Friday 20th October 2009
Day 145
I think it may be time to go home. It's 4am and we're sprawled on some couches in a deserted airport in Kigali, Rwanda patiently waiting for first light before heading into the city. Layla is filing her toe nails and Im watching quite possible the worst program I've ever seen. It's a Rwandan drama based around a manipulative female ( Macey Gray look-a-like) who causes havoc in her relationships. I think we're going slightly mad. We're waiting for first light in a Rwandan airport lounge watching, filing and going mad.
The entire day has been a little insane setting off from El Karama around nine, we travelled for four hours to Nairobi. Layla negotiated the bullish roads expertedly and onwards to the airport where we were caught in horrendous traffic thanks to an upturned truck in the middle of the highway.
Once here we weren't sure where we were going but knew we wanted to get on a plane somewhere. We chose Rwanda with Kenyan airways. We would have flown Rwandan Air Express but all flights were suspended after a pilot crashed into the capital's VIP lounge a couple of weeks ago. On arrival we saw the plane in question with a broken nose a boxer would have been proud of. The broken plane still sat there on the runway which wasnt the best publicity in the world for the airline.
Today England had record rainfall, Melbourne had a record heatwave and I found out Roache and Ruth are having a baby. Absolutely insane day with grand news to boot.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A Kenyan cure for wobbly leg syndrome
Tuesday 17th - Thursday 19th November 2009
Days 142 - 144
Wibbly wobbly weary legs required rest relaxation and royal treatment. It came in the form of hidden gem El Karama in Kenya's Laikatipa region about four hours north of Nairobi in the beautiful central highlands. Here the main focal point is Mount Kenya which is huge and nearly as big as Kilimanjaro ; )
A good friend of my good friend helps run the operation there. On a working cattle ranch spread across 14,000 acres, a variety of game roams freely across its grounds. Her very clever fiancée has created a string of bandas made of natural resources from the land. They can only be described as a cross between rustic and boutique (perhaps El Karama is the first Rustique accomodation or perhaps it is best left in a genre all of it's own). Whatever the case they have done a sterling job with the accomodation and these unique cozy places of rest combined with the friendly staff's charasmatic attentiveness helps make your stay both a highly pleasurable and personable experience.
What's more the family business is also linked to sister's Nairobi-based Land Cruiser rental business. Here we picked up the ultimate African vehicle in the shape of a khaki green vintage beast of a Land Cruiser. We negotiated the 4x4 through the ruthless streets of Nairobi setting of at the crack of, witnessing the sheer volume of traffic and peoples that seemingly multiple as the sun rises. Relief was tangible as we made it, in one piece, across to the northern side of Nairobi where we set off towards the highlands.
A bank and petrol stop in closest town Nanyuki saw us coincidentally meet up with our host who joined us for the 40km remainder of the journey, off the beaten track, culminating in a drive up surely one of the greatest front drives. Here we passed curious giraffes, zebras on a mission, dancing impala, a mid air bird of prey battle over a kill amongst other quite surreal images.
And the fun had only just started.
We were absolutely spoilt - game walks and game drives were inclusive in the full board package as well as the most amazing cuisine. Layla enjoyed a morning horse ride across the ranch as an optional extra. However, even for those who just want to sit back on in the comfort of their bandas porch there is more than enough game activity right in front of you. From here we saw a family of elephants stride past, baboons up to mischief and the place is also teeming with birdlife.
Kenya. Safari. Luxuary accomodation. Expensive right? Wrong. Whether you're a traveller on a budget looking for a value-for-money splurge or have a bit of cash to flash but want a more rustic safari experience then El Karama is the place for you.
Days 142 - 144
Wibbly wobbly weary legs required rest relaxation and royal treatment. It came in the form of hidden gem El Karama in Kenya's Laikatipa region about four hours north of Nairobi in the beautiful central highlands. Here the main focal point is Mount Kenya which is huge and nearly as big as Kilimanjaro ; )
A good friend of my good friend helps run the operation there. On a working cattle ranch spread across 14,000 acres, a variety of game roams freely across its grounds. Her very clever fiancée has created a string of bandas made of natural resources from the land. They can only be described as a cross between rustic and boutique (perhaps El Karama is the first Rustique accomodation or perhaps it is best left in a genre all of it's own). Whatever the case they have done a sterling job with the accomodation and these unique cozy places of rest combined with the friendly staff's charasmatic attentiveness helps make your stay both a highly pleasurable and personable experience.
