Getting Ready for Kilimanjaro in Arusha
Killmanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, and we attempted to climb it. Call us crazy, but we did. Now I say we attempted, because we didn’t actually get to the summit. Going into this experience, I didn’t have much of a choice. Mom had already booked our climb, and it was set in the driest season of the year, in September.
Before we took off, we stayed at a nice hotel called Mount Meru Hotel. This hotel had the best chicken wings you will ever have. I got them almost every day. I shared a room with my sister Kb, and it was ok. We met our guide Thomas the day before we left. He was nice, but did not speak very good english. After a while of negotiating with Thomas and his assistant about food, and logistics, we were all sent up to spread out what we had for the climb. Thomas came to inspect our clothing, and he said that I didn’t have quite a few of the essential items. So far, we had been a little annoyed at how much he was telling us we didn’t have because we told him that this was all that was on the packing list! After everyone was checked mom, dad, and my brothers Zeb and Bardez went with Thomas to go rental shopping. We needed to rent quite a lot of gear. Me and Kb stayed at the hotel and worked on some homework.
Off we go to Kilimanjaro
Then the following day, we all headed down to the buffet breakfast provided by the hotel and got our minds set for taking off. Once we were all ready to go, the porters (the men who carry all of our stuff up the mountain) loaded our bags on top of the bus. I and KB sat together in one row, and one of the assistant guides, Barnabus, sat across from us. We played about one and a half hours of cards with Barnabus (one of the assistant guides) and Moses, who was Thomas’s son. The bus ride was about 3 or 4 hours long. I slept most of the time, and when I wasn’t playing cards, I looked out the window at the scenery. When we arrived at the spot we would be hiking out of; the porters were weighing their loads. Porters were only allowed to carry 44 kg of other people’s things, and they still had their things to bring too! We waited for about another hour or so to be able to start hiking. We started walking at around 3:00 pm. The trail was challenging. I quickly realized that I was not trained enough. I was panting only 30 minutes in, though I did pass Zeb, mom, dad, and kb quite quickly. Bardez was the fittest out of all of us, and he was way up ahead.
While we were on Kili (the nickname everyone uses), we didn’t have our phones to do daily blogging, so we brought journals to record our day. Here is my journal of the first day:
An Eexcerpt From My Journal On Kilimanjaro
Sunday: day 1: Climb Kili
Today was hard. I built some muscle, and I was drained when we arrived at the first camp. The popcorn was everything that was rumored about it. The “wee” tent was very clean. The tent that I am sharing with KB is charming and spacious. Dinner was also delicious; Hot soup, fried fish, get, and potatoes. I was so tired that I didn’t eat much. Thomas, our guide, ate with us along with Barnabus, who is one of the assistant guides. I slept like a baby last night. Big day tomorrow!p
Hiking the 2nd Day: From Forest To Grasslands
We woke up early the following day, around 6:30, me and kb I did a little washy-washy with warm water and wash-clothes. We were also given hot chocolate! The camp was bustling with activity. Most of the other climbers were already ready to go by the time we got to breakfast. We were the 2nd to the last group to leave camp. Now, for all you ladies out there, you will know what I’m talking about when I say I had awful cramping that day. And the climbing made it worse. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, I started my cycle that day. About an hour and a half into our hike, I started getting very low blood sugar. We stopped, and mom gave me some juice. I ate a bar and calmed myself enough to stop crying. We all started again a few minutes later, and we kids started singing Hamilton, by Lin Manuel Miranda, while walking. We passed a lot of other groups while singing, and they all smiled at us as we walked by. We kept hiking up and down many hills. It was harsh and scorchinglu hot. Around noon, we started up the most prominent hill yet.
Not Enough Food
We kept asking our guides when we would have lunch and not just keep eating bars and juice. They said, “in a little while, in a little while. Pole Pole” We would groan and keep pressing on. Once we were at the top of the big hill, a lot of other camps were sitting down and having a full-on lunch with chairs and everything. Barnabus said that we would take an extended break in the shade but that we would have lunch when we got to the camp. We had hiked for about 4 kilometers, and we still had three more to go. Those 4 Kilometers took us about two and a half hours.
Altitude Sickness
We stopped for about 20 minutes, then headed on. It was the day’s heat, and all of us were exhausted. Soon, I started feeling VERY sick. Nausea, headaches, and more. The rest of the climb was miserable, and when we got to camp, it was very windy and dusty. I was covered head – to toe in dirt, and it looked like I had been stuck in the wild for a week. We were all grumpy that night, and most of us felt terrible. Zeb threw up all over the place, and mom was still very sick. That night I wrote in my journal.
