Post Climb Safari -- Tanzania

After our brief rest at the Arusha hotel, we were back on the road again for the safari portion of our climb. We were met at the hotel at 6am by the land cruisers. We hopped in with our safari gear for the short trip to Arusha airport. Our flight took us west, over the planins to Seregeti National Park. Our plane stopped once on the way, and we got our first glimpse of the park animals. It had to do a fly over before landing at the first airfield to scare the zebra and wildebeast off the runway. The second stop was ours, so we got off, collected our bags, and met our drivers for the next 4 days. Fauzia, Gary, and Garrison ended up in one of the land cruisers, Dean, Alan, Mara and I in the other. Just like you see on tv - the tops pop up for better viewing!

Our safari was called "game enroute" which is another way of saying "driving from one park to the next while looking for animals." We started in the Serengeti, and made our way east, traveling over rugged dirt roads, and in some places, rugged dirt roads under construction and incredibly dusty. Along the way, we saw all sorts of wildlife. And, we had nice lodging every night. The days were long, though. Up for breakfast at 7, leave around 8:30, Drive, stop for boxed lunch, drive, get to next lodge around 5, hit the pool, have a drink, dinner at 8, bed.

The first park we drove through was Serengeti. It lived up to its name. Within probably about 1/2 hour, we came upon a pride of lions with a fresh kill. Later on we saw more lions, some with kills, a cheetah, several leopards in trees, elephants, and buffalo. 4 of the big 5, plus lots more amazing things. Hippos, birds, gazelles, zebra. It was incredible. And, the trees were awesome. That night, we stayed at the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, a beautiful lodge on the edge of the savannah overlooking a watering hole. Zebra, gazelle, buffalo, and warthogs wandered around below us as we sat on a private deck near the pool drinking sundowners and watching the sun go down.

On our second day of Safari, we continued through the Serengeti for several hours, then through a desolate "under construction" section of road which gave everyone a good butt massage. Eventually, we made it to Ngorongoro Crater, which was amazing. The crater holds a large alkaline lake, which was quite low when we were there. There is an astounding amount of wildlife in the crater, including the rare black rhino. There are less than 20 black rhinos in the park. Sadly, we didn't see any of them, but we did see plenty of other wildlife, including a bit of a buffalo stampede.
On Day 3, we left the crater behind and headed to Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. On the way, we got to experience tire changing, safari style. It's amazing that we only had one flat tire on our trip given the roads upon which we were traveling. The first jack wouldn't work because all of the dust that had gotten into it. Fortunately, the other land cruiser had a working jack, and we were back on the road within 1/2 hour.

Lake Manyara was much more treed than the other parks we had visited. The trees were pretty incredible. Giant and funky. It was the first time we had seen Baobab trees, which are immense, with branches that look like roots. We saw giraffes, flamingoes, elephants, and hippos, but not nearly as much wildlife as we had seen in the other parks. We were getting spoiled.

After a nice lunch at the Lake Manyara Serena Hotel, we were back on the road headed to Tarangire. Tarangire is well known for it's large population of elephants, and we were not disappointed. Elephants were everywhere, vast herds of them. At one point, we were treated to the sight of an elephant in ecstacy as he scratched his back and rear end on an abraided river bank. Happy day.
We spent the final night on safari at the Tarangire Sopa Lodge. As was our tradition, after moving into our rooms, we met by the pool for drinks and a sunset. We also enjoyed a bottle of wine that I had brought all the way from my house to celebrate our summit of Kilimanjaro. Nice way to end the day.
Day 4 of the safari was basically driving out of Tarangire and back to Arusha, which was only about 2 hours from the Tarangire gate. Once back in Arusha, we had lunch, then folks started to leave. Only Fauzia and I spent another night in Arusha. But, alas, my stay at the Arusha hotel was over. I was back for another night at the Arusha Naaz, and then, the next morning, I was bound for the airport for the next phase of my journey - Zanzibar.