What's more the family business is also linked to sister's Nairobi-based Land Cruiser rental business. Here we picked up the ultimate African vehicle in the shape of a khaki green vintage beast of a Land Cruiser. We negotiated the 4x4 through the ruthless streets of Nairobi setting of at the crack of, witnessing the sheer volume of traffic and peoples that seemingly multiple as the sun rises. Relief was tangible as we made it, in one piece, across to the northern side of Nairobi where we set off towards the highlands.
A bank and petrol stop in closest town Nanyuki saw us coincidentally meet up with our host who joined us for the 40km remainder of the journey, off the beaten track, culminating in a drive up surely one of the greatest front drives. Here we passed curious giraffes, zebras on a mission, dancing impala, a mid air bird of prey battle over a kill amongst other quite surreal images.
And the fun had only just started.
We were absolutely spoilt - game walks and game drives were inclusive in the full board package as well as the most amazing cuisine. Layla enjoyed a morning horse ride across the ranch as an optional extra. However, even for those who just want to sit back on in the comfort of their bandas porch there is more than enough game activity right in front of you. From here we saw a family of elephants stride past, baboons up to mischief and the place is also teeming with birdlife.
Kenya. Safari. Luxuary accomodation. Expensive right? Wrong. Whether you're a traveller on a budget looking for a value-for-money splurge or have a bit of cash to flash but want a more rustic safari experience then El Karama is the place for you.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Clambering to the roof of Africa
Day 5
Saturday 14th November 2009
Richard our guide was worried about me at 5,895 metres above sea level - legs all over the shop and face a strange shade of grey. My words were slurred and I decided to try and curl up to sleep on a nearby rock in the snow. Meanwhile Layla felt she needed some energy so took a bite out of a chocolate bar and promptly threw it up. It was at this point that Richard wanted us descending Kilimanjaro as quickly as possible.
Altitude can do strange things to you. As well as feeling completely light-headed our hands swelled, lips ballooned Jagger-esque, our bodies were itchy, pins and needles set in, very little feeling was in the legs, blurred vision, shallow breathing, hysteria, nausea and a banging headache. And we hadn't even set off yet ; )
Our day started yesterday actually waking up after 3 hours sleep at 11pm to get our stuff ready for the climb at midnight. Wearing pretty much everything we owned with trusty headtorch strapped to forehead we started our climb to the summit.
We'd packed loads of snacks and water as well as waterproofs so given the conditions my backpack felt like I was giving Barry Austin a piggyback. The idea was to scale the 1,295 metres we had remaining to reach the 5,895m Uhuru Peak summit for sunrise. And believe it or not it was looking extremely promising - a really clear night with Kilimanjaro in all it's glory on one side and views all the way down the valley to the nightlight of Moshi on the other side.
The first part of the summit climb was tricky scaling a bouldered cliff that required the use of all fours at times. We then started a gradual ascent until we reached the foothills. The climb then turned into a relentless zig zag path up the mountain continuing on for many hours in the dark taking the occasional break for water. A lady we'd met at Toubkal's words were ringing in my ears 'just don't look up.' Of course we did and the job in hand looked impossible - the slope steeper than anything I have seen covered in snow and disappearing into the distance. Slowly we'd scale it only to be met with a similar size slope where we'd start the process all over again. The one plus was the conditions. The night sky was full of stars and the lights of aeroplanes and the excitement of getting to the top for sunrise was a huge incentive.
With every step it got tougher, the air cooler, oxygen thinner, limbs more sore and we were still a long way from the summit.
The frozen ground would crack as though treading on snow even though there wasn't any on the ground. But this didn't last long as soon we were walking in the thick of it.
The mountain seemed an endless path upwards into the heavens and it was so steep. Steeper than any previous day by a country mile but still we trudged on in the dark focused on the path and each step, trying to maintain some kind of rhythm. One step at a time.
The further we got the steeper it became before being faced with the final 100 metres to Stella Point. Fortunately somebody had told me that once you reach Stella Point you're pretty much there. What they didn't tell me was how horrendous the final 100 metres was. If we were going to break, it was here and a couple of times it felt like we couldn't go on. The state of our legs, the quizziness, the difficulty of walking in the snow meant that our steps were miniscule. So small it felt like we were travelling backwards. However mid way up we turned around to see a thick orange line on the horizon signify what promised to be a sunrise from the Gods.
