A very long dream!

Empty airports and mountaintops of solitude

We had been dreaming of Kilimanjaro ever since Everest Base Camp in 2019. But 2020 changed everything for everyone. We stayed home, watching the world shut itself off with our backyards becoming the only outdoors we explored. But we continued to dream and plan. And finally we took the plunge in March 2021 and left for Kilimanjaro. And what a world we landed into. Travel had indeed changed. Empty airports and transit longes greeted us in Doha but the planes were packed. The industry had figured out how to manage capacity. But certain things were still jarring. Like seeing the Centurion lounge closing at 4:30 PM or the mind numbing eight hours layoff in Doha. But once we got on the flight to Kilimanjaro the short technical stop at Dar-E-Salaam was not that bad.

Immigration at Kilimanjaro airport was smooth. We had got our visas before hand which was probably not necessary since you can get a visa on arrival with a US passport. Kilimanjaro is a small airport but very well organized.
We had booked our travel through Altezza Travels and we cannot recommend them enough. They are probably the best in the business and have exceptional service all the way from booking the trip, to hotels in Kilimanjaro and the climb itself. Add to that the complexities of COVID travel and their ability to manage them, and we could not have asked for more.
Right outside the airport we were met by our driver from Altezza, Stephan. A really enthusiastic chap and he spoke great English. One thing that caused travel dissonance again was how Tanzania has treated COVID. The country never formally acknowledged the disease for which I have mixed feeling and we will leave it at that.
The cab ride was 40 minutes to the Aishi Machame Hotel which is where we stayed for in Kilimanjaro.
We saw Mount Kilimanjaro for the first time while driving to the hotel and it is a fascinating sight. Unlike the ranges like Himalayas, Rockies or the Andes, Kilimanjaro is not a range. It is a free standing mountain. And the fact that such a mountain exists so high by itself is a strange sight. Stephan was kind enough to stop at a couple of places to take photos. Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano the last time it erupted was about 150 thousand years ago. This was also our first time to Africa which looks a lot like India. There are 30 regions and 130 tribes in Tanzania. Agriculture is the main business of the country. Tourism is a close second. Which is probably why the country did not acknowledge the prevalence of COVID.
At the hotel we were met by Tony who was the manager organizing the climb and he did a small gear check and briefed us on the climb itself. We had great dinner of Peri-Peri chicken and potatoes.
Tomorrow we start to go up the mountain. The trail head starts at 3,500 meters and goes to the Uhuru peak at 5895 meters. We are jet lagged and trying to sleep and my mind wanders to why we love the travel industry. To me travel is a way to give back and spending to promote something I love. Planes, tours, guides, gimmicks and souvenirs. It all pays someone. Strange thoughts but travel during the time of COVID is probably weighing in.

Day 1 - Jambo! Jambo bwana!

Since we could not sleep, we just got up in the morning, packed up and went for breakfast. The hotel room was very basic and breakfast was palatable. Outside the dining area in the hotel there was a huge banyan tree and a tribe of monkeys just decided to cross through the dining room. After breakfast we met the crew. Eighteen member crew to take two people up. And that seems to be excessive. But when we start chatting with the team the first thing everyone asked was - when is covid getting over - and you start to realize that here peoples lives depend on it. Some say the industry has been decimated to a tenth of what it used to be. That is why they are trying to get as many members in the crew so that everyone makes some money. So we loaded up and drove to Londorosi Gate for two hours in a bus. We have two amazing guides in Richard and Wizen. We were met by the rest of the crew at Londorosi Gate. We had to sign some forms for the park authorities. Then every porter has to weigh their load. They are allowed to carry 20 kilos per person. From Londorosi gate we got back on the bus and drove through a forest. Most of it is managed and logged - eucalyptus, pine etc. Plus they farm carrots, potato etc. Richard tried farming here when tourism is not that great. Seems that did not work and climbing is picking up now. From Londorosi Gate the entire crew drove to the start point of Shira Plateau which is called Morum Picnic Site and had lunch. The lunch setup kind of shocked us. Right in front of the vast Shira plateau was a table laid out with a Masai table cloth and two boxed lunches ready for us. Tea and the whole nine yards. We were soon going to have this routine setup. We had to remind ourselves that we are on a climb. We left after lunch, on what turned out to be a very easy hour long hike with no elevation gain. We started to see the vegetation change from the forest zone to the Heather-Moorland zone with its unique Stoebe daisy flowers. As we reached the Shira 1 camp site the tent setup at the end was the shock of the day. We had still not recovered from the lunch extravaganza and here was a tent setup that looked like we were going to space. It was a full three room suite tent, dining, luggage room and bedroom. We did opt to get the personal toilet and we were glad we did it since the regular ones are a distance away and going out in the dark of the night is difficult as it starts to get colder at higher altitudes. And to top it Diamox really makes you pee. We slept well. I did venture out to see the night sky once it is just lit up with stars as you can only see on mountains.

