensils were all carried from camp to camp for us!

After dinner, our lead guide laid out the next day's plan to finish off this day. Brush teeth, use the carried in portable toilet, put in ear plugs, and off to bed. Bed was a very cozy sleeping bag on a soft mat, both rented from the outfitter for a few dollars, along with hiking poles, so we didn't have to transport them on the plane. This night, as would happen every night, I slept very well and hardly remembered having my head hit my rolled up down jacket pillow.

We hiked from 7800ft up to 9200ft over a distance of about 4 miles, all of it through rain forest.

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As it turns out, our group is very good at 'Pole Pole'. We have a guide leading the way and we are not supposed to get ahead of him - no one has yet. His job is to make sure we don't hike too fast. 'Pole Pole' is Swahili for 'Slowly' and that's how we're supposed to hike. This is by far the slowest hiking I have ever done. We aren't even at any elevation yet and we're going less than 1MPH. Oh yes, I would prefer to go faster but I was expecting a slow trek, so I'm fine with strolling along and enjoying the scenery.

And, the scenery really changed today! We climbed up the Shira Ridge out of the jungle into tall scrub bushes and open sun. As the brush became smaller and our elevation became higher, we had great vistas out to the north and west where we could see the forest we had just left behind. All the big trees stopped growing at a certain elevation. You could see an obvious contour line where the trees stopped all along the hillside - very cool. And, we got our first glimpses up the high slopes of Kilimanjaro. Besides summit day, this was the hardest hike of the trek because it was warm and humid and a good gain of elevation. It was only a couple miles, though.

Reaching the upper end of the Shira Ridge, we traversed the Shira Plateau - a vast, relatively flat, plain reaching to the flanks of Mt. Kilimanjaro - to our campsite. So far, we've not actually been hiking on what most people think of as Kilimanjaro. The mountain has three volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest in the center at 19300 feet; Mawenzi, to the east at 17000 feet; and Shira to the west at only 13000 feet. Uhuru Peak is the top of Kibo and that is our destination but we've been walking up and along Shira the first 2 days. Tomorrow, we'll reach Kibo's slopes.

Across the plateau, as is true for the entire trek, the trail was obvious. Thousands of people a year tend to make a well-trodden path! But, for a half mile or so, the trail was constructed of large rocks arranged in a 3-foot wide path across the wilds. Some crew of workers put in a lot of time building it, but no one uses it. You can see in the photo that there are two well-worn dirt paths on either side but moss in the middle with the rocks. So, I guess another good idea that didn't pan out. Fortunately, it led us straight to Shira 1 Camp where we'll spend the night.

This second evening was absolutely the best camp of the trek. There was plenty of room and views all around, even up the slopes of Kibo. The big mountain was hiding above its blanket of clouds as it did every day from late morning until evening. As we waited patiently, the clouds gradually evaporated allowing glimpses of the peak before nightfall. It looked almost close enough to start climbing, but we'll not get that chance for four more days.

In this view of camp, you can see a portable toilet in the foreground and our large 'Thunder Dome' dinner tent dead center, behind which is the bright green kitchen tent. When we hike into camp, all of this is already set up every day! All we need to do is find tent #9, lay out our sleeping bags, change into camp shoes, and relax. Relaxing includes receiving a bowl of hot water to wash with, and then making coffee, tea, or cocoa in the Thunder Dome. It's a rough life! And, it's a strange feeling having others wait on me out here in the wild where I'm used to doing everything myself - I'm afraid I may get spoiled.

As you can see, my hiking attire on this trek isn't my usual drab, blend-in style. Since we're a big group, and there are multiple groups trekking, I figured something a little more vibrant might be interesting. It's totally not 'LNT', but there's no way to make a group of 100 people LNT, so I'm making it fun. I did notice on this and subsequent days that I tend to be more comfortable wearing a lot less than most others. The cooler temperatures felt nice to me while others put on gloves and fleece.