We made it to Stella Point but were a litle worried about our pace. At this rate we'd be lucky to reach the summit by a week on Tuesday let alone for this mornings sunrise. However the walk from Stella Point was worth all of the previous hard work. The sun was rising and we took the gentle ascent to the summit with glaciers reither side of us and Mount Meru peering up at us in the distance.
We made it to the summit albeit in a delirious state. We were all over the shop and absolutely exhausted. We got some photographs before Richard noticed we were both behaving quite worryingly (as explained earlier) so signalled we start our descent asap. We were so relieved but were worried our legs wouldn't carry us down.
The sun was out and so close you could smell it so we smacked on suncream like paint and started our descent. Once we got going it was fine using different leg muscles to the ones we had ascended with. Each step seemed to get that bit easier as well. And psychologically we knew we had done it. We had climbed Kilimanjaro.
We got back to camp at 9am where we had a short rest and some food before pushing on to the final camp at 3100 metres. We spoke to a few of the 7 day climbers who had it all to do that night and wished them well.
The final descent of the day seemed to take a lifetime but we got there and worked out that today we'd walked for approximately 12 hours, a distance of around 40km up 1295 metres to the 5895 metres summit and down 2795 metres to our nights accomodation.
We'd done it. We'd climbed the tallest mountain in Africa. And whilst our minds were buzzing our bodies were completely battered.
Saturday 14th November 2009
Richard our guide was worried about me at 5,895 metres above sea level - legs all over the shop and face a strange shade of grey. My words were slurred and I decided to try and curl up to sleep on a nearby rock in the snow. Meanwhile Layla felt she needed some energy so took a bite out of a chocolate bar and promptly threw it up. It was at this point that Richard wanted us descending Kilimanjaro as quickly as possible.
Altitude can do strange things to you. As well as feeling completely light-headed our hands swelled, lips ballooned Jagger-esque, our bodies were itchy, pins and needles set in, very little feeling was in the legs, blurred vision, shallow breathing, hysteria, nausea and a banging headache. And we hadn't even set off yet ; )
Our day started yesterday actually waking up after 3 hours sleep at 11pm to get our stuff ready for the climb at midnight. Wearing pretty much everything we owned with trusty headtorch strapped to forehead we started our climb to the summit.
We'd packed loads of snacks and water as well as waterproofs so given the conditions my backpack felt like I was giving Barry Austin a piggyback. The idea was to scale the 1,295 metres we had remaining to reach the 5,895m Uhuru Peak summit for sunrise. And believe it or not it was looking extremely promising - a really clear night with Kilimanjaro in all it's glory on one side and views all the way down the valley to the nightlight of Moshi on the other side.
The first part of the summit climb was tricky scaling a bouldered cliff that required the use of all fours at times. We then started a gradual ascent until we reached the foothills. The climb then turned into a relentless zig zag path up the mountain continuing on for many hours in the dark taking the occasional break for water. A lady we'd met at Toubkal's words were ringing in my ears 'just don't look up.' Of course we did and the job in hand looked impossible - the slope steeper than anything I have seen covered in snow and disappearing into the distance. Slowly we'd scale it only to be met with a similar size slope where we'd start the process all over again. The one plus was the conditions. The night sky was full of stars and the lights of aeroplanes and the excitement of getting to the top for sunrise was a huge incentive.
With every step it got tougher, the air cooler, oxygen thinner, limbs more sore and we were still a long way from the summit.
The frozen ground would crack as though treading on snow even though there wasn't any on the ground. But this didn't last long as soon we were walking in the thick of it.
The mountain seemed an endless path upwards into the heavens and it was so steep. Steeper than any previous day by a country mile but still we trudged on in the dark focused on the path and each step, trying to maintain some kind of rhythm. One step at a time.
The further we got the steeper it became before being faced with the final 100 metres to Stella Point. Fortunately somebody had told me that once you reach Stella Point you're pretty much there. What they didn't tell me was how horrendous the final 100 metres was. If we were going to break, it was here and a couple of times it felt like we couldn't go on. The state of our legs, the quizziness, the difficulty of walking in the snow meant that our steps were miniscule. So small it felt like we were travelling backwards. However mid way up we turned around to see a thick orange line on the horizon signify what promised to be a sunrise from the Gods.
We made it to Stella Point but were a litle worried about our pace. At this rate we'd be lucky to reach the summit by a week on Tuesday let alone for this mornings sunrise. However the walk from Stella Point was worth all of the previous hard work. The sun was rising and we took the gentle ascent to the summit with glaciers reither side of us and Mount Meru peering up at us in the distance.
