Nearly There..

Day 3
Sorry about the photo's being out of order Melissa did show me but I've forgotten!

So today we are traversing the Shira Plateau just 8km with 400m of ascent to an altitude of 3900m but even this relatively short trek will take 3 hrs.


I should at this point mention a bit about camp life. We have 16 porters,cook,camp manager,senior and assistant guides. We are sharing the camp with two other trekking groups at the moment which means lots and lots of porters!

Nigel and Matthew outside our tent

The Tanzanians are a very gregarious lot-worse than a bunch of washerwomen always talking so the camp is full of laughter, shouts,singing etc with all that noise earplugs at night are essential!

As  we leave camp at 8.00am the last bits of camp are broken and soon porters are passing us with huge loads on their backs weighing no more than 20kg (limited by the park authorities) at the start everything is weighed and divided between the porters. When we arrive at the next camp (Shira 2) all the tents are erected and a much needed cup of Chai is on offer! Shira 2 is on a kopie above the plateau and once again we dodged the rain by getting to camp first.



Bit of a situation on the trek today,one of the porters Kungurau (Swahili nickname for The Raven) followed a porter from another group for a good few km towards another camp before realising he didn't know the bloke in front so decided to take a cross-country route to the correct camp.By this time the alarm had been raised when he had not appeared at Shira 2 and two porters were dispatched to find him. Luckily they hadn't gone too far before he was spotted on the ridge above camp!

When asked about it by the trek leader Joseph the porter replied it could have been worse as the last he saw of the porter he was following he was still going strong in the wrong direction!



I spied the Raven in camp and to the amusement of his colleagues I said I wouldn't be following him tomorrow as I would probably end up back at our start point back in Arusha!

Day 4



Looking down back to Barranco camp (more of this later on)

Off to Barranco camp today via Lava Tower so 3900m up to 4637m dropping to 3976m, i.e. acclimatise high sleep low. Early start 7.45am a grey misty day walking though Moorland zone with mosses and lichens on the boulders strewn everywhere. More up,up,up as we did the cloud cleared give great views back over the Shira plateau and southern ridge.



After 2hrs climbing we glimpsed way above us the Lava Tower dusted with snow. Now in Alpine desert so flora scarce. We joined the Machame route and the volume of porters and trekkers greatly increased. We arrived at Lava Tower in just over 4 hrs to a welcome mess tent. We both have slight headaches but sit down to lunch to Mushroom soup and Beef fajitas and beans, fantastic!



Route down hill in sleety snow very cold, steep and rocky so very wearing. Across glacial streams finally reaching camp at 2.30pm and went to bed as suffering with headaches, knackered!!

But feeling better after a bit of a kip.



Some fantastic views of Kibo when the cloud cleared in the evening. Looked at route out tomorrow, bugger me i think its a job for mountain goats! And so to bed!

So finally a GPRS signal so lets start from Day 1

So we set out from Arusha(1500 m) at 8.00a m. It's a 3 hour drive to the ranger post to get permits etc.

Everything is on African time which means 3 times as long as normal. So we finally arrived at our start point at 1.30pm after a number of hairy moments when the landrover became stuck! We had lunch served by a nice chap called Matthew before setting off at 2.00pm, up through the Afromontane forest. It is a rich habitat for white/black Colobus monkeys and blue monkeys living side by side.

Our first dinner with Joseph





We have been briefed on the 3 golden rules - slowly slowly (pole,pole), sippy sippy and eat eat, so we try to do all 3! Some up some down but we arrive at forest camp at 5.15 pm height 2829 m.Dinner was a three course affair and then to bed at 9.00pm.



Day 2



Nigel with Joseph and Jackson our guides



Woken up at 6.30am with tea by Matthew and after strip wash in maji moto (hot water) into the mess tent for brekkie which consisted of porridge, omelette,bacon and toast with loads of tea.



Off at 8.00am a longer day 12km with 676m of ascent, we were up and down most of the morning before leaving the forest zone (mainly giant Junipers and Podocarpus) and into the heather zone. We stopped for lunch after an arduous climb and there was the mess tent and loo tent! 40 mins later it was up,up,up on a very steep ridge to the Shira Plateau which is the sunken caldera of the Shira volcano the oldest on Kilimanjaro. 

 

Kibo from Shira 1 camp



We just reached camp at Shira 1 before it started raining and the temperature plummeted! In bed after diner by 7.30pm with hat, gloves, thermals and two pairs of socks then inside a fleece liner and Arctic grade sleeping bag! Still cold for the first hour but finally got to sleep

 



Heather zone



Our team plus Nicki!



Tough day at the office! Had sun, snow,rain and fog! The 700 metres  up took 4 hours and getting down 2 which was tiring. Now at 3976 M just had tea and fresh popcorn waiting for rangers so we can sign in.

Well here goes my first ever unassisted blog!

Well here goes my first ever unassisted blog! I thought I should have a go whilst Melissa (my Secretary) is within earshot.

Well I think we are nearly there, we've checked all the technical gear over and have the medical /sunscreen stuff ready to pack.

This is our technical gear, rather a lot eh!

With all this kit no wonder we need so many porters!

So I am going to post this now and the next time you hear from me I will be in Tanzania.

Nigel