Kilimanjaro

On July 28, 2009, I flew from Seattle to Nairobi via Amsterdam. The first leg of the flight took about 9 hours. With our delayed arrival in Amsterdam, I had about a two hour layover before I took off for Nairobi. By the time I landed in Nairobi at 7:30 pm on July 29, I had been travelling for about 20 hours and flown through 10 time zones. It was my longest travel experience ever, and I was tired. And, my back really hurt! I went through customs, picked up my bags, one of which was a giant duffel bag that weighed just under 50 pounds, and headed into the throngs of waiting cab drivers and touts looking for the driver who was supposed to take me to my hostel. Unfortunately, after about 15 minutes of pacing back and forth and back and forth, no driver was to be found. The first person who contacted me was a nice woman who got me on my way for a reasonable fee. I kept waiting for something bad to happen after all of my reading about "Nairobbery" and the touts who will scam you on a taxi ride, but this one actually worked out quite well. So, I was tired and sore and not thinking straight, but at least I made it to the hostel with my bags and my money.
The hostel where I stayed in Nairobi was fantastic. It is called Milimani Backpackers, and it is within walking distance of the downtown area. It's safe, has a great outdoor bar/restaurant/seating area with a firepit, and lots of friendly international travellers. It was the perfect place to start my Africa trip. I spent 4 nights at the hostel before I headed into Tanzania. While I was in Nairobi, I wandered through the city center, checked out the city market, the national museum, and some of the parks. I also spent a day on a Safari to Hell's Gate National Park, which is about two hours outside of Nairobi. Saw my first animals there -- giraffe, buffalo, zebra, gazelle, warthog, among others. And, went on a nice hike through an amazing canyon. Hot springs, waterfalls, and Maasai guide included. It was a completely unexpected side of Africa.

On August 2, I took a shuttle bus from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania, the launching point for most Kilimanjaro climbs. Our group was scheduled to meet in Arusha on August 3, so I figured I'd get there a day early to get settled and explore the area. Also, the shuttle was an 8 hour ride over roads that were "under construction," so I wasn't sure what to expect. The bus was... interesting. Most of the occupants were local, it didn't have air conditioning, and only the driver's window opened up. So, as you can imagine, it was quite an experience. The African people have a different concept of personal hygeine than Westerners do. There was some not so good fragrance on the bus. Also, there was no bathroom on the bus. And, although one window did open, much of the ride was over dusty, unpaved roads, so the window wasn't even open most of the time. And, I was starving. The night before, they forgot to make my dinner at the hostel. And, that morning, the bus came too early for me to get breakfast. So, I was a bit hungry.The ride was an experience. The beginning of the trip started off on paved roads, but that really didn't mean that the drive at that point wasn't an adventure. Africa has crazy drivers. The tailgate, pass into oncoming traffic, and assume that whomever is coming in the other direction will get out of the way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Also, there really aren't any traffic lights or stop signs anywhere. People just go. I don't know how I managed to survive the various car/bus rides I took, but flying, even in local airlines, seemed much safer than driving. Once we left the paved roads, the driving became a bit less crazy, but it was still an experience. The entire rest of the way was mostly dirt, and we kept crossing and recrossing the old road. Lots of bumps, lots of dust, and at some point, our shuttle driver went around some barricades and had us on the original, under construction, roadway. Thank goodness for my ipod and my downloaded "This American Life" podcasts. After 8 hours of fun, our shuttle made it to Arusha. Unfortunately for me, my luggage was on top of another shuttle, which didn't arrive for another hour.

Once my luggage got there, I took a taxi to my hotel for the night, which was close to the hotel we were meeting in on August 3, but much less expensive. Alpine Ascents International, the guide service, definitely treats its clients nicely. The Arusha Hotel, where we would be staying on our guided nights in Arusha, was definitely the nicest hotel around. And, out of my budget.
My room at the Arusha Naaz was fine. I had a hot shower, a room with a fan, and a tv. And, the hotel had FOOD downstairs. Woo Hoo. But, on a Sunday, not much else was open. I wandered around a bit, but most everything was shuttered. At 6:00, it got dark, and I was advised not to walk alone after dark. So, I wandered over to the Arusha hotel which was about the only thing open, grabbed dinner, and came back to my room for reading and tv watching.
The next morning, I checked out of the Arusha Naaz, checked into the Arusha hotel, and visited the internet cafe near the hotels. Then, I wandered into the other section of town and explored the market, which was amazing. Everything from live chickens to plastic kitchen items and everything in between. And, it was huge. Of course, as is the same all over the places where I traveled, I had a self appointed tour guide attach himself to me and guide me through the marked. And, even though I didn't want or ask for a tour guide, he demanded a tip afterwards. And, when I ponied up, he didn't think it was enough.