We made it to the summit albeit in a delirious state. We were all over the shop and absolutely exhausted. We got some photographs before Richard noticed we were both behaving quite worryingly (as explained earlier) so signalled we start our descent asap. We were so relieved but were worried our legs wouldn't carry us down.
The sun was out and so close you could smell it so we smacked on suncream like paint and started our descent. Once we got going it was fine using different leg muscles to the ones we had ascended with. Each step seemed to get that bit easier as well. And psychologically we knew we had done it. We had climbed Kilimanjaro.
We got back to camp at 9am where we had a short rest and some food before pushing on to the final camp at 3100 metres. We spoke to a few of the 7 day climbers who had it all to do that night and wished them well.
The final descent of the day seemed to take a lifetime but we got there and worked out that today we'd walked for approximately 12 hours, a distance of around 40km up 1295 metres to the 5895 metres summit and down 2795 metres to our nights accomodation.
We'd done it. We'd climbed the tallest mountain in Africa. And whilst our minds were buzzing our bodies were completely battered.
Why?
Day Four
Friday 13th November 2009
Why? was the question we were asking ourselves at around 2pm today as we were walking up what seemed like a vertical rock face in a cloud of hail falling on our heads, unable to see anything around us only a huge peak we had to climb followed by the shadows of further peaks that raised higher and higher and more faint into the distance.
As well as the big question Why? there were lots of little Whys? underneath that helped take my mind off the overwhelming task in hand. Why is it hailing? Why is it snowing? Why did we not add an extra day to the climb? Why is an iron man taking 7 days to climb and us 6? Why are we jinxed when it comes to mountain climbs? Why are my shoes leaking? Why don't I have gaters? Why do I have a banging headache? Why do I feel sick? Why cant I breathe? And why are we climbing this bloody mountain anyway? Why? Why? Why? Why?
We went to sleep last night at the embaraasingly early time of 7.30pm. After waking at 3 I didn't go back to sleep until getting out the tent around 6ish. It was another glorious morning with magic views and perfect conditions for our morning walk. This morning we would climb only 300 metres but the walk was up down some huge, near-vertical valleys hundreds of metres in size which made for some hairaising descents and stiff climbs where rock-climbing skills were needed in places. It was also picturesque with the ridges of the valleys stretching as far as the eye could see.
We walked some of the way with not only our guide but a couple of other chaps from our group talking about all sorts from Abramovich's failed attempt at climbing the mountain to our cooks munchies from the amount of dope he smoked 'It helps me fly up the mountain,' he explained.
On arrival at Karanga Valley where we were treated to a hot lunch our dilemma became apparent. The majority of the poeple in our group were doing the seven day climb meaning they were to crash here for the night whereas a few of us doing the six day climb pressed on straight up the mountain to 4600 metres where we would have little time to rest before setting off on our summit climb at midnight. To make matters worse the conditions had changed dramatically with rain pouring. As we walked slowly up the steep section of the mountain the rain turned to hail and the hail to snow.
Whilst being a miserable part of the climb you couldn't help but laugh at our state. We were tired, a little bit delirious with the inital stages of altitude sickness certainly taking a stranglehold. It was around 4 when we arrived at the camp leaving us a couple of hours relax before dinner. We would then get some shuteye before waking at 11pm for our summit climb.
Friday 13th November 2009
Why? was the question we were asking ourselves at around 2pm today as we were walking up what seemed like a vertical rock face in a cloud of hail falling on our heads, unable to see anything around us only a huge peak we had to climb followed by the shadows of further peaks that raised higher and higher and more faint into the distance.
As well as the big question Why? there were lots of little Whys? underneath that helped take my mind off the overwhelming task in hand. Why is it hailing? Why is it snowing? Why did we not add an extra day to the climb? Why is an iron man taking 7 days to climb and us 6? Why are we jinxed when it comes to mountain climbs? Why are my shoes leaking? Why don't I have gaters? Why do I have a banging headache? Why do I feel sick? Why cant I breathe? And why are we climbing this bloody mountain anyway? Why? Why? Why? Why?
We went to sleep last night at the embaraasingly early time of 7.30pm. After waking at 3 I didn't go back to sleep until getting out the tent around 6ish. It was another glorious morning with magic views and perfect conditions for our morning walk. This morning we would climb only 300 metres but the walk was up down some huge, near-vertical valleys hundreds of metres in size which made for some hairaising descents and stiff climbs where rock-climbing skills were needed in places. It was also picturesque with the ridges of the valleys stretching as far as the eye could see.
