Tue 2nd Aug '16 - Day 4

Mount Kilimanjaro

Day Two              5km       Machame Camp 2,835m – Shira Camp 3,750m

Woken at 05:15 by the sound of some of the teams getting water boiled and breakfast underway. Still pitch black, hot enough in the sleeping bag in just underwear though morning chill suggests a beanie might be in order tomorrow night.

Realise as daylight arrives that I’ve used the ladies’ toilet during the night – though both are just holes in to a deep pit – not for the feint hearted. Probably 80 tourists in our wave attempting the mountain (3:1 male) and three times that number of porters and guides (50:1 male).

Coffee is delivered to mine and Sean’s tent at 06:30 along with a bowl of warm water to wash with. We’re given an hour to repack our bags and be ready for breakfast in the canteen which consists of porridge, toast, pancakes, vegetable omelette and sliced sausage.

Refuelled we set off at 8am (some of the tents have already been dismantled whilst we were eating and boiled water put in all drink bottles and camelbaks).

John had told us that the terrain we sampled last night would last for an hour. This wasn’t quite true. The narrow scrambling track is challenging for us; goodness knows what it’s like for the porters who trickle past us. We have to develop a system to warn of overtaking porters “right three” meaning move to the right and wait until three porters have passed before moving on again.

Large rocks rise from the ground that we have to scramble around and the vegetation is short and dense to protect itself from the wind. The one-hour John had mentioned passes and in fact the whole 4.5/5 hours is steeply uphill covering only 5km in distance. It looks further though when we glance down to the left back to the bare beige dustbowl that was last night’s campsite. Initially on our right and then behind us as we traverse a ridge, Mount Kilimanjaro looms imposingly.

Motivation, as if needed, comes from a music soundtrack from Jason, blue toothed through to a portable speaker carried on Conny’s (Remy’s brother) pack back. Some other walkers are receptive to this and sing along whilst others glare at us wallies spoiling the serenity of the mountain.

Encouragingly no one seems afflicted by altitude sickness as we rise to 3,800m half way from our initial 1,800m to our summit target of 5,895m.

As we’re spread out in single file you can often hear the same observational conversation as we each past by a point of interest, occurring two or three times with 15 second delays.

Off in the distance is the peak of Mount Meru which we’d seen in our hotel but only till the dust rose and the clouds came in. But now we see the peak above the clouds and indeed we appear to be through one band of clouds below us.

The scrambling nature of the trail has most of use using our walking poles, plodding behind John who walks at a seemingly impossibly slow pace. We think this is less about the current altitude but more to get us in the habit for when we reach higher ground. On and on he plods,

Around 1pm we reach our campsite – Shira – for the night, a much sparser and open space and exposed too. Thankfully the wind is still minimal for now and the sun is out we are walking in just a single merino wool top. Though as soon as you walk through shade there is a noticeable drop in degrees.

Again the tents are made and bags delivered and as we approach the 25 porters come together and sing to us for a full five minutes. Hakuna matata from Disney’s The Lion King is definitely in there.

After a wash, lunch is brought in to the canteen – leek soup, mince and pasta and avocado salad. The leek soup is particularly good. By the time we’ve wolfed that down most head for a nap at 14:15 with John proposing a short walk at 16:00. Come 15:30 everyone is awake and playing cards so we set off to sign in at the campsite hut and walk 15 minutes through a mixture of dust and lunar rock to a nearby lookout offering panoramic views from Mount Kilimanjaro to Mount Meru to tiered mountain landscape and Shira Plains where another campsite for a different route lies off in the distance.

On our return a ball given to Sienna at Bunnings provides 30 minutes of entertainment being thrown back and forth and inevitably rescued from the heather undergrowth.

A bowl of warm water is our cleansing shower and matched with a few baby wipes has me feeling fresh again for dinner at 18:00. All meals start and finish with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and this is no exception, accompanied tonight with some nuts to munch on.

Soup is celery (though all three soups so far could be fairly interchangeable), though is interrupted by a dash out of the canteen to capture the splendid sunset. As the temperature continues to drop beanies are worn at dinner and we chomp through vegetable stew with rice with quartered chicken and coleslaw. Entertainment (loose term) comes from some un-pc Eddie Murphy stand up.

There are a few rounds of cards but numbers drop quickly and we don the head torches to sort out our tents – made harder with cold hands, brush teeth and bunker down for the night by 20:45 overlooked by a multitude of crystal clear stars including the clearly visible red of Mars and Mercury.