That afternoon, I met my roommate, Fauzia, who was from Maryland. We wandered around some more and visited the market again, this time avoiding the tourguides. We discovered another part of the market, outside the main area, where hundreds of women were selling a variety of produce.

The Arusha Hotel was awesome. Our room overlooked the gardens, which were incredible. The hotel had a turndown service, so after dinner, we would come back to find the room looking like something out of a fairy tale -- gauzy mosquito netting surrounding the plush, white beds. Pretty awesome experience. The hotel had a pool and also in-room massages. I actually took advantage of this service. My back had been hurting since I got off the plane in Nairobi, and I hoped that maybe a massage would get it back to normal, or at least close to normal. It helped, but the back was still sore when I started climbing.

The next day, we met the rest of our group. Gary and Garrison, a preacher and his son from Texas, Dean, a laid back Californian, and Mara and Alan, a couple from Colorado who had left their two kids with her Mom in Chicago and come to Africa for their first climbing adventure. We explored the town together along with our "local guides," who quickly expanded from 3 to probably about 15 by the time we were done, went through gear check with the guide, then packed our bags for an early departure the next morning.

On August 5, we headed towards Moshi and the entrance to Kilimanjaro National Park. It was actually raining when we left, a rarity this time of year. We were taking the less popular but more scenic Machame route, which is a 7 day climb. As we started our trek (5363 feet), it continued to rain. We gained about 4000 feet that first day, hiking through a rain forest eerie with fog. All we had on our backs was a day pack. Our clothes and gear was carried by 40 or so porters who additionally shuttled all of our food as well as group gear up the mountain ahead of us. I felt guilty as I watched my bag, coolers, water jugs, and chairs go by me on the heads of the porters who would then set everything up and have it ready for us when we arrived. Even our personal tents would be ready for us, bag out front, chair nearby, when we got there.

That was luxury enough for me, but it got even more incredible when we stopped for lunch. We had a huge blue tent set up for us, a full table and chairs inside, and flowers on the table. For lunch we had casava chips, pringles, salad with avocado and cucumbers, bred, vegetable patties, and fresh papay, oranges, and passion fruit. And, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or milo. We got some interesting looks from the other people trekking by. Also, no peeing in the woods for us. We had our own portable toilet and tent for our bathroom needs. Wow!

When we arrived at Machame camp (9300 feet) for the evening, we unpacked our bags, organized our tents, and then headed into the big blue tent for tea and popcorn. That was only a warm up for our fabulous dinner - cucumber soup, potatoes with gravy, green beans and carrots, pepper steak, and sweet corn cakes. A propane floor lamp provided ambiance, along with the tablecoth and flower. This food routine was to continue for the next six days. Hot breakfast, hike, lunch, hike, dinner, sleep. The food was amazing, and certainly not what I had anticipated.

Day 2 on the mountain we finally broke out of the clouds and got our first look at where we were heading. Kilimanjaro was brown and hulking and didn't seem to have much snow. It looked big, with a very flat top. We would walk around almost half of it as we acclimated and climbed.

We spend our second night at Shira Camp, 12,300 feet. The clouds covered the forest below and we felt like we were on an island looking out onto the ocean. Sunset that night was fantastic from a knoll above camp. I was almost late to dinner because I couldn't stop watching the light change. That night, as we went to bed, an almost full moon illuminated the mountain and our camp below.Day 3 we moved from Shira Camp to Barranco, 12,800 feet. In between, we crossed a 15,000 ridge at Lava Tower. Of course, we had to climb Lava Tower, too, which gave us some even more impressive views. It was a bit of an adventure in an of itself. Some crazy rock climbing to get to the top! On the way down from Lava Tower, I started getting very chilled and couldn't eat (I never can't eat). As we got closer to camp, I felt sicker and sicker. By the time we finally made it to camp, I was feeling awful. I tried to get up for dinner, but I couldn't even hold my head up. My recollection of that evening is fairly hazy, but it's fair to say I haven't been that sick in years. Thankfully, I had cipro with me.
Started taking the cipro the next morning, Day 4, and I was able to make it up the Barranco wall and haul myself into the next camp, Karanga, 13,000 feet. Thankfully, the mileage that day was only about 2.5 miles, but the Barranco wall was not easy. It is straight up a rock face with no place to step off the trail. I have no idea how I held it together on that wall, but I did. Once we got to the top, most of the rest was downhill. I was very happy to get into camp and relax. I felt much better by the end of the day.

