Big Jump to Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro (Arusha)

  Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Friday, October 6, 2006

GPS Coordinates:
S 06°49'03.5"
E 039°17'29.1"

Temperature: 23.9°C
Humidity: 83.9 %
Pressure: 101.6 kPa
Altitude: 53 m

I took the equivalent of going to Montreal through Toronto (Sorry! for the ones who don't know what I am refering to here) by leaving Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to go to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania through Johannesburg, South Africa. Believe it or not it was just the easiest and most cost effective way of doing it.

First time I experience frequent power outages. Power is not reliable in Tanzania, so many businesses keep / uses generators. First time I notice that I haven't watched TV in awhile, I don't really miss it actually, except the occasional movie.

Met an older Canadian couple who volunteer for an NGO and at the same time travel the world in their retirement. John in is 60's just tried Kilimanjaro and prior Mt.Meru (4500m) as a warm-up...! WOW!

Sculpture in Memory of the Dar Bombing

Did an organized day trip of Dar es Salaam with my guide QP and a driver. Visited the Tanzanian National Museum where the history of Tanzania was explained. It was very interesting. This is where a sculpture dedicated to the victims of the Dar es Salaam bombing can be seen. I then went to an outdoor museum re-creating the traditional huts (stick, mud and dung housing) of the different tribes in Tanzania. They are all similar but have slightly different architecture. Bought some more art here... Can't help myself!

Dar es Salaam Fish Market

Then went to a curio market and a fish market. It was amazing the variety of stuff and fishes (i.e. stingray and sharks) that are available. A couple of 7 foot Masai warriors carved in a solid trunk of ebony caught my eye but thought that it would not fit in my luggage at this point... not to mention the weight allowance, do you think it could pass as carry-on luggage? We can ship anywhere they said...! This MZUNGU (White man / tourist / stranger in Swahili) is not that rich!



I then got back to the Victoria Expeditions office to book the rest of my Kilimanjaro / Serengeti treks. While there I met a friend of QP and got invited out of the blue to all go for dinner / drinks. We had a lot of FUN...! (Special hello to Marie... George!)

Left on the bus for Arusha the next morning because I would leave for my Kilimanjaro trek the following morning. The bus ride was interesting to say the least where the 9 hour ride was punctuated by the AC failing after the 20th kilometre. The temperature in the bus reached 31 degrees...

Left for the Kili trek on the morning of the 10th Oct. Drove for 1 hour from Arusha to Machame Gate at 1427m (Kilimanjaro National Park). 

Start of Kilimanjaro Itinerary

Lower Tropical Forest in Kilimanjaro NP

Day 1: Started walking through the tropical forest environment and arrived at Machame Hut (3011m) three and half hours later. The team consists of me and 3 other German trekkers (Hi! to Roland, Jana, and Alex). The support team consists of our guide appropriatly named "ARUSHAA", an assistant guide, a cook, 8 porters, and our waiter...?! The porters always went ahead and blazed the trail. It was amazing to see them go with awkard packages on their heads, on sometimes difficult trails with nothing more than old running shoes.  At dinner we were literally sitting in the clouds. The stars that night (even though different than in the northern hemisphere) were the most numerous and brightest I had ever seen...even clearly seeing the light and dark areas of the milky way. Probably due to the altitude and distance from the city lights.

Weird alien forest from another planet

Above the Clouds on Kilimanjaro

Day 2: Left Machame Hut (3011m) at 9:00AM to go to Shira Camp (3833m) and arrived at 3:30PM. On the way we left the tropical forest environment for the shrubs and lichens of the higher altitudes. Walking by a weird vegetation environment, through the clouds and feeling the cool mists was an eerie feeling.



Day 3: Left Shira Camp (3833m) at 9:00AM to go through the Lava Towers (4600m) to go back down to Barranco Camp (3979m) and arrived around 3:00PM. Left the scrubs and lichens environment for the barren rock and boulders. Started to feel the effect of thinner high altitude air but rapidly acclimatized the same day. Felt a little light headed like I had 2 beers. This was a tough day. Barranco had the same weather as Shira: cold, humid, and in the clouds.

Amazingly Skilled Porters

Porters go faster with heavier loads to arrive at camp before us so that everything is setup when we get there. I guess they are more fit, they are just used to it, or maybe they are just crazy! Like us tourists that pay a huge amount of money to come here and suffer...! In this weather the porters only wear a loose collection of ad-hoc clothing of various "fashionable" colors (from the past decades!). The winds were really howling during the night and destroyed some lews (i.e. toilets or "becosse") and tents.

