Tanzania - Kilimajaro (Machame Route)

I am sitting in another dance studio, in another school, at the other end of the country, nearly a month after I met my Scottish group.  This time I am appreciating my last few minutes of quiet before eight young men from Wilson’s School in south London, bound into Hayes Community College.  They break my silent reflection and explode their rucksacks all over the floor in preparation for a kit check.

Having removed all unessential personal kit (including Ed’s boot cleaning set), found space for the group kit and completed all final briefings, we board the bus, then the plane to Nairobi and finally almost 24 hours after first meeting, we land at Kilimanjaro airport, Tanzania.

With the town of Arusha our base for the next three weeks we make our way to a hostel and begin our orientation phase.  We have phones to buy, a city to discover, meths to find, a week’s menu to plan and purchase and some fun to have.  The team experienced a steep learning curve when accosted by a particularly persistent tout on their first day visiting the market area.

Finally we start making our way 80km north to Longido, home of the Masai and base for our acclimatisation trek and project phase.  Starting out on the trek, we make our way towards Longido Mountain, our objective towering in the background.  Our Masai guides protect us with spears and lead the way.  Our guides ease in the environment is clear as they carry little more than a small plastic bag of essential kit to accompany their weapons making us look slightly over prepared with large expedition rucksacks containing everything from tents and stoves to food and a change of clothes.  And why would you need a tooth brush? They clearly demonstrate the use of a natural version – a stick.

After a successful summit with an exciting scramble at the top, we find ourselves back in Longido preparing for our project phase.  The team is disappointed to find that the playground we had planned to help build will not be going ahead due to disputes over land ownership.  Luckily the creation of a football stadium is the centre of the town’s development and the team help make and transport bricks, dig foundations and build walls for it.   A lot of hard work rewarded with a game of football with the locals.

The project phase was intermingled with lots of cultural visits and the team were lucky enough to visit a boma (Masai village) and a Masai Warriors cave.  In the cave, young Masai men hang out and eat meat for anything from 10 days to a month, depending on how much meat they have.  The Warriors eat, sleep, chat and rest. When the meat has been eaten, they go home.

With the project phase and a day of preparation in Arusha complete, we turn towards our main objective for the expedition – Kilimanjaro.  The team are fortunate to benefit from an excellent acclimatisation profile with 8 days on the mountain.  This greatly enhances the probability of success by allowing the team enough time to adapt to the diminishing quantities of oxygen available to them as they make their way up the mountain.

The first few days take the team through rain forest and out onto dusty plains.  Finally, we are above the clouds and get our first glimpse of the mountain.  It still looks so big and so far away it is difficult to come to terms with the fact that we aim to be standing on the top of it in just a few days time.  As we look back down at the view, all we can see is a sea of cloud and Mount Meru rising out of it: an inspiring view which will stay with us for the rest of the trip.

On day 3 we have lunch at Lava Tower (4600m) before descending to Barranco camp for 2 night’s acclimatisation.  An acclimatisation trek takes us onto the ridge above the camp.  With just a few light headaches between the team there has obviously been eating and drinking plenty and looking after themselves in order to acclimatise properly.

The daunting Barranco wall is scaled more easily than the team expected and the scramble to the top was enjoyed by all though watching the porters dance up the wall with their loads balancing precariously on their heads made us feel like we were making rather a big deal out if it.

After passing spending an extra night at Karanga Valley we finally arrive at Barafu Camp and begin to prepare for the summit.  With the team composed of all males ranging from 16-18 years, food has been a constant source of discussion.  Usually there is not enough of it and fending for yourself at meal times has become a necessary survival skill.  For the first time on the trip, there is food left on the table as appetites diminish due to the altitude.  Sleep is also difficult to find but we retire early to rest if not sleep.

We are up again at 11pm and after a hot drink and some final preparations we set off at midnight.  Luck is on our side and the moon is still quite full providing good light and little need for head torches.  The couple of hours of the walk are warm, exciting and really quite pleasant.  At around 3 am it gets cold, very cold.  And the path steepens.  Conversation dwindles and the slow plod for the summit has begun in earnest.

Rahul is suffering with mild asthma but is determined to overcome his challenge and continue with the team.  Andre is quietly retching, his nausea making it difficult for him but he has also found the determination within himself to continue.   The steep path to Stella Point seems to continue forever but we are just 1 hour away now and I can see the first colouring of red in the sky.

The a voice from behind me breaks the silence – ‘Jo, Kierans hit the ground’

All manor scenarios flash through my mind as I rush back to find Kieran lying on the scree slope.  Automatically working out how to descend him as fast as possible, I begin talking to Kieran who seems strangely fine.  What happened?  He fell asleep.  Kieran mastered the skill of sleep walking – almost.  Having checked him for any signs of altitude illness I’m confident that he’s ok to continue and taking his arm we walk together to Stella Point, my constant babble of chatter keeping him awake.

The pain and achievement of arriving at Stella Point at sunrise, gave way to a pleasant walk along the crater rim with views that take your breath away.  Everybody in the team made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro that day and it was down to their excellent preparation and strong determination to succeed.  Each and every one of them deserved it.  Congratulations!

Ascending the mountain is only half the journey and the 2 days of descend to Mweka hut is painful on the knees and seems to go on forever.  We finally arrived at the gate and with showers, a safari day  and some last minute souvenir shopping tempting us back to Arusha we turned away from the mountain for the last time.

Leading for Outlook Expeditions

http://www.outlookexpeditions.com/