We hiked from 9200ft up to 11500ft over a distance of about 5 miles.

For sure, we're spoiled now. Three days of perfect weather, great views of the mountain, wonderful food, easy hiking, good sleep, it's all going wonderfully. We were even treated to the sun rising from behind Kibo in another clear sky day. Ok, hang on, you know it's going to change...

The usual morning coffee, hot water for washing, and over-indulgent breakfast prepared us to start our daily walk around 9am. Today, we headed up the hillside at our typical Pole Pole pace, making way for porters as they sped past with our gear, tents, food, and toilets. In this wide open, vegetation free, expanse of mountain desert, the support crew has many paths past us so they pay us little mind. We do our best to share a friendly 'Jambo' and step out of the way.

Up we go, heading for the highest point any of us have ever been. I've hiked a bit over 14,000 feet, but we'll top out above 15,000 today. Along the way, clouds form below us and begin blowing UP the hillside towards us. These are the same clouds we've seen every day since arriving, only now we are above and then IN them. The mist is chilly and most everyone puts on warmer layers and raingear. We are so high that the air is cold enough to freeze the moisture and we are pelted with hail. This only lasts off and on for an hour or so.

There is not much scenery with the encompassing clouds and desolate landscape, but it is still a great day. It doesn't take much imagination to feel you are visiting a different world. We walk on, mostly over a long, gradual rise to our lunch stop destination.

Lava Tower is a well-known stopping point. On this day, it marks the highpoint of our climb and from here we will drop down, losing all the elevation we gained today to this point. Today is designed to be an acclimatization hike. We hike up to get our bodies used to the thinner air, and then descend to sleep for the night. Actually, no one complains of any altitude problems, so we're doing just fine so far.

As I mentioned, some of us tend to enjoy cooler temperatures over warmer. In the photo, you can see one person in short sleeves - Yes, I was comfortable and felt just fine. :-) But, I did have my raincoat on earlier during the hail - because my wife gave me 'that look' letting me know I was being weird. This turns out to be the only bad weather day we have the entire trek and it wasn't really even enough to cause concern - the wind on summit day was awesome, but no really 'bad weather'.

Here at Lava Tower, our crew had gone ahead to set up the kitchen, toilets, and Thunder Dome. I was just expecting a simple snack as we had the previous day at Cathedral Point, but this was over the top. I can't say enough times how pleased our group is with Tanzania Choice Safaris as our outfitter. The tower itself is an especially hard pack of volcano lava that has not eroded with the rest of the mountain, causing an impressive butte. People can arrange climbs of the tower as part of their adventure on Kili.

After our wonderful lunch, we had to force ourselves back into the clouds from our comfortable dining tent to continue the hike to camp. This half of the hike was nearly all downhill, so it was mostly a matter of watching our footing on the rocky trail. There were a couple ups and downs along the way, but not too bad. We descended through a forest of Dendrosenecio Kilimanjari trees - more commonly called Senecio trees. Our guide for the day, Augustine, took time to explain how to tell the age of the trees, but I'm not sure any of us actually understood it all - something about each hip was 25 years, and some trees were over 100 years old.

Each day, we had a different guide leading us, and a second as the caboose. This was something to look forward to each day as it gave us opportunity to meet a few Tanzanians and learn from them. They all spoke English and were very friendly and helpful. Our lead guide, Festo Mtui, would visit us somewhere on the trail each day, sometimes joining us for an hour or so, sometimes longer. Keep in mind, this one man was managing a team of 80+ workers and keeping 22 clients safe, happy, and comfortable.

Our day came to a close at Baranco Camp, at about the same elevation we started this morning. In this photo, you can see the Senecio trees and camp in the distance. When we reached camp, the support crew was all assembled and sang a wonderful, energetic, welcoming song as a nice treat.

We hiked from 12800ft up to 15000ft and back down to 13100ft over a distance of about 6.25 miles.

