ken4ord Posted February 6, 2007 Posted February 6, 2007 Trip: Kilimanjaro - up-Machame Route, down-Mweka Date: 1/18/2007 Trip Report: Well I made is about what I can say. It was much harder physically than I expected but I persevered. The trip started out flyinbg from Kigali to meet my friend Mike in Nairobi, I had a while to wait so I made myself comfortable at the airport bar. I had some funny conversations with some Mutatu (mini-bus) drivers and got a good buzz. Eventually Mike arrive and it was off to other friends house, where we ate, drank and smoke some crazy ether made hash/tar like substance. Good times, though after getting to bed a 3:30am, I didn't feel much like moving at 6am like we were suppose to inorder to catch the bus. I managed to not keep our cab driver waiting crawled into the car. Leaving Kigali The bus ride down to Moshi was much longer than I thought it was going to be. Luckily though it was through Massi country and was quite scenic, though I will never do it again unless it is to climb this mountain. Monlundi Mountain(s)???? I believe this is called the Monduli mountains. Very beautiful and the cliffs are gaurded by dificult bushwhacking. The type of adventure I am always up for. Hopefully someday I will get to play in them hills. Well after leaving Nairobi we finally arrived in Moshi 10 hours later. Like I said never again, I will fly next time. The whole drive Kili was in the clouds so we never saw it which I thought would make the ride somewhat worth it. Anyways we checked into our hotel and begun to drink beer and scotch and unwind from the trip. At that time the mountain cleared and we got some good views in. The hill The next day we were up early to do a game drive in Arusha National Park at the base of Mt. Meru. It was a beautiful day and we were both siked to see some critters. We sort of had a getto safari rig that was homemade, but it did the job. In the getto rig Veiws of Mt Meru We saw some game there. Definitely not as good as Nygorogoro Crater or the Serengeti, it is small park with not much traffic though. We saw giraffe, buffulo, hippos, black and white colobus, babboons, warterhogs, and lots of birds. Cape Buffulo Giraffe Views of the lakes The driver we had was quite bad, at one point we were watching some black and white colobus, but they moved. Then I realized that the driver was asleep after I had to ask him several times to move the vehicle. It sort of pissed me off, so I decided I was going to stiff him on a tip. When he dropped us off at the hotel I got out and walked directly to the bar. Shortly afterward the bastard came in, complaining that we didn't say goodbye, well I knew that was bullshit so I just told I was tired. Then he asked about a tip, that is when I laid into him. I sat there for about 10 minutes trying to tell how bad of driver he was and explained that I would have tipped him well if gave two shits about our drive. Then I gave him a small tip for our conversation, which I probably shouldn't, but hopefully I made it clear that he could have made lot more. After a few beers we continued our alpine training with more beer, scotch and smoke. And with mountain views on the side to be cont....... Quote
DirtyHarry Posted February 6, 2007 Posted February 6, 2007 Nice, Ken. How's the Breach Icicle looking these days? Quote
ken4ord Posted February 7, 2007 Author Posted February 7, 2007 PART 2 Day 1 started at the gate with having to register for the climb. Standard Tanzania protocol filling out a book with name, country of orgin, passport number, age, sex, blah blah blah. I usually end up making up all the information because I have seen what happens to records like these. Most of the time the books will end up in a cardboard box shoved in corner somewhere never to opened again. Basically it is residual record keeping from when the British ruled and things have not changed since. After registering we went and found our group of porters, 7 in total for 2 of us, guide, assistant guide, cook, assistant cook and 3 extra guy to hump our shit up the mountain. At a minimum to climb the mountain you will need 1 guide and 1 porter for the guide and you carry all your stuff and do your own cooking, the cost comes out to around $750, and is a little harder to arrange but can be done, you will also need to figure in your transport to and from the mountain gates. Our trip was $1100, which was for all the guys, transport, hotel room before and after the trip. The gate is a crazy scene with hundreds of porters trying to get work and then weigh in for the climb. Each porter can carry up to 18kg not including their personal gear. Some of the guys I talked to had an average of about 15kg of personal gear, so the guys were carrying approximately 33kg (70lbs) of stuff up the mountain. Lining up for the weigh in The weigh in station After the weigh in we were able to start hiking, about hour after arriving at the gate. The first part of the trek is through the rain forest and is quite scenic, though very busy, there was about 400-500 people including tourist, porters and guides traveling the route to the Machame hut camp. Mike and our faithful companion Aloyce It was pretty easy going to Machame camp. We arrived in about 4 hours. Camp was on the border of moorlands and rain forest, needless to say it was quite crowded. I decided to continue up the trail to get away from the chaos, where I could smoke some weed, listen to some music and observe the chaos from a distance. Looking down at Machame camp Flowers in the moorlands Evening views of the mountain, the wall