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Day 1: To Machame
9 miles to 10,000 ft. - 6 hrs including lunch
The tin roof triangle of an entrance marks the beginning of the hike. People at the gate sell walking sticks (literally sticks, not metal poles) for about $10 for 1 or $15 for two. Another item for sale is a poncho or pack cover. If you do not have a poncho already this is your last chance - our one regret was not having a poncho and instead lugging heavy rain gear each day.
Mostly flat or slightly uphill, we hiked the access road for a while (we thought we were on the trail). Once on the trail, the foliage thickens and moss covered trees create green and gray walls along the path. Part way up we were met with the typical A&K hospitality of a picnic table with chairs and a full meal packed by the Mount Meru Game Lodge. Each day we would be met half way with a picnic table or in colder weather, a meal tent enclosing the tables and chairs. We did not notice any other group with this luxury and now understood why our trip cost more (and why we were glad we saved for years to do it this way).
Our hike ended at a private section of the Machame camp complete with a dinner tent and a private portable outhouse and toilet. Soup and dinner in the dining tent were beyond imagination for camping grub; it was first rate. We were made to feel at home. One group member really made herself at home when she brought a battery operated white noise machine - kid you not - that ran all night. We requested distance from that machine at future camps!
Day 2: To Shira
4.5 miles to 12,000 ft. - 9 hrs including lunch
It was hard leaving Shira Camp. Our private section was so incredibly cozy and the flowers and the view were Heaven, but the promise of a new landscape ahead beaconed, so we packed and stood on the side of the trial for 40 minutes waiting for our token slow-in-the-morning group member to extract herself from her tent. This would become a familiar morning ritual.
The trail climbs up immediately, a bit steeper than yesterday's hike. Almost immediately we are out of the jungle and in a land that is completely unfamiliar. Strands of grey-green moss hang from the trees, picking up the moisture from the 11 am clouds that come in at a rapid pace. You can see this large white wall approach at an amazing speed and suddenly you are in the mist, only able to see the closest of heathers growing at your feet and at arm's length. That section of trail was one of the most impressive moments on the trip. Incredibly unique to us and beautiful.
The trail evolves into a rocky hike with a bit of scrambling that we enjoyed but other group-mates found less favorable. As we love to rock climb, this was fun for us. Some of the scrambling was just 3 foot climbs, but at such a high altitude, everything is much harder than anyone was usd to.
In the mist, before you know it, a million colorful tents start to appear. What we were to learn was our least favorite camp was in front of us. Our actual dislike comes from a lack of privacy. It is like public camping of the olden days where you have the open field and you each park a tent right up next to another one. If you click on the photo below that shows all the tents, you can go to a page that better explains it in detail. It was not terrible, so much as the other camps were nicer for our group.
Day 3: To Baranco
7.5 miles to 13,000 ft. - 9 hours including lunch
We woke to a gorgeous sunrise, and the view of the peak was pristine. With the promise of leaving the worst camp of the trip and the hopes of seeing a "flowering lobelia", we were ready to leave rather early. The group gathered and then we waited 40 minutes for our token slow person to get ready.
The foreign landscape was mostly rocks, giant heather, and finally at the end a flowering lobelia (see with hat and glasses below). The walk was the first hike we did where you really see the mountain as a volcano. Finally, the camp came into view (click on last photo right below to see the tiny distant tents).
Day 4: To Karanga
4 miles to 13,000 ft. - 5½ hours before lunch
The first time we saw our tents up close in daylight at Baranco was in the morning. You can see the photo above of the semicircle of tents in the distance, and below is a closeup the next day.
The beginning of this day's hike was incredibly intimidating. We could see people as tiny as ants heading up what looked to us as a vertical cliff. Moses, our guide, assured me this was a normal trail and the verticality was an illusion, but my already queasy stomach flipped over when I thought about the trail.
It ended up being a normal width trail and relatively protected, but having the strongmen with the tents and supplies pass us was tricky in parts because we had to climb up steep sections of rock on occasion. It was particularly hard to find a private place to vomit, which is important thing at high altitudes. It would not be until later that night that I would admit to myself that the last 4 days of stomach issues was probably bacterial and I would decide to take antibiotics which would miraculously work as prescribed.
The trail itself reminded us of many places we had been before. Parts of the trail looked like the White Mountains of New Hampshire during the summer, and sometimes it resembled the hill walks in misty Scotland. Other areas were so open and seemed to go on forever, reminding us of photos of mountainous areas of Iceland. The general commonality was rocks, rocks, lichen, and rocks.
Party at Karanga
Every day I was sick, I told myself I had to keep going at least to Karanga because that is where we would have our party. I had to show up to that! Party number three for our group, this one was for us celebrating our wedding anniversary. This celebration was a bit different than the last two nights. The last two nights were for birthdays. Of course all end with cake, but the songs that they sing at each of the parties are different.
One thing the celebrations had in common was someone in costume as the celebrated person. The first birthday, they made masks to wear, where the masks were that of the man celebrating his birthday. For ours, a guy pretended to be pregnant to symbolize that he was a woman, which I must admit is a pretty distinguishing feature between men and women. It is probably good he used this as the disguise because his goatee was not in my likeness.
For our party, they also made us cards so we were able to bring home something special from the trip. And as we had done traditionally each night, we ate half the cake and sent the other half back to the cooks and the strongmen so that they could have a treat as well.
The Next Morning
We really did not know Mount Meru was right there until the next morning when the sun rose. The same stands true for the mountain peak behind us. Though a bit crowded, we did not feel like we were as crowded as Shira and we finally had someone guarding our bathroom all night to make sure only we used it.
Remid showed us Mbogo (cape buffalo) bones that had been gathered from the valley about three years previous. They were placed on display on a rock so visitors could learn about the wildlife on the mountain even though we would never see them. Elephants also climb high on the mountain to lick the rocks to get the minerals from them. They have licked for so many years that they have formed caves on the mountain. A certain IMAX film presents elephant bones on the mountain and the mystery as to why he had climbed to that point, but it was probably to lick the rocks which they did not mention in the movie. Sure, the bit made a great mystery for the film, but we thought it was even more interesting that they could lick rocks to form a cave. Of course we are not Hollywood.
Remid also did a short 'nature walk' with me where we identified different flowering plants in the area. This was one of the last days where we would see this before the summit. It was little touches like this that made the trip that much more valuable and interesting to us. Having someone running the trip that identified your interests and sharing in those was incredibly special and unique.
Day 5: To Barafu
15,500 ft.
Ah, the short day. Of course it depends on what you count as short. A few hours from Karanga to Barafu and then lunch at Barafu. A two hour nap (we spent the time packing for the summit) and then supper at Barafu. Chicken noodle soup. Eggplant rolled around smoked cheese in a delicious marinara sauce. Rice. Fresh fruit platter with papaya and watermelon. They suggested beans on the menu as well but that was met with too much vulgarity to mention here, but perhaps it was proposed simply to allow us to heighten our spirits.
Little is remembered from the hike to Barafu, except for the section of slate. Everyone's hiking poles hit the slate with each step and the rock made pretty musical notes, the pitch depending on the size of the chip. We took a photo of the slate to remind us of the sound (click the image below). We also took a second picture of the strongmen hurrying ahead of us into the mist to set up our camp and to prepare our lunch.
After supper we napped for a few more hours and were awoken at 10 pm for 'breakfast'. French toast, corn flakes, more fruit, porridge