Kilimanjaro - My Journey to the Roof of Africa

Kilimanjaro (Day 1):

Mountain Inn to Machame Camp

Saturday, January 12, 2013

After a good night's sleep, I had breakfast with some of the New Yorkers. After that, I quickly packed up everything and went to the reception to wait for my crew. I didn't have to wait long. While they were sorting the supplies and equipment, I quickly let the world know via Facebook that I will be climbing Kili for the next seven days. I have the same guide, Faustin, and cook, Ambrus.

We left exactly at 9am and headed for Machame Gate. We picked up two porters on the way. Then, we stopped at Machame village to buy some meat from the butcher. The meat was just hanging there without refrigeration covered with flies. I think, I will be a vegetarian on this trek. At Machame Gate we picked up another porter. I was hanging out with the New Yorkers while my crew sorted things out. I ate half of my lunch while waiting.

We started the trek at 11:30. We walked in a cloud forest the whole time. It was very beautiful but extremely humid. Porters were passing us the whole way and sometimes we were passing them because the trail was very steep at places and they were walking with heavy loads. I walked alone with Faustin behind me. I tried to walk pole pole (slowly) even on the easier parts. We had a half hour lunch break but other than that we just kept walking. It took us 4.5 hours to walk the 10.75 kilometers to Machame Camp. The elevation gain was 1,210 meters for the day.

It started raining just before we arrived to the campsite. Luckily, my tent was already waiting for me so I could get in. I prepared my bed for the night, cleaned up inside the tent and then I had tea, popcorn, and biscuits also inside the tent. It looks like I'm going to have all my meals inside my tent. It won't be very comfortable that's for sure. Staying in huts was much more fun. It's about 6:15pm now and it finally stopped raining. I think, I will venture out of the tent now.

I walked around and took some pictures. There are lots of groups here. The bigger ones have nice dining tents. I ate my dinner outside my tent. They gave me a chair so I was pretty comfortable. It's almost 7:30 now and there is nothing left to do but go to bed. By the way, dinner was very good tonight. The soup is always good and I loved the potatoes with the vegetable sauce. It even had eggplant in it. I did not touch the meat stew though. Dessert was avocado and a banana.