Africa 2014 - Kilimanjaro Day 1 - Machame Camp (6,000' to 9,900')

Our group was assembled by Backwoods, an outdoor outfitter residing in the Midwest with stores in Omaha, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Austin and others. Backwoods contracts with a Tanzanian company called Zara Tours. Zara is a large adventure company with properties, assets and employees dispersed across the country. Even the Springlands Hotel in Moshi is owned by Zara and serves as the launching pad for many of it's tours. It's a well equipped property in a poor area with 8 foot walls surrounding the compound. There's an outdoor dining hall, swimming pool, courtyard, Wi-Fi and even a masseuse which I would use before and after the climb.
 

After a night of a few too many Kilimanjaro Lagers, my new roommate Stuart and I woke at 7:40 for an 8:00 am departure. Seems there was a dispute on who was supposed to wake who.  We threw our packs and duffles together, ran downstairs to check out of the Springlands Hotel, placed our carry-on bags into storage and crammed as much breakfast and hot coffee into our faces without permanently injuring ourselves as we could. Our guide wasn't thrilled with our reliability thus far. Needless to say, it wasn't the best start to our week on the mountain.

It turns out that Stuart is a solo musician / song writer from Austin, TX. He is here because his friend Nell who actually booked the trip was unable to make the trip due to a knee injury.  We spent some time yesterday talking about my inability to write song lyrics. His general advice was to not shoot for perfection and allow for editing. It turns out that song writing is a matter of perseverance and elbow grease. I guess I need to write a bad song first and go from there. Perfection is the enemy of good. 

Songwriting has been a monumental challenge for me and I'm sad to say after 30 years as a musician, I am still not winning this battle. When it comes to songwriting, I often feel like the kid in Dead Poet Society who is afraid that people are going to laugh or judge anything he creates. Where's Robin Williams when you need him?

The bus was loaded and we set out on our 1 hour drive to the Machame Gate at 6,000' to begin our ascent. After the necessary documentation and signatures were collected we set out on the first day's 3,900' ascent.  
 

Upon arrival, our support team was already assembled and splitting up the cargo for the first haul up the mountain. For 8 people making the summit bid, we will use around 25 local porters to carry out tents, water, food and anything else we may need for the next week. The porters will each carry a load of 40 - 70 lbs on their backs and heads. Humbling.

Kilimanjaro creates it's own economy here. Opportunities are not as plentiful in Tanzania, so the able bodied locals are happy to do porter work. There are even locals assembled outside the gate with hopes of being picked up by a tour group for the day.



Machame Route Breakdown

We spent an hour waiting in a pavilion and prepping while our guide registered each climber with the ranger station. No one just shows up to climb Kilimanjaro. You must be accompanied by a certified guide.

Machame Gate

The group is made up of an eclectic bunch. Tim a youth pastor and his wife Becky from Bristow,OK. George and Laurel a retired dentist and hygienist from Oklahoma City.  My roommate Stuart, musician and solar industry worker. Ron a drummer and salesman from Olathe, KS. Cara, an attorney from Omaha, NB. Our American guide and organizer is Joe from Lawrence who has relocated to Austin. There are also local guides with us. Theo, Filbert (FBI) and Atile each very personable and charismatic.  





Machame Gate - Point of No Return

We began our hike by walking by our porters and exiting an opening in the fence. This gate was significant. It represented the point of no return and the last civilization I would see for 7 days and 37 miles of ascent and descent. I even turned and took a photo of the gate.

Machame Gate - Goodbye Civilization

 

For 5 miles, we hiked through mostly rain forest upwards on a generally mild incline. Our pace is known by locals as "Pole', Pole'" which translates to "slowly, slowly". Ironically, physical exertion is a primary cause of altitude sickness. The Machame route is long, but also considered the best for acclimatization. I likened the pace to an elderly person with a walker. It's quite slow and we will continue this pace for the entire ascent.  I don't mind the slowed pace at all.



Jungle Ascent to Machame Hut

There were monkeys in the trees and the jungle was quite dense. It's hard to believe someone climbed Kilimanjaro before any trails were established through this climate zone. Although humid, the temperature was quite comfortable allowing for shorts. We stopped briefly to eat a boxed lunch prepared by the porters for the day.

 

We reached Machame Camp at 9,900' late in the day and discovered how busy this mountain really is. There were many tour groups setting up camp here and all of them were supported by scores of local porters. Our tents were already erected and dinner was being prepared for the group. Machame Hut camp is in the clouds. Day 1 hike was complete and day 2 was in our sights.
 



Machame Hut Camp

Dinner on the mountain typically consisted of a soup, rice with some type of stew.  There was even some type of desert served after each meal.  There was always hot tea for reasons that we would discover in the coming days.

That night, sleep at 7:00 PM wasn't possible, so Stuart, Ron, FBI and I stayed up playing cards until 9:00.  Even though FBI had never seen an American deck of cards he picked up Spades pretty quickly and learned to trash talk even quicker.

It was difficult sleeping at 9,900' the first night due to altitude, jet lag, tent, camp noise and excitement. I probably managed a few hours. I'm one day closer to getting my answer from the mountain.  Do I have what it takes to summit this beast?  We'll see.

Next Entry: Africa 2014 - Kilimanjaro Day 2