Day 2 - Habari gani? Mzuri sana!

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning. Though the Kibo peak is out at some distance the sunrise against the peak makes for some beautiful pictures. Kilimanjaro is actually three different volcanos - Shira, Mawenzi and Kibo in the order of their last eruption, making Kibo the tallest. Due to erosion over thousands of years, Shira is flattened to a broad plateau. Mawenzi is much rockier and steeper. The top of Kibo is glacial and while a lot of the glaciers are melting they are still majestic. The day started with a formal introduction of the team followed by enthusiastic cheering and some singing. I am sure we all needed this. Day two is an easy walk through Shira plateau. It is relatively flat with some elevation at the end which takes you up 300 meters. We came across a lot of the typical moorland vegetation with beautiful and interesting flowers and shrubs. We also encountered the giant senecios which are these huge trees which look like palm. They have a unique adaptation of keeping their leaves even when they dry out, resulting in a fur like covering for the main trunk which keeps them safe through the massive fluctuations in temperatures in the plains. Anyone climbing Kilimanjaro would come across the term “pohle pohle”, which translates to “slowly slowly” from the native Swahili. Having hiked in Patagonia and Nepal in the past, this is a rather different approach to climbing. Patagonia climbing is fast and even a normal hike turns competitive. We were in fact passed so many time on the W trail. Nepal is just hard with few or no switchbacks throughout the hikes. Kilimanjaro takes the quintessential Hakuna Matata approach to climbing which makes it even more enjoyable. You also climb Kilimanjaro in big loops that make the elevation gain very gradual. We reached Shira Two Camp in two hours and immediately started for the acclimatization climb which was another 200 mts. And took around 90 minutes. We have to do a medical test every day to check for blood oxygen and they ask for general wellness. Right now the blood oxygen tests are the only thing that remind us of COVID!

Day 3 - Tembea pole pole. Hakuna matata!

Last night we slept a lot. After lunch yesterday we slept from 2:00 PM - 5:30 PM and then from 7:00 PM - 6:00 AM. It was an insanely cold night. Everything froze on the tent and there was condensate everywhere in the tent, specially Shrey’s sleeping bag. I ventured once to try and do some star trail shooting but it was too cold. A little about the food on the climb. The climb is entirely supported by the porters climbing with you and therefore everything needs to be carried up. Options are limited but they are really tasty. Lunch and dinner is usually soup and some sort of root vegetable or rice and meat or a vegetable stew. We love the soup specially. Breakfast is usually porridge, eggs, sausage and fruits and lots of coffee. At dawn for the first time we saw Meru and Kibo together. For a short while while the entire sky lit up all pink, flamingo and purple together creating an amazing vista. We are now getting used to the routine of waking up, brushing, lacing up our boots, having breakfast, packing and starting the climb. One interesting effect of Kilimanjaro not being a range is that you see the Kibo peak all day as you advance to the top. But distances and elevations are deceptive here. Our first destination today was the Lava tower which is a 10 kms. hike with 750 mts. of elevation gain and even though it is visible from far off, there are multiple ups and downs before you reach it. Hatibu our man Friday got sick before reaching lava tower but recovered quickly. At some point I need to tell some more about the cast of characters in this journey! But today we move on. At lava tower we had lunch of potato mash, beef stew and soup. A quick rest and then we started to decent towards Barranco Camp which is a sheer 700 mts. of going down in just 4 kms. And that is where I found my nemesis. I am really bad at descending because I never work on strengthening my knees. Just a kilometer from the camp, I slipped and banged my knee which at that point hurt my ego more but will haunt me on the way down from Kibo. And it did take a lot off the psychological edge at that time. We came across entire forests of the giant senecio trees on the way to Barranco camp which make for amazing photo opportunities. Make sure to get a lot of pictures on the way and at the camp because after today you get into the high alpine desert zone and there is not much vegetation there. Upon reaching Barranco Camp we seem to be the only hikers here. Richard tells me that usually there are hundreds of groups at any point of time because most of the routes converge at Barranco before they push into the alpine portion of the climb. We found just one more hiker from Hungary who was very friendly and spent some time chatting while taking in the views of rolling clouds in the senecio forests. We talked about being fed up stuck at home and just wanting to get out and do normal things. He had to jump multiple hoops to work through the EU quarantine rules and he is not even sure if he will be able to get back home. What has the world come to. Ok, today I must talk a little more about the crew which is making this climb possible. First off are the two main guides, Richard and Wizen. They are expert climbers in the region and probably know the mountain enough to climb in their sleep. Each of them have climbed it hundreds of times. Our camps are managed by our camp master whom we call Dreadlocks, because well. He is extremely thorough in selecting the right spot, orienting the tents and making sure they are pitched correctly. We have Pierre who helps us carry some of our personal stuff. We talked about the man Friday, Hatibu who is always smiling and helping everyone, except today when he is really sick due to some food poisoning. The amazing food is prepared by our Chef, Issac. Then we have some super cheerful porters and we have nick names for them - “Jambo” who is always greeting us, “Thumbs Up”, “Smiley” and “New Yorker”. Overall these are the folks who are carrying us to the top and we are forever grateful to them.

