Kilimanjaro- Day 1

After a refreshing 9 hours of sleep (despite waking every 2 hours with anticipation) we dress in our first choice of Kilimanjaro outfits.  The weather was to be approximately 60 degrees F, so our original idea of shorts and tank tops was canned.  I decided on thin wool socks, running capris, a wicking tank, plus a long sleeve base layer on top. Before we reached the mountain, I had added knee high smart wool socks, gaiters, and my Goretex rain jacket and pants, as it was sprinkling on and off and much muddier than expected.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at our hotel which consisted of fried egg (they ask if you want one side or two), fresh fruit, "toasty", coffee, and juice.  We met our guides at 0800 and shortly after, met our third trip companion, Kirsten.

Kirsten is a 20 year old from Oregon who loves all things outdoors and mountain related. Her positive energy and free spirit was contagious and many times during the trip we benefitted from this.  She was doing volunteer work in South Africa for 3 weeks and decided to climb Kilimanjaro "on her way home".  We made a great team with Kirsten's mountain experience and our world travel experience. We adopted her as our little sister and devised the team name "Wadada Watatu" which means the 3 sisters.  We didn't  know it then, but by the end of our mountain climb we became famous as other climbers and porters would yell "Wadada Watatu!!!!!" as we walked by.

We all piled into a heavy duty Land Rover and drove from Arusha, through Moshi, and to Kilimanjaro National Park... But not without hiccups.  First, we were driving down the road when a public bus pulled us over to tell us that our "mattress" came loose.  We are still not sure what that meant and despite turning around, taking everything off the roof rack and back again, the warning was confusing and inconclusive.  Later, after we got on our way, the vehicle filled with smoke, coming from somewhere on the dash. The driver and our guide, Frederick, fiddled with a few things under  the hood, and then voila!, we were back on the road again.  Finally, we are on our way back to the mountain.

When we arrive there are approximately 100 people waiting to check in, have their permit checked, and the porters to sort an weigh the luggage.  We waited for what seemed like eons and then finally piled back in the car to drive to the start point.

We drove on a small, windy, muddy, and very bumpy road, toward the start.  We passed many farms including "Irish potatoes", carrots, wheat, barley, and lots of maze. There are countless workers, as young as children, walking alongside the roads carrying loads of goods in their heads, in carts, or on their bicycles.  The roads worsened and soon even the Land Rover had difficulty passing. At one point we all had to get out of the car so that the driver could complete a dangerous (and extremely frightening/exciting to watch) maneuver.  Saving the vehicle from flipping, the driver was pleased with himself and invited us back in.  However, it wasn't but 5 minutes later when we got stuck behind several vehicles who were stuck in the mud and informed us it was impossible to pass.  No more vehicles could drive to the start of the Lemosho Route.

Having experienced this often during the rainy season (which this is not), Frederick told is we would have to start our Kilimanjaro hike here, approximately 1 hr from the start.  We panicked a bit, but packed out day packs, tied our shoes and Climbed out into the mud.  Almost immediately, Stephane took an unavoidable spill and we took that as an obvious warning from the Kilimanjaro perils.  After wiping the mud off of her hands, arms, and pants, we set out on our rainy, and longer than expected hike.

We survived our extra mileage unscathed and were met at the Lemosho start with a very steep mud ramp.  We laughed as this too was a seemingly perfect "Welcome to Kilimanjaro!" sign. 

We were covered to our knees in mud and spatter; thank goodness for Goretex, our gaiters, and walking poles (legs "3 and 4" as we called them).  Despite the sloppy start, the rainforest truly was majestic. It was steep and slippery, but had bright green plants everywhere.  Even under the full vegetation roof you could still feel small drops of rain.  When you felt a lot of drops, or larger drops, we knew to look up immediately because that meant there were monkeys shaking the branches above us.  The black and white monkeys have long white fluffy tails that hang down from the branches and reveal their cover.  They almost look like skunks but were surprisingly camouflaged in the thick leaves of the trees.  We could hear them yelling in the distance but luckily the ones closer by were quiet and peaceful.

We finished our hike just at dark and arrived at Forrest Camp, which was extremely crowded. Apparently everyone starts at this camp before splitting off into different routes and paths. Our own section of the campsite consisted of 1 large tent for us, 1 smaller tent for Kirsten, a mess tent for our meals (and was a sleeping tent for porters), a cooking tent (which dubbed as the guide/porter sleeping tent) and a bathroom tent- which was a boxed toilet seat over top of a bucket.  

Dinner was delicious and there was an abundance of food.  We ate via head lamp and candle light (we taught our "waiter" porter, Nick, to say "romantic" when he lit the candle for us) and had more condiments and beverages than we knew what to do with.  Coffee, tea, 2 kinds of hot cocoa, hot water, chili sauce, tomato sauce, honey, peanut butter, jam, and butter accompanied every meal.  We ate until we were overly full and were beyond ready for bed.  Despite all of the craziness of Day 1 we were excited and optimistic for the rest of our adventure.