through the roof...

Mandara Huts, approx. 8800 ft, Mt. Kilimanjaro
Tuesday 26th January, 10pm

Here we are at the end of our first day on the mountain. And what an absolutely beautiful day it was. Sunny, warm (but not too hot), no rain whatsoever and all in all we couldn’t have hoped for a better day to start our climb.

Our day started out at Rivertrees lodge where we all woke up around 6am to finish doing the final packing and sorting before breakfast. Then we piled ourselves and our luggage into the Thomson Safari jeeps, tied the mountain wheelchair to the roof and set off for the start of our climb. It took about 2 hours to drive there, with a short stop for some pictures of the mountain itself in the distance, giving us a very clear view of its summit today. At the Maranga Gate entrance we met all our porters. The majority are setting off ahead of us with our bags for the camp as well as all the food and other equipment that we’ll need at the end of the day. Twelve porters are staying right with us for the whole hike, carrying the spare wheels for the chair, some of the camera  equipment and probably most importantly, helping with strong arms and backs when we need to lift Erica. It took about 90 mins to sort the bags out, finalize our permit for the mountain and sign in with the park authorities. Then we were off!!!

Today’s hike took us through the rain forest that covers the lower slopes of the mountain. The path was uphill all the way and although not too steep, there were drainage ditches cut across it at regular intervals over which Erica had to be lifted. Thank goodness for the assistance of our “personal” porters! It would have been very tough for Derek, Zak, Tara and I to do this all the way up. Zack is experiencing a bit of a hamstring pull as well - he is fine walking, but lifting continuously is rather painful.

After a short hour of climbing we stopped for a picnic lunch (already laid out for us when we arrived!) then continued on through the forest. The blue monkeys made themselves known from time to time by their calls, but were pretty hard to spot with the eyes! A couple more stops for a short rest - except for those who are taking Diamox to avoid altitude sickness, who need to pee about once every 40 mins! - and we arrived at Mandara Huts at around 6:45pm, just as the sun was setting.

We signed in with the ranger in charge, then our guides took us to our cabin. We are all in one room with 10 bunk beds, so there are a couple extra for bag storage. Our guides already had hot drinks and popcorn made, as well as warm water to wash in - most luxurious but very welcome after a rather sweaty day.

Dinner could have served double the number of people, but we did our best to eat as much as we could. Then a whole crowd of the porters with our chief guide and assistant guides brought a birthday cake all the way up to the camp for Derek - who didn’t really celebrate his birthday as it was on Saturday when we were flying - and they all sang birthday songs to him in Swahili. We’ve got some pictures of him going a funny shade of red, but are having trouble posting them online from here, so you’ll have to wait to see them until we get down and to an internet connection.

Now everyone is in bed and I am sending off this update while sitting outside the hut and listening to the monkeys in the surrounding forest chattering away. Tomorrow we’re off to the Horombo huts. See you then!

Penny