Day 4 - Utafika salama. Hakuna matata!

The fall must have done something which led to a disturbed night sleep. Was sweaty all night even though it was pretty cold and the sleeping bag got a lot of condensation again. In the morning we finally could get cell reception at the camp and were able to call home which was great. The day started with climbing the Barranco wall, also called the breakfast wall. It is a real challenge. It is really a wall which is super steep and somewhat technical in the sense that you need to be guided on the right sequence of steps to take else you can lose footing. We made a short stop at the top of the wall to catch our breath. The rest of the way traverses a couple of valleys ending in another big climb with some switchbacks. We finished this leg in a decent time of 3 hrs and 20 mins. Feeling pretty fresh we took a small 10 mins break at the Karanga Camp before starting the acclimatization climb. This was a hard, brain dead activity. The acclimatization climb goes up 300 meters in just 700 meters of distance. And there was one group of climbers who did not even camp at Karanga. They just continued to the next camp. But we did come back and climbing down felt so much nicer. Then we sat and talked all afternoon. Tomorrow it is going to be a big day. We go to base camp and start the summit at 11:30 pm. We have now started to feel a little bit of the altitude since we are above 4,000 meters. It is amazing how certain altitude levels impact us the same way everywhere on the planet. I was losing my train of thoughts at times and the cold was making it difficult to even write the journal for the day. But the views were just amazing from the camp. The evening slowly descended into the night which gave us this amazing moonrise over Kibo.

Day 5 - Kenya maji mengi. Hakuna matata!

The hike from Karanga to Barafu camp is long and crosses one big valley. Most of the elevation gain comes at the end of the hike. So even though the beginning might look easy, it gets harder in the end. You do start the day doing the acclimatization hike from the previous day, then step into the valley. Interestingly, Barafu Camp is visible most of the time when you are in the valley but again distances are deceptive in the open landscape. We made good time to the camp and for the first time beat the porters to it! There is a weather and ranger station at the camp at the end of the trail and we got some tea and leftover cookies there before starting on the acclimatization hike. This one starts with a steep rock face on which we had to be on all fours which is good practice because later in the evening we have to do it in complete darkness. The rest was relatively less steep and soon we were at the end where we saw a REI camp which kind of always makes us smile. Here we are already in the Arctic Summit zone and there is no vegetation of any kind. You can find chunks of obsidian laying around everywhere which came from the last eruption of Kibo. We were back at the camp by 1:00 PM and by then the tents were setup and we were ready for an early lunch because we needed to rest up in the afternoon before making the summit push. We did not have much of an appetite today, maybe because the summit was weighing on our minds or maybe because it was very cold. But we were able to go to sleep and I remember slowly drifting into a dream while overhearing some other climbers talk about our tent only to be woken up by what seemed to be a thunderstorm. I looked at my watch and it was only 6 PM. But there was a howling storm and someone was talking about blocking the ice from their tent. Somehow we slept through it and the next time I woke up it was 10 PM and the camp was alive with activity. Issac was probably cooking some dinner and tea for the summit.