Shira I Camp was at ~11,500 feet, Shira II at ~12,800 feet, Baranco at ~13,100 feet, and today's destination is also ~13,100 feet. In the past three days, we've only gained 1600 feet on the mountain, and we have 6200 feet to the summit. Looking at the numbers, it may seem like a waste of a few days. But, spending these days hiking over 13,000 feet is giving us plenty of time to acclimate to the lighter air. I haven't really felt any physical challenges, altitude symptoms, or even sweating. We've been going very slowly (Pole Pole) and enjoying the time out here in the fresh air and crisp weather. The statistics show that this longer, slower Lemosho route has a higher success rate than shorter, steeper routes that cut out days and demand more of your body. We'll see.

Our view of the summit from Baranco camp this morning was gorgeous. We could certainly just scoot right up there today if we wanted, but we still have one more camp before our summit attempt. And, to get to that camp, we have to scale the notorious Baranco Wall!

OK, on pretty much any long trail or popular adventure there is at least one part that gets hyped up as being a real challenge. On Kilimanjaro, from what I've read, it's the summit attempt and the Baranco Wall. I've read how it is practically vertical, very narrow trail, hundred foot falls to certain death, palm-sweating terror, clinging to rock faces, and so on. I guess it's all relative. I thought it was one of the most fun parts of the entire trek. We got to scramble up rocks, there wasn't much room, and if you jumped off the trail you would probably die. But, it was safe, took about two hours, and had exactly one spot where you needed to hug the rock wall. That is evidently called the Kissing Rock but you'll have to google images of it because I didn't stop to take a photo.

The Baranco Wall was a fun way to start the morning. Right out of camp, we crossed a small stream and then spent the next couple hours climbing up and making way for porters. Since there was not much room, we gave way to porters often and they hopped on up like mountain goats. You can see there are people far up the cliff ahead of us, but the trail is easy to follow.

In a few spots, we did need to put away the trekking poles and use hands and feet. It was a nice change, but could be challenging for some. Speaking of trekking poles, they are something to consider. Almost all of us had them, mostly renting from the outfitter rather than transporting across the ocean. But, they were not really needed for the vast majority of the trek. I used mine most days, but only really appreciated them on the summit day and descent. One person in our group just kept them in their pack the entire trip.

At the top of the Baranco Wall, we had a nice rest break on smooth, solid rock with the sun shining brightly. It was a great respite, but our guide didn't let us lounge around for long. We still had a few miles ahead of us and we were getting pretty good at Pole Pole, maybe a bit slower than the guides wanted.

After the wall, we were above almost all vegetation. It was much like a moonscape with dust and rocks all around. The trail was obvious and porters could fly past after being crowded on the narrow wall trail.

Cool weather, skittering clouds, and easy trail made the rest of the day's hike fairly uneventful. The last half mile had us drop steeply into the Karanga Valley and then just as steeply climb up the other side to our campsite at Karanga Camp. The Karanga Valley is a deep ravine that drops hikers a few hundred feet in elevation and provides moisture and protection for more plant life. Senecio trees, mosses, and and brush filled the hillsides for our last bit of 'forest' until after the summit.

Up the valley towards the mountain, I noticed a second trail where porters were busy bringing water from the creek up to the camp - almost a half mile each way. It made me appreciate the water at camp a bit more this night.

We're still right at the preferred elevation of the clouds. They played tag with us all afternoon and provided for a colorful sunset. They also kept the air moist and chill so warm layers were put on as soon as we stopped hiking for the day to relax in camp. It was a short day of hiking, but the alternative would be to hike all the way to the next camp and then do the summit attempt tonight - some crews had that itinerary but it just sounds like no fun to me.

We hiked from 13,100 feet to 13,100 feet, with a few deep valley and high ridge crossings, over a distance of about 3.5 miles. We have now come from the western slopes all the way around to the east and have just a couple miles to our last camp where we finally start going vertical.

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