We walked some of the way with not only our guide but a couple of other chaps from our group talking about all sorts from Abramovich's failed attempt at climbing the mountain to our cooks munchies from the amount of dope he smoked 'It helps me fly up the mountain,' he explained.
On arrival at Karanga Valley where we were treated to a hot lunch our dilemma became apparent. The majority of the poeple in our group were doing the seven day climb meaning they were to crash here for the night whereas a few of us doing the six day climb pressed on straight up the mountain to 4600 metres where we would have little time to rest before setting off on our summit climb at midnight. To make matters worse the conditions had changed dramatically with rain pouring. As we walked slowly up the steep section of the mountain the rain turned to hail and the hail to snow.
Whilst being a miserable part of the climb you couldn't help but laugh at our state. We were tired, a little bit delirious with the inital stages of altitude sickness certainly taking a stranglehold. It was around 4 when we arrived at the camp leaving us a couple of hours relax before dinner. We would then get some shuteye before waking at 11pm for our summit climb.
Rollercoaster ride
Day Three
Thursday 12th November 2009
There's no worse feeling than waking up in a freezing cold tent, 3800 metres above sea level, wearing every item of clothing you possess, needing a pee. Fortunately I found a technique that could relieve the bladder without having to leave the tent. Unfortunately for Layla this was a male only sport and she had to witness it.
I didn't really get back to sleep mulling over how the weather would fair on this big day. Today we would climb up to a whopping 4690 metres for lunch ( the heighest either of us have ever been) before descending back down to 3,900 metres. The idea being to help with acclimatising but quite a difficult thing to comprehend psychologically as you're ending up where you started altitude wise. However, we would certainly be a lot closer to the mountain.
The sun came out for us in the morning giving great views over neighbouring Mount Meru on one side and Kili on the other. This made the morning climb so much more enjoyable as we climbed up and up until we reached snow for the first time. However the cloud rolled in and lunch was quick in the freezing cold before descending a further 700 metres in quick fashion getting to camp in the nick of time before the rain came down.
Legs were sore and a few niggles here and there but nothing that we were too concerned with.
Thursday 12th November 2009
There's no worse feeling than waking up in a freezing cold tent, 3800 metres above sea level, wearing every item of clothing you possess, needing a pee. Fortunately I found a technique that could relieve the bladder without having to leave the tent. Unfortunately for Layla this was a male only sport and she had to witness it.
I didn't really get back to sleep mulling over how the weather would fair on this big day. Today we would climb up to a whopping 4690 metres for lunch ( the heighest either of us have ever been) before descending back down to 3,900 metres. The idea being to help with acclimatising but quite a difficult thing to comprehend psychologically as you're ending up where you started altitude wise. However, we would certainly be a lot closer to the mountain.
The sun came out for us in the morning giving great views over neighbouring Mount Meru on one side and Kili on the other. This made the morning climb so much more enjoyable as we climbed up and up until we reached snow for the first time. However the cloud rolled in and lunch was quick in the freezing cold before descending a further 700 metres in quick fashion getting to camp in the nick of time before the rain came down.
Legs were sore and a few niggles here and there but nothing that we were too concerned with.
A game of two halves
Day Two
Wednesday 11th November 2009
Shortly after 7.45am we set off. Today we would climb 800 metres at quite a steep gradient with cloud cover overhead indicating rain was on its way. The question was when it would catch up with us or us with it.
The morning was beautiful walking at a slow steady pace by our guide who ticked us off for going too quick yesterday. This was partdown to adrenalin and the other part to stupidity as it is widely acknowledged that ascending too quick will screw you in the long run. If the fatigue doesn't get you, altitude sickness sure will.
This moorland section of the route was beautiful with what seemed a million shades of green. Richard's favourite section on this his favourite route in fact. We were loving the walk and banter with fellow climbers when the inevitable occured. The rain came and it came hard.
Because of Layla's jacket seepage problem she had mine and I got our guides camoflauged poncho. This combined with my MC Hammer hired waterproof trousers made me look pretty idiotic but they were doing their job well.
Today's climb was steep and involved a lot of clambering made all the harder in the wet conditions. After some edge of rockface manouveing, pulling ourselves up jagged bits of stone and walking upstream of rivers trickling down the mountain, we eventually made it to the stunning Shira camp overlooking the Shira mountains at 3850 metres.
After a lovely morning the afternoon had been miserable so it was nice to get out of our ringing wet clothes, drink some hot sweet tea, warm up and get our energy levels back up.