up above is the Breach Wall, no ice, last year the pillars were touching down, not this year The next day was started with tea, porrige, eggs, nasty sausage, some veggies and toast. Later in the trip we would have a hard time stomaching it all mainly because it was the same thing we had been eating every day. After breakfast the trek was on. I like the moorland a lot, I spent all day hiking ahead and going of the trail to get away from the crowds. As long I looked off in the distance (to avoid views of garbage hidden over cliff and behind bushes) and disregarded all the noise from people talking and the radios that the porters carried, I felt like I was in the mountains. Mike with our ever present faithful companion The constant stream of people A little cave stream where I got some water, I never treated the water while on the mountain and never got sick, lucky I guess. Some cave snot near where I got my water Eventually we made it to our 2nd camp of the trip, on the edge of the Shira Plateau. This camp was worse than the last one, because all the tents and people were visible, I felt bad for the mountain. The nice thing was I was able to find some boulders and short wall to play on. So I spent the afternoon drag Mike along outcrop to outcrop. I wasn't able to much at altitude and gave up after a short while. That night our faithful companion was able to score me some more weed and I slept quite well. The next came and we were greated by our assistant cook, "porrige", which meant breakfast was ready. 1/2 hour later we were hitting the trail. It was quite scenic out on the edge of the plateau, I really was tempted to take off to Shira peak and go check out the caves and shrines that are supposedly out there, but I figure it would be better to save my energy. Instead later that day I on our way to the lava tower, I decided to do some bushwhacking. The porter trail takes a lower trail, so I followed it for a bit and scrambled up to the trail that goes to the Lava Tower. Mike said Alyoce was on the constant look out for me and was worried that I would get lost. I found really funny. It was nice to get away from the crowds and feel like I was on a mountain. Looking off towards Shira Views of the Shira Plateau, if you are rich you can get driven up to the Plateau to start your Kili climb. On our way to the Lava Tower, high point for the day The Lava Tower was in the clouds so I didn't get any pictures, but there are some rock route up it, but they are off limits, too dangerous for Tanzanian standards. Some smaller lava tower stacks just below. Looking towards high cap for the Arrow Glacier, again off limits because people have died there. Eventually we reached camp 3, Barranco hut camp, below the Barranco wall. It was a really scenic place to camp if you block out all of the noise, people, latrine smells and garbage. Looking up at the Barranco wall in the evening. Pete you can see the water streaks, but no ice, in the morning it was a little more filled in but once the sun hit it you could here it coming down. Again off limits. The moon that night To be cont......... Quote
UW_climber Posted February 7, 2007 Posted February 7, 2007 dang don't leave us hanging like that. Quote
ken4ord Posted February 8, 2007 Author Posted February 8, 2007 Part 3 Day 4, the next day started with the familar words, 'porrige'. After breafast it was time to join the line of people heading up to the Barranco wall. This was the most difficult part of the trail (3rd class). The line of people up the trail was crazy. Just a few people on the trail that morning Kilimanjaro's bottle neck Since we were on a 6 day trip, we were going to skip one camp along the way. I think most people do this route in 7 days, but we had other things we had to do while Mike was in Africa. When we reached the next camp I was really glad we weren't stay there. It was basically on an open ridge with no rocks or plant life for shelter with tents everywhere. We continued on to the next camp Barafu. This camp was quite nice located farther up on the ridge, but with rock outcropping everywhere so you did see all the other people camping there. Before reaching Barafu, which can be seen on the ridge. Next day was summit day, so we spent all afternoon taking naps eating and drinking as much as possible, smoking the ganja helped with the napping, eating and drinking since they are all side effects. The plan was to get up and 11pm and start hiking shortly after that. It seemed completely crazy, but I figured the guides had been up and knew the route and how long it would take. I couldn't see where the summit was because it was in the clouds the whole afternoon, so I had no idea how far it was and whenever we asked our guide the distances, times and elevation gains varied. Mike in our dining/porter's tent. By this time the tent was quite rank. Through out the night was drinking a ton of water to be well hydrated. It also meant I had to piss a lot, one I got up I realized camp was stirring so I figured in no time they would be a the tent. I dozed off, not sure for how long, but eventually our assistant cook was at the tent with a few cookies and some tea. We whoofed these down and got ready within a half an hour, when we got out of the tent we could see lights off in the distance and none in camp. What the hell happened, well I think our guides slept in, because the other parties were about 1 hour ahead of us. We started hiking and the guides started setting a pretty fast pace trying to catch up. Eventually the guides were trying to get Mike and I to split up on