Chasing Snow Storms: Mount Kilimanjaro Day 1
Rainforest Hike
Flash-forward: It is an hour into our summit push. In the dark of night, the air is getting thinner. Headlamps on lighting the next step. Headlamps all the way up, blending with the sky like a staircase to heaven. Three headlamps hurriedly coming down past our group, someone running out of breath with severe altitude sickness being rushed back by two guides.
Our first hike day starts with us waking up at the hotel, with access to warm shower, full English breakfast and a weather that doesn't require special clothing or gear. I commit to fully experience this morning, savouring every little bit, feeling every drop of the warm shower, making the best of the buffet laid out at the restaurant, engraving the memories of civilization so that I fully remember what we'll be waiting for me at the end of the expedition.
After the mighty breakfast we gather outside the restaurant and practice what is going to be our routine dance at every camp stop over the next few days. It is an excerpt from Flavour's song Game Changer:
The Emperor, the conqueror
The champion, the Lion is here
Nzogbu nzogbu
Enyimba enyi 🎵
Hiking and dancing require very different techniques of muscle movement and coordination. It became obvious that while we were all advanced hikers, some of us weren't built for the other art 🤣. But it was fun nonetheless.
The bus trip to Machame Gate — our entry point to Kilimanjaro — takes us through a beautiful mix of country and modernity. Unsurprisingly this is a popular tourist destination, and the foreign cash does not go to waste as we can tell from the storied hotels, smooth tarmac roads and other amenities that blend with the farmland.
We see farmers going about their business and the little children wave at our bus with bright smiles. At the back of their minds they must be thinking "here goes another crazy lot."
Along the way our bus stops for some of our local guides and porters to hop on. We do a round of introductions as the journey continues. They start singing the Wageni Walililia Nini song that we got to learn last night. We join in eagerly, keen to show them that we know the words. If they are unimpressed they are not showing it.
They introduce us to a few less printable songs. After singing for a while, with the participants dropping out one after the other, and the guides keen not to tire us before we start our first hike, the singing slowly dies down and morphs into one to one interactions between us and the locals.
Unlike in Kenya where Swahili is something we butcher to get by with the neighbour next door from a different tribe, in Tanzania it is a tool for artistic expression. It is abound with metaphor and symbolism, a stark contrast from the direct and comparatively impolite Kenyan dialect.
We get to Machame gate, our official touchdown at Mount Kilimanjaro park. It is busting with activity. We learn that there is a whole ceremony attended by government officials today to see off some rangers starting their trip today in order to summit on independence day.
A few Tanzanian government officials show up, shake hands, give speeches and then sign stuff. You can tell from from the jeans, dress shoes and shirts that the officials themselves are not coming along.
The speeches by government officials end with everyone standing up to the national anthem. We don't know the words but the somber and solemn singing draws us into the their trance.
"Mbona sisi hatuko hivi (Why are we not like this)," someone in our group says as the anthem comes to end. As Kenyans we are feeling a lot of envy at this level of dedication to their natural resources.
Our day 1 hike is a relatively easy stroll through the rain forest bit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The gigantic leafy trees, the wide range of vegetation and the multiple streams we cross along the way brings back memories of the Aberdares Ranges where we did most of our prep-hikes.
While the vegetation makes sense for the altitude it is worlds apart from my mental image of Mount Kilimanjaro. I imagined a rocky climb all the way from the beginning.
A rainforest hike is not complete without unexpected rain. And this was not any different. The time to bring out rain ponchos came, followed not too long afterwards by the time to put on the leg gators to combat the now muddy terrain.
Soon there is less and less of the tall trees and a less diverse vegetation. The terrain becomes rockier and the sun slowly fades away to other business elsewhere.
Our legs are starting to wonder when this trek will end. But not long after dusk we start to see camp lights ahead. A few of our porters come to meet us. They had already arrived at the camp with our luggage and set up our tents. They are asking if there's anyone who needs help with the day packs. We have arrived at Machame camp, our first overnight camp of the trip.
In the distance we see the intimidating rock with white patches. The locals call it "babu(grandpa)" because of its semblance to a sleeping giant with a white beard. Babu is not in a rush, he just lays there in wait. After millenia of meditation nothing daunts him anymore. Not even our new faces. He is one with with the universe, and we are just a small part of him. But we are enthralled by its magnificence, and can't wait to meet him.
After dealing with the annoying part of camping — unpacking, pulling out the sleeping bag and settling in we gather at the mess tent for dinner. Before we retreat to our various tents we have the daily debrief and info of the next day's schedule. But the debrief ends with some terrible news. Our would have been lead guides Meshak and Isaac were involved in a road accident earlier today. Isaac has multiple fractures, and Meshak is in a comma. And with that news we are all back to square 1 with our anxiety levels.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story by following the High Altitude Therapy Publication: https://medium.com/high-altitude-therapy