Day 6 - Kilimanjaro, mlima mrefu sana.

We did our final medical check at 11:00 PM, forced down two spoons of porridge, bundled up and started the summit. Only Richard, Wizen and Pierre were climbing with us today and the rest of the crew wrapped up and started to prep for the descent. It happened quickly so there was not much to ponder about. I just remembered that the extreme weather gloves were bothering me from the very beginning. The outer shell was somehow very tight over the inners. When we got out of our tent, there was fresh snow everywhere, probably a few inches of it. The storm was not a dream. Today the wall at the very beginning of the trail seemed tame as compared to the acclimatization hike yesterday. Or maybe we were going too slow. Today was the true test of the climbing wisdom of “pohle pohle”. The first push is to reach Stella Point at 5,756 mts. And this is the tougher part of the climb. I remember being very cold but not very out of breath. We were making good time and Richard wanted us to take some breaks but every time we stopped the chill would come rushing in. So we pushed on. The final climb to Stella Point is probably the hardest part of the entire hike. It is over some really loose straight up moraine which reminded me of another volcano we climbed long back - Mt. Batur in Indonesia. After Stella Point the summit of Kibo is not that far and is a gradual climb over a kilometer or so. Dawn started to finally break in this last segment and we were soon greeted by Kibo. A dream finally coming true after years of planning. And to top it all, we were the only group of climbers for most of the time we spent there and only three other climbing groups reached the top that day. Usually there is a queue to take pictures on the summit monument. It was bittersweet in some ways. Getting to see the majestic Kibo in its near pristine form was probably something most climbers will never experience but at the same time, I did realize what this means for the climbing industry. The glaciers on top of Kibo are probably the most majestic site. The extend for hundreds of meters and it is difficult to imagine that one day very soon they might not exist. And the most fascinating sight is to see the shadow of Kibo juxtaposed alongside Meru. As we soaked in the views from the top, we saw Wizen walk over towards a ridge, face west, kneel and start to pray as the sun climbed over the horizon. This was probably one moment that defined the entire trip for me. The spiritual feeling on top of mountains, and the feeling of gratitude that you were one of the lucky ones to be there. Till now we did not have to use any snow gear but coming down we did put on crampons to cross the ice-field till we reached Stella Point. Coming down, you are greeted with the jagged rocks of Mawenzi against the now very bright sun. Now that the euphoria of summit was over I started to think about the trek back and the flight back home and that is when it happened. My knees started to give up and we had just started the descent. I tripped multiple times and things just went downhill in more ways than one. The rest of the descent was a nightmare. My knees were completely shot to the extent that Pierre had to take off my backpack and even with both my climbing sticks. it was an agonizing journey. These emergency stretchers seemed so apocalyptic but so apt at the same time. We went all the way to Mweka Camp which is a total descent of over 1,500 vertical meters. There is an option to stop at the Millennium Camp which is about halfway but we did not want to extend the agony to another day. I have never been more relieved at the end of a hike than what I felt today. And since we were back in the civilization we were able to get new rations and had some amazing dinner.

Day 7 - Na Mawenzi, mlima mrefu sana.

Last night we were out right after dinner but woke up really refreshed. Richard wanted us to say something to the crew. What else could we say other than expressing deep gratitude to these warriors who make trips like this real. Then we literally ran down to Mweka Gate in just about 90 minutes which might have been a record! At least on that day it was because the other team reached 30 mins after we did and we had started at the same time. At the gate you get certificates for climbing Kibo which is nice and also some much needed Kilimanjaro beer. We chit chatted with the other group about their trips to Zanzibar and Kenya. Some other day!

While we wait!

After reaching Moshi, we had to stay at Aishi Machame for three more days while we waited for our COVID tests to come back before we could catch the flight back to Houston. In just about a day we were going crazy because there is not much to do at the hotel even though I did have some work to take care of. So we made a trip to a local tourist trap coffee plantation which was a good break. And we saw this amazing chameleon in the planation. Another great hike comes to an end and sparks hopes for new ones. Where will life take us next?