My second entry from my journal.
Monday: Day 2: Climb Kili
Today was… the worst day ever. Almost everyone in my family got altitude sickness, or AMS (acute mountain sickness). I almost up-chucked! We walked for 7 hours today, and it was all horrid. I also started my cycle today. Super not awesome. We climbed something called an “elephant’s back,” where there are hills and valleys. It was also very hot today. Whenever I thought we were almost to the top, there was another mountain ridge. Today was one of the hardest things I have ever done (other than Keely’s camp). Most of us are going to bed feeling terrible. :{ Including me. I hope everyone is better in the morning.
(Side Note: “Pole Pole” means Slowly, slowly, or slow and steady in Swahili.)
The Third and Final Day
Tuesday: Day 3: climb Kili (Morning): My Journal Entry
I really don’t want to push on. I am in a lot of pain with my sunburnt shoulders, and I feel very nauseous. We had a family meeting this morning. Dad + the boys want to push on, but me + mom, + kb don’t/want to go down. We have six more days of intense hiking before we reach the summit. If we go down, then we can try another time again and be more prepared. We’ll see what happens…
Saying Goodbye to the Climbing Guides and Porters
In the morning, we were all sitting at the table, and we were not hungry at all. The food was also only edible. If you are thinking, “If it’s edible, then why are you not eating it? You need to eat for energy!” I don’t blame you, but when you’re climbing a mountain, then you need to have food that you really want to eat. Not just food that you can eat. Thomas kept telling us, “Eat! Eat!” It was getting really awkward because we knew we needed to go down and not keep going. Soon we broke the news to Thomas and started packing up. It was sad to say goodbye to Moses and the other porters. At the same time, we waited for information on the other people who were getting rescued. We all played card games with Moses and Razack (our other assistant guide). I enjoyed playing with Moses. He asked for a photo with Bardez and me. Everyone was calling Bardez Maasai because he had many Maasai necklaces from our visit to the Maasai village in Amboseli. We said our goodbyes and sang “Jambo” and took many group photos together.
After all the chaos, we started hiking on a relatively flat trail. We did have to scramble down into two different river bed’s. The porters even pass us on the narrow path up the river! We waited at the trailhead of a rest stop for the emergency jeep to take us down the mountain. It took about 30-45 minutes for the car to arrive, which was minimal.
A Ride in the “Death Car”
The jeep could probably hold about six people safely squished, but there were 14 people in that jeep on the way down. And one of them was so sick; that she couldn’t even stand. It was horrid. And the other people in the car wouldn’t let us open the window for some much-needed air because of the “dust.” No dust would get in the car. Poor mom and dad both felt like they were going to break something because of all the kids and things piled on them. Dad kept wanking his head on the grab bar, and mom had a hiking pole pressing on her leg. It smelled strongly like body odor, farts, sweat, and carbon dioxide. Not to mention that the car was going 60 mph down a winding dirt road! When we finally stopped, we all spilled out of the nasty car.
We had about a 5-minute break when Thomas told us that we would be getting back into the car. For another hour! We were like, “noooooope!” I started calling it the “DeathCar” instead of the “DeathStar” in my mind. So we waited for another port of transportation. We waited for about 30 minutes till the bus came. And it took us 30 more minutes down the mountain till we changed vehicle again! This time it was a Minnie, bus. The rest of the car ride was long and bumpy. I tried to sleep most of the time but kept getting woken up by all the bumps.
Back To Civilization!
We got back to the hotel, and me and kb took a good shower. Even after all the scrubbing that I did, I was still SO dirty! We had dinner around 6:00 pm, and of course, I got the chicken wings. We received our bags when the porters arrived an hour later. We said our last goodbyes and sorted all of our clothing. I had SO much dirty laundry! I went to bed very tired that night. But I also wrote in my journal, and here’s what it said:
Journal Entry: Evening: Day 3
We didn’t stay. We hiked out and had to ride in a hot, cramped, horrible rescue jeep for 30 minutes. The goodbyes were hard + sad. Moses was an excellent friend and was incredibly kind to me. It was nice to be back in a hotel. It felt like we had been gone for weeks! Tomorrow we fly to Zanzibar island. I can’t wait to go to the beach!