Leben im Rudel: Adventure Kilimanjaro (5895 m) ♥♥

And so the hike began! :)

Six days were set for the ascent: from Rongai Gate (2000 m) to Simba Campsite (2635 m) to Second Cave Campsite (3450 m) to Kikelwa Campsite (3675 m) to Mawenzi Tarn Hut Campsite (4302 m) to Kibo Huts (4720 m) and from there to Uhuru Peak (5895 m).

Hiking was made very easy for us. All we needed to carry was our daypack. The rest - our duffel bags, the tents, the food, the toilets, .... simply all our amenities - were carried for us. This was the part I was the most uncomfortable with when I booked this trip: the idea of other people having to carry my stuff. Didn't feel right. And so, the first day, I apologised to every other porter that was overtaking me on the path, carrying a heavy load on his head. They in turn just laughed at me. And later I knew why: the locals are very fit, they have no problems with the altitude - and they simply earn their living with this job, which is an easy one compared to e.g. farm life in Tanzania. And I suppose guilty/happy tourists give pretty good tips - we did at least. ;-)

In the morning of the second day, we all gathered around and every single one was introduced by name and job - because we were now one big hiking family. :-D That's how I learned that for the 14 of us, 53 locals were hired: 1 main guide, 4 helper guides, 1 cook, 2 waiters, 2 'toilet engineers', 2 'tent engineers', and porters, many, many porters.

And then we developed a routine: each day was similar. At 6:30 (it wasn't a real holiday when it comes to sleeping ;) ) we were woken up in our tents with a cup of tea or coffee. We then had 30 min to drink the coffee, pack our things together and go to the main tent, where we would all sit on a big table, being served breakfast.

Before my trip, I had the idea of having to eat a lot of rice, or at least simple food that would easily fill the stomachs of a lot of people... But how wrong have I been?! The food was amazing - and not only considering the challenges of cooking in a tent AND at high altitude! We could choose eggs in all flavours, sausages, bread, porridge, fruits, .... It was delicious! At first, I thought that I better eat as much as I can, because surely I would loose my appetite at higher altitude... but that never happened! :-D I kept enjoying the food and I kept eating and eating - and that's how I didn't even loose a single gram of fat on that hiking trip (which was planned differently)! :-D

During the breakfast feast, our tents were disassembled, our duffel bags were weighed, and each porter got a load of equal weight. And then they left to arrive at the next campsite before us. Porters carrying the kitchen equipment etc. would overtake us along the way - because they had no need to walk this ridiculously slow. :-D

And so it happened that every day, after 3-5 h of hiking, we would arrive at the next campsite, where our tents were already waiting for us, with our duffle bags inside! It took me a while to realise that it was always the same guy carrying my duffel bag. The porters knew, who is sharing the tent with whom... and they had certain preferences of where they would prepare the tent for us. Our porters (I shared the tent with L.) seemed to always set up a tent for us in close proximity to the toilets. :-D And when we arrived at the camp, they were waiting for us, waving with their arms and guiding us to our tent. :-) We then unpacked and usually had to change clothes, because it was raining a lot... And then it was already time for lunch in the main tent. Again, the food was amazing! For lunch and dinner, we always got a soup and a main dish with meat and vegetables and salad... even French fries! And when it was somebody's birthday, the cook baked a delicious cake, which was shared with the entire "hiking family" with a lot of singing and dancing. :-)

After lunch we could rest shortly, and then we would leave for an acclimatisation hike, meaning that you climb higher, spend at least 20-30 min up there, and then go down to the campsite again, where you sleep. This way, you can help your body to adjust better to the increasing altitude.

And after the acclimatisation hike, it was popcorn time! No kidding, we got popcorn every afternoon with some tea and coffee. :) After dinner, we usually just went straight to sleep. Because we had to rise and shine early...

(But writing this down, I get an idea why I didn't loose any weight... ;-) )

Another daily routine, which became a pain in the ass, was drinking. Drinking lots of water. LOTS OF it. In fear of developing altitude sickness, we all drank as much as we could. 4-5 litres, I believe. Sometimes more. In the beginning, it wasn't difficult to do. But with every day I had to force the water down more and more. The last day before the summit attempt, I had to add flavour to my water, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drink it at all.

And all the peeing that results from drinking this much!! Dio mio... You wouldn't believe how very annoying that can get! Drinking and peeing, drinking and peeing,.... at day, at night, all the time. And with the vegetation getting more and more sparsely, it became more and more challenging to find a "private spot", too.