the climb, which really annoyed me, I didn't come to climb the mountain with them I was there to climb with Mike. Eventually the let off, realizing I was getting pissed that they kept suggesting it. My head was pounding after a few hours, and I figure caused they were pushing to try and catch up. Basically I felt like I had lead boots on and large vise attached to my head squeezing my temples. I kept putting one foot in front of the other knowing that we were getting somewhat close. The sun was starting to break and I could see Stellar Point up ahead, it looked like a short distance, but I knew it was going to be a while before reaching it. Looking up at Stellar Point as the sun was starting to rise. The whole trip I had been traveling with one water bottle and had requested an extra bottle from the guys for the summit day. Little did I realize they handed me an old fuel bottle. At one point I had a dry cough, which caused me to dry heave and before I knew it I was puking. Afterwards I went to drink some water, out of the fuel/water bottle, which caused another round of puking. Eventually I was able to stop and we continued the death march. Just before reaching Stellar Point we started running into people descending, I was completely jealous. They seemed to move effortlessly, while having a hard time putting a one foot in front of the other. I could have easily have turned around at this point and lucky for me, Mike never mentioned how bad he was feeling and how much he wanted to turn back. I just kept telling myself that it would be doneonce we reached Stellar Point. When I got to Stellar Point I was spent and depressed looking at the 1/4 to 1/2 mile I still had to go. I just kept moving hoping that I would get there soon, it was about a half and hour and one shit later that I reached the summit. Just about there. Looking off to the ash pit from the summit. Mike just about to join me on the summit It was freaking cold up there and I was exhausted, once Mike arrived I handed my camera to our faithful companion to take a picture of us with sign, of course he some how managed to f-it up and not take the picture. It was probably the battery in my camera, at this point I didn't care, all I knew is I up here and I was ready to go down. After hanging a few minutes with Mike on the summit, it was time to go. I blasted back to our camp and let gravity take me the whole way down. I could feel a blister on my toe, but I didn't care. I just wanted food and water. Eventually I reached camp, crawled into the tent and got juice and tea from the guys. Somke weed and proceed to sleep. Mike eventually arrived, looking like I felt. Eventually we got some food and even though I was tired of our cooks food, I was glad to have it. After eating it was time for a nap which felt so good. Later we got up and packed up our stuff to move farther down the mountain. The day before our guide and I talked about out camp option on the descent and agreed to camp at a higher camp instead of going all the way to the last camp, Mweka camp. Some how plans changed and which we didn't realize until we reached the other camp and I started asking where our camp was. Of course he lied and said the camp was only an hour away. Pissed me off, it was more like 2.5 hours away, basically the guys were allsiked to get back home and could give shit about what we wanted to do. Oh well, live and learn. It was too bad because the scenery was so nice in this section of the trail I could have spent all day taking my time and taking in the views, instead we had to keep moving to the last camp. That night we were in Mweka camp Mike was feeling like hell. We sat had tea, then we broke out the small bottle of scotch we brought along. Ahh the taste of victory chased with scotch was so good. I looked over at Mike and something was going on, at first I thought he was swirling the scotch around, but no that wasn't it. So I asked, "What's up, looks like you got some type of bodily function going on?". Mike, "I just trying to hold back a puke." Right after saying that Mike stands up and takes one step and puke started to spray out between his fingers. Luckily for me, (I am a pity puker), he made it to the bushes before he emptied his stomach of tea, popcorn, cookies and wee bit of scotch. Afterwards Mike crawled into the tent and slept, though our faithful companion tried to get Mike to eat. So inorder to get our faithful companion to stop bothering Mike, I made two plates of food and cleared them both so that they thought Mike ate. I also finished off the scotch celebrating our climb, while Mike slept. The next day was a short day 3 hour and we were at the gate. In town in a matter of an hour after registration, gettting our diploma and taking a picture of the crew. The Crew The rest of the day we found a group of porters and guides at a bar and partied with them into the night. Then it was off to Kigali the next day.l Quote
olyclimber Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 Awesome ken! Looks like a great adventure. Quote
spicoli11 Posted February 9, 2007 Posted February 9, 2007 I like the part where you finish off the scotch!! Good Job Quote
Jamin Posted February 11, 2007 Posted February 11, 2007 Wow man, lay off the weed. Good trip report. Sounds like it was an incredible adventure. Always follow your dreams, man. Quote
ken4ord Posted February 13, 2007 Author Posted February 13, 2007 It is all about balance man. Can't wait until she is old enough to come and join me on trips like these. Quote
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