Breakfast at Barranco Camp (3950m)

Barren Fields and Kilimanjaro

Day 4: Left Barranco (3979m) at 9:00AM to go through Karanga Hut to go up to Barafu (4671m) and arrived at around 4:00PM. This day was especially long and tough. We went from shrubs and rocks, through misted cloudy forests up to boulder strewn hills. Barafu is the last camp before attempting to summit Kilimanjaro. It sits on the top of a cliff where the winds are very strong (approx. 35 km/h) and it is open to the elements. After a few hours rest we attempted to scale to the summit leaving at midnight.

Kilimanjaro Summit viewed from Barrafu (4600m)

  Day 5: I woke up at 22:45PM to a broken tent trying to attack me because of the violent winds. I unfortunately had to dress and prepare outside in the cold dark night. This was a great start to this final leg of this amazing journey. Did I mention that we where Friday the 13th. Left Barafu (4671m) at midnight. By the way, my headlamp crapped out before leaving so I had to rely on the light provided by the other guys in front of me... and when he lifted his head to look around then I didn't even know where I was putting my next foot; as if climbing in high winds and cold blizzard was not enough.

Clouds coming up from below Barrafu Camp (4600m)

OH! YEAH! Did I mention that not even one hour into the climb we were litteraly assaulted by a blizzard of ice particules, likely coming from the moist clouds below, pelting our faces from a 90 degree sideway angle at winds probably ranging between 40-50 km/h. It rapidly covered all our bodies with a coat of ice several millimetres thick. Everyone looked like human statues of ice! With the windchill factor the temperatures probably reached between -25 to -30 degrees Celsius. Even the guide said that he didn't remember the last time when the conditions were that bad, possibly many many years, GREAT!!! Thank god I had lugged around my Canadian winter gear for the last 2 months.

The fitness level of our group is very good so we ascend fairly rapidly (i.e. not "POLE POLE" - slow), often times passing many groups along the way. It was very impressive to see an endless line of headlamps winding it's way up the mountain in blizzard conditions. I wish I could have taken a picture. The german couple decided at 2/3 of the way to turn back because of the conditions, with good reason. The guide, me and the other german decided to continue. At around 5500m I felt fine but tired and it was becoming increasingly difficult to catch my breath in these conditions. It was especially so when you had to spend twice the energy fighting the wind and watching your step on the slippery loose earth / rocks. Even the guide was sometimes pushed back and nearly fell off the trail.

MC at the Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Stella Point)

I gave it a final push up to the summit of Kilimanjaro which is composed of several peaks. Due to the conditions and my not-so-much need to absolutely conquer the highest peak of Kilimanjaro(UHURU at 5896m), decided to end my ascent at the second highest peak called Stella Point at 5745m at 5:30AM, 151m (and 35-40 min. walk) shy of the highest peak (See pic). But I still succeeded and still got the Diploma to show for. The decision was based on the fact that at this point in my travels I didn't need to prove anything to myself or to others... (Apparently, some get really sick and throw-up endangering their health to prove a point!) I experienced soooo many other crazy adventures throughout this journey that I did not want to risk losing a few fingers, a nose, to frostbite or even my life...

The other german fellow trekker decided to continue on to UHURU peak with another guide and succeeded, CONGRATULATIONS! Roland!

My guide and me started our descent approximately 10 min. after reaching Stella Point. The way down was also exhausting and dangerous because the footing was difficult. It took us another one and a half hours to reach the camp. You don't notice how far you actually travel during the night. Due to fatigue and the terrain, I fell a few times and aggravated a slight knee injury (i.e. stretched ligaments). To this day, I'm still a little bit sore when I walk for long periods or descend sharp hills.

When we reached the camp I rested for an hour or so and then packed everything to go down to MWEKA camp (3068m). We arrived there at around 2:00PM. It was a very very trying day (two days in one!)...

Day 6: Left MWEKA camp at 8AM but due to the condition of my knee (swollen) I had to be helped down to the MWEKA exit gate. After signing out and received our diplomas our group left to go back to ARUSHA. THE END of this chapter of life changing experiences...!

This was a surreal experience that tested the limits of my physical and mental components of my being. I'll never quite see life in the same way...

The Kilimanjaro Trek Group

Back in ARUSHA, the four intrepid climbers were hosted by a friend of the german couple at ARUMERU RIVER LODGE (Very NICE!!! www.arumerulodge.com). We had a few well deserved drinks and meal. Thank you to Martin and special HELLO! to Carola... ;-)

Special thank you to my fellow trekkers / climbers Roland, Alex, and Jana for being part of this amazing journey of a lifetime. It was a pleasure sharing these special few days in your company. Take care and good luck in your future endeavors!

Back to my ARUSHA hotel at around 8PM I learn that I will immediately leave (because of convenience) the next morning for my Serengeti / Ngorongoro Safari with another group. GREAT!!! No rest for the WICKED!!! Not really looking forward to 4 more days of camping in a borrowed sleeping bag...

Africa Rocks!

Next Chapter: The Serengeti / Ngorongoro adventure!

Keep on "Safari" truckin'

Martin