I actually had to laugh about the sounds of the tent zippers at night. It soon became a very familiar sound. :-D Constantly somebody had to leave the tent and go pee... and zippers at night are surprisingly loud. And then the morning conversation would start with a "Oh my god, I went peeing only once at night - I think I might be dehydrated!! I have to drink more!!" ;-D

And this is how every day would be. :-) Unfortunately, we were a bit unlucky with the weather. Every day, it was raining a bit more, and we barely had any view. I could have been hiking anywhere - in Bergen, in fact! - it would have been the same sight! Only every now and then we got a glimpse of what we could have seen... Like the view over Kenya down below, seen from an "airplane perspective", because we were already over 4000 m high. :-)

But apart from the plants and the landscape that was surely different from Bergen, being at high altitude was certainly different from hiking in Norway as well. ;-) That was something I had been very curious about... How would it feel to be this high up, with less oxygen than usually?

Well, it was interesting! :-D The funniest feeling was to be out of breath (as if I would walk uphill) while simply walking on a plain surface. Or needing a few minutes to catch your breath after having turned around in your sleeping bag. :-D

But when being calm/still, I didn't feel the thin air at all. Everything felt normal. But as soon as I got up too quickly (meaning normal, sea level speed) I felt pretty light headed for a second. I quickly also noticed that if I walk too fast (meaning that I start to breathe faster), I'll get a headache. Nothing too bad, but still slightly unpleasant - well, a headache. ;) But taking Aspirin+Burana (mixing German and Finnish pain medication traditions! :-D ) helped immediately.

The other precaution we took to ease altitude problems: to walk slowly. S L O W L Y! Or: Pole, pole!! :) Which is Swahili for S L O W L Y! And we heard it all day long. Pole, pole! Walk pole, pole! :-D We literally placed one foot in front of the other, and later, we even took a pause in between! :-D I really had not expected having to walk this pole, pole! :-D On the way to the last camp before the summit attempt (at 4720 m), our main guide filmed us with his phone. It was a funny sight! Western tourists, all walking in a line in lockstep, wearing rain ponchos with the heads deep down, walking in slow motion up a hill that doesn't look like much of a difficulty. And then you see porters walking by, overtaking us, with huge loads on their heads, walking normal speed - which only makes us look all the more pathetic! :-D

But that's just how it goes - at least, if you try to prevent altitude sickness. There were other tourists walking faster than us. But some of them I also saw turn around, aborting the hike....

Luckily, I had no real problems with the altitude!! I had expected nausea, vomiting, all kinds of digestive problems, loss of appetite, even a messed up menstrual cycle (you get the full list! ;) ) ... but I had nothing! All was normal (apart from the occasional headache). I was really lucky - because that's all it is: being lucky! There is no way to predict or to prevent altitude sickness - if you are sensitive to it, you are sensitive - independent of your fitness level, age or life style. The only precaution is to walk slowly and to drink a lot.

And here are a few impressions of our hike:

Starting point of the Rongai/Nalemuru Route

Many farms and fields along the first kilometers

The kids have learned what tourists want... They pose for pictures, and want chocolate in return.

My heart was broken, because all of my sweets were in the duffel bag. It was the same for the others... so they gave the kids a few US dollars - just to look at disappointed faces. They wanted chocolate, not money. :-/

Some porters overtaking us.

last "supermarket"... :)

less farms, more jungle ;)

Our 4 'helper guides' :-)

The 1st campsite: Simba (2635 m)

breakfast!

our crew :-)

singing and dancing ♥

more singing, more dancing - but not our "hiking family" ;)

The next morning starts with a pleasant surprise: We get a swift glimpse of Kibo!! :-)

didn't last long... ;)

The rain poncho was the most important equipment from now on.

lunch! :)

our first acclimatisation hike

our 2 main guides (one local, one Norwegian)

my tent mate L. in front of Kibo, which revealed itself (a little bit) for a split second

back to 2nd campsite: Second Cave (3450 m)

(There are a lot of caves along the way... they were originally used as campsites.)

Again, the morning started with a pleasant surprise! Kibo could be seen in all its beauty!!

This was such a brief happening that most of the others didn't get a chance to it.

(Lucky me had to go pee early... :-D )

You can even see one of the glaciers on the top!!! :)

As I said, the view was brief... ;) Leaving for the third campsite.

poncho time!! :-D

Arriving at the 3rd campsite: Kikelwa (3675 m)

I loved those... plants. :)

Another of those brief moments: Kenya can be seen!

We were coming back from our acclimatisation hike up to 4000 m.

back at the camp

camp in the evening

Morning of day 4

There we are, hiking in our ponchos...

You are not a proper guide, if you don't carry an umbrella with you! ;)

Arriving at the 4th campsite: Mawenzi Tarn Hut (4302 m)

(It is said to be beautifully located just beneath the second highest Kilimanjaro summit, Mawenzi...)

photo taken by our Norwegian guide (obviously)

You can see me and my poncho right behind him! ;-D

acclimatisation hike up to 4500 m

Up there was a rare spot of cell phone reception. And because we had to sit there in the drizzle for at least 20 min, everyone was retreating in their ponchos, fiddling with their phones. ;-D