Day 5 was another short day to our final camp before summit day. Camp Kosovo, at 16,000 feet, is a bit higher than the traditional high camp, and we were lucky enough to be able to stay there. It's about 45 minutes above Camp Barafu, and gave us good position for our summit bid later that night. We had a nice dinner, then went to bed early so we could get up at 11:o0 pm. I was feeling much better, so feeling optmistic about making the summit.

Day 6 started early. We were on the trial before midnight. I had been feeling the altitude starting at about 12,000 feet, but it was noticably more apparent at 16,000 feet. Not surprisingly, the higher we climbed, the harder it was to do anything. Every step got harder and harder, and I felt like I was gasping for breath. We were climbing steep slopes (in doing the research for this blog after I climbed, the elevation gain was 3600 feet in 1.8 miles, about 1900 feet per mile, twice as steep as Mt. Si for you PNWers), and we were walking on what seemed like a combination of beach sand, ash, and rocks. Not easy footing. We would stop every hour or so for food and water breaks, but just the act of digging through my pack was breathtaking. Zipping up my jacket made me pant. Taking that first set of steps after the stop left my heart pounding and me breathless. And, we were hours from the top. I spent a lot of time looking at my feet, some time looking at the stars. No one really talked - it used up too much precious oxygen. I just kept concentrating on the next step, periodically looking up to see if I could see the top.
Finally, just around sunrise, we reached Stella Point (18,886 feet) at the crater rim. It's not the top, but our guides told us that if we could make it there, we would be able to make the summit. I was so relieved to be there. We took a break, took photos, and tried to see where the actual top was. It looked far away. It felt even farther as we continued to climb towards it. I really had a hard time taking each step, but I was motivated by the people whose names were on my flags, the people who I was climbing for. I kept focusing on them and tried to forget the exhaustion and oxygen deprivation I was suffering. I was not going to be the one that quit. After we got back down and talked about it, apparently every one of us was feeling terrible, but no one wanted to be the one that quit. We all made it. The bulk of our group arrived at the summit at about 7:30 am on August 10, 2009. We posed for pictures, looked around, then headed back down for some air. Apparently, another person on the summit had passed out up there, but I never even noticed. I was too oxygen deprived to think about much else than taking some pictures and getting down.

What took us 7 1/2 hours to climb took us 2 hours to get back down. The soft sand/ash/rock combination made for good plunge stepping and tired legs. Back at camp, I was still feeling the altitude, and my crappy sickness seemed to have returned - I couldn't eat lunch. When the guide took our oxygen saturation back at 16,000 feet, mine was 64%. Not great, apparently. My firefighter friend said they take people to the hospital at 85%.

We packed our bags after lunch, then headed down to our last camp, Mweka, at 10,170 feet. Yes, that's right. We climbed 3600 feet, descended 3600 feet, ate, then descended another 5830 feet to camp. We descended almost 10,000 in eight hours. I was absolutely exhausted. But, I made it. We had a wonderful celebratory dinner, then off to bed.

Day 7 was another descent, this one 4100 feet to the Mweka gate. Legs were tired, we were exhausted, but also looking forward to a night at the Arusha, a hot shower, and some clean clothes. At the end of the trail, we were greeted by our singing and dancing porters with the Kilimanjaro song and a fantastic buffet lunch, including cold beer. And, we even got the royal boot treatment - porters took off our boots and gaiters, washed them, and then returned them to us in pristine condition. Unbelievable.

Also great to watch was the lottery at the end of the trip. After each trip, the guide collected donated gear items. The porters pick numbers, and then then get to pick an item of donated gear based on the number picked. It was great to see all the items prior climbers had donated, and so wonderful to see the looks on the porter's faces as they picked out their gear. These items are huge to them.

After the lottery, headed back to Arusha and enjoyed a few hours of cleaning and organizing for the next leg of the trip, the 4 day safari. I rinsed off the climbing clothes as best I could, and sent the rest out for laundering. I wanted to nap, but between everything I had to do and the limited time in which to do it, it just wasn't happening. I'd have to save my sleep for the safari.