Mount Kilimanjaro Day 1 - July 14th

July 14th, 2008:

At 5,895 meters, or almost 20,000 feet, Mount Kilmanjaro is the highest mountain on the African continent, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. We have used Ashante Tours to plan a six day trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro as you can not hike the mountain without using a proper guide service. Our group includes seven people: me, Nikolai, Carolina, Christine, Zhalisa, Tricia, and Liam, all friends from school. Ashante has arranged a guide, and a number of porters, to support the trek. In all, we have one guide, two assistant guides, a camp manager, a chef, and approximately fifteen porters. This is the normal number of support crew needed, with some trekking companies offering more or less depending on the price. A guide’s base pay runs around $12/day while a porter makes around $6/day. With tips included, they can earn more than double this. Despite what might seem like low wages, these jobs are in demand.

Everyone is a little worried about the hike. Not too many people have hiked before. Nikolai informed us of another first – He has never hiked in his life. Great! I noticed this morning that half our group put their gaiters on backwards, but I didn’t have it in me to say anything! Most of us do not know how altitude affects us. On the bright side though, we have a very fun group, and we all have the physical stamina to make it.

On Day 1, Moses and Methley met us around 8 am and we proceeded to the “Porter’s Gear Exchange,” located just around the corner from the hotel. The exchange rents gear that has been donated by previous trekkers, to current trekkers, for a donation. I donated $5 in order to rent rain pants, which I had unfortunately decided to leave at home. After one hour, most of our group was able to rent the equipment they needed for the trek (E.g. Rain pants, gaiters, fleeces, jackets, etc) We also stopped briefly at a small private rental shop to rent camelbacks, poles, or other odd accessories. We then proceeded to Ashante’s main office where we sorted all of our equipment and clothing. Each person was asked to pack a 25kg or less large bag, as well as a daypack. A porter would be responsible for carrying our sleeping bag, sleep pad, and bag, while we are responsible for packing our daypack. Our daypacks included rain gear, an extra layer, and water (The bulk of the weight). I was amused to find that with 5 liters of water, and other supplies, my daypack weighed in at more than my main bag. I dropped a little water, but I’m not sure this really helped.

After settling our bills we were all loaded into a van and driven the 20-30 km’s to Machame village gate, the starting point for our trek. There are multiple routes that can be taken to the summit of Kilimanjaro, and Ashante allowed us to choose our route. The success rate of each of the routes varies, with the shorter routes being less successful because they offer less time for acclimatization. While portions of the trek certainly require good physical conditioning, it is the altitude that keeps people from successfully summiting. Our group has chosen to use the Machame route to the summit. This route was recommended by Ahsante because it allows for an extra day of acclimatization, although, from a physical sense, it is considered a more difficult route to climb. The Machame gate was a mob scene of trekkers, guides, and porters, with bags and equipment strewn around the muddy road. It took us nearly an hour before we had completed the necessary park paperwork and properly clothed ourselves for the days hike. The trek begins in lush temperate rainforest and the rain/midst required us to begin the hike in our raingear. By 1 pm, we were all walking single file up the mountain, with Moses in the lead. The first day was a nice introduction to the trek because the grade is not too steep and the scenery was nice, we even managed to spot some monkeys.

Around 6pm we began to break out of the rainforest and came to our first camp location. The camp’s location, at the upper fringe of the rainforest, is extremely wet, and as we settled into the tents for the evening we struggled to keep our clothing, and gear, free of mud. We already have a tremendous respect for the porters. All of our porters sprinted past us on the trail earlier in the day and our camp was fully prepared before we arrived. All we had to do was drop our daypacks in our tents, unroll our sleep bags, and then walk to the mess tent. A dish of hot water and soap was also placed outside of our tents for cleaning. After a snack of popcorn and tea, dinner was served shortly after. At dinner, Moses checked to ensure we were all feeling well and then briefed us on the next days trek. Dinner was great and consisted of soup, rice or pasta dish, sauces, vegetables, and fruits. Moses kept pushing us to eat and drink more, as this would help increase of chances of making it to the summit. This scene repeated itself every evening of the trek. This first night, all of us felt pretty good, although some of us did have headaches. We had hiked from 1850 meters to 3100 meters, and for some people, the effects of altitude could begin at this altitude. I am a little worried because my past record with altitude has not been great and I’ve always suffered headaches and dizziness, and had to quickly return to lower elevations. Further, due to a cross allergy, I am the only person that has decided not to take Diamox, a medication that helps increase oxygenation and supposedly helps to reduce the effects of high altitude. This said, a few ibuprofens later, everyone was fine. After dinner everybody went to sleep as we had to be up around 6 am the next morning