Wednesday 11th November 2009
Shortly after 7.45am we set off. Today we would climb 800 metres at quite a steep gradient with cloud cover overhead indicating rain was on its way. The question was when it would catch up with us or us with it.
The morning was beautiful walking at a slow steady pace by our guide who ticked us off for going too quick yesterday. This was partdown to adrenalin and the other part to stupidity as it is widely acknowledged that ascending too quick will screw you in the long run. If the fatigue doesn't get you, altitude sickness sure will.
This moorland section of the route was beautiful with what seemed a million shades of green. Richard's favourite section on this his favourite route in fact. We were loving the walk and banter with fellow climbers when the inevitable occured. The rain came and it came hard.
Because of Layla's jacket seepage problem she had mine and I got our guides camoflauged poncho. This combined with my MC Hammer hired waterproof trousers made me look pretty idiotic but they were doing their job well.
Today's climb was steep and involved a lot of clambering made all the harder in the wet conditions. After some edge of rockface manouveing, pulling ourselves up jagged bits of stone and walking upstream of rivers trickling down the mountain, we eventually made it to the stunning Shira camp overlooking the Shira mountains at 3850 metres.
After a lovely morning the afternoon had been miserable so it was nice to get out of our ringing wet clothes, drink some hot sweet tea, warm up and get our energy levels back up.
It's Kili time
Tuesday 10th November 2009
Day One
A few nervous wees and we were frantically packing up ready to depart at 8.30am. We'd just spent a couple of relaxing days on a Zanzibar beach before flying to Arusha. The journey from Arusha airport to Moshi (the closest town to Kili) yesterday brought about our first glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro. For a while we just thought it was darker that side of town but soon saw the outline of a colossal mountain that filled the sky.
In the shuttlebus there was nervous conversation between fellow climbers including a guy in an iron man Tshirt, a couple of female doctors and two London bankers. A real mix of personalities and age.
Once at Machame Gate ( the starting point of our 6 day climb nicknamed the Whiskey Route) it was chaos with building work going on, hoards of street sellers as well as the climbers and crew registering. This was low season as well with very few climbers, but still all was extremely chaotic.
After a bit of hanging around we were given our lunch for the day by guide Richard and started walking at a slow steady pace. After around 30 minutes the wide road turned into a narrow track surrounded by dense rainforest. It was lovely and green and the temperature perfect.
However, after praising the climate, the rainforest suddenly lived up to its name and dumped a heap of water onto us.
Unfortunately Layla's jacket had seemed to have lost it's wateproofness and my Gortex cross trainers had appeared to have sprung a leak. Not the best start but the canopy seemed to save us somewhat and the sun came out for the last hour drying us nicely
We arrived at camp after 12 km at an altitude of 2900 metres, the time around 3.30pm where we were able to witness the snowcapped mountain in all its glory as the sun came down and the sky cleared. The thing looked ridiculously high, stupidly cold and savagely daunting.
Day One
A few nervous wees and we were frantically packing up ready to depart at 8.30am. We'd just spent a couple of relaxing days on a Zanzibar beach before flying to Arusha. The journey from Arusha airport to Moshi (the closest town to Kili) yesterday brought about our first glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro. For a while we just thought it was darker that side of town but soon saw the outline of a colossal mountain that filled the sky.
In the shuttlebus there was nervous conversation between fellow climbers including a guy in an iron man Tshirt, a couple of female doctors and two London bankers. A real mix of personalities and age.
Once at Machame Gate ( the starting point of our 6 day climb nicknamed the Whiskey Route) it was chaos with building work going on, hoards of street sellers as well as the climbers and crew registering. This was low season as well with very few climbers, but still all was extremely chaotic.
After a bit of hanging around we were given our lunch for the day by guide Richard and started walking at a slow steady pace. After around 30 minutes the wide road turned into a narrow track surrounded by dense rainforest. It was lovely and green and the temperature perfect.
However, after praising the climate, the rainforest suddenly lived up to its name and dumped a heap of water onto us.
Unfortunately Layla's jacket had seemed to have lost it's wateproofness and my Gortex cross trainers had appeared to have sprung a leak. Not the best start but the canopy seemed to save us somewhat and the sun came out for the last hour drying us nicely
We arrived at camp after 12 km at an altitude of 2900 metres, the time around 3.30pm where we were able to witness the snowcapped mountain in all its glory as the sun came down and the sky cleared. The thing looked ridiculously high, stupidly cold and savagely daunting.
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