Karibu Tanzania: Climbing Kili: From the Rainforest to Shira Plateau

I have spent the last couple of days pondering how I will share my Kili experience on my blog, looking through pictures and wondering how I will choose just a few to post. As a result, I will break the hike up according to days so that you can see as many pictures as possible and decide which are your favorite for yourself!

I am a map person, so the first "picture" below is actually a map of the route we followed. I have included the camps were we stopped at the end of each day as well as the altitudes.

We began our Kili climb with one long, bumpy, and dusty car ride. There were five climbers in our group, 1 head guide, 2 assistant guides and 16 porters. It was an astonishing number of staff for five climbers.

After our free car massage, we arrived at Londorossi Gate where the nervous energy of beginning the climb was palpable in the chatter of climbers and the busyness of the guides and porters. Our porters quickly formed a line, each with a rice sack of equipment. An official, together with our head guide, Tumaini, weighed each sack to make sure that our porters carried no more than 15kg.

Unfortunately by the time we started hiking, it had begun to rain. I suppose it is to be expected in the rainforest. Water poured down in sheets turning the trail into a slippery and treacherous river. Up we went, thankful for the rain gear and hopeful that this would be our first and only day of rain. By evening we had arrived at Mti Mkubwa ("Big Tree" in English), our first campsite. Moto, our soon-to-be best friend brought us warm water for washing, showed us our own personal toilet tent and announced hot tea and popcorn before dinner in our dining tent. We were definitely roughing it!

Moto woke us up on day 2 with a lyrical "Good Morning. How are youuu?" and a hot drink while still in bed. Our hike began in the rainforest, where it was sunny. Silver mosses draped the trees and the cool green light of the sun through the leaves was warmed by the reds and browns of the forest floor. Porters packed the camp after we left and passed us on the trail, packs on their backs and baskets on their heads. The transition to the heather and moorland vegetation zone was abrupt. White flowers dotted the heather and the trail was lined with wild sage, St. John's Wort and the beige flowered and flame tipped leaves of the Protea. Fog began to swirl around our heads as we climbed higher and higher, tendrils of cloud chasing us up over the ridge and onto the Shira Plateau. Looking behind, the fog spilled over the top of the ridge like a cauldron boiling over. Our guide observed matter-of-factly that those in the rainforest would be getting wet.

A short traverse of the Shira Plateau brought us to our campsite for the evening. Surrounded by everlasting flowers and bathed in sunlight, the camp was perfect for drying out our wet gear from the day before. Kibo sat in the clouds above the plateau and looked miles away. Keeping vigil on the summit we saw the clouds slowly begin to clear, exposing our first real view of the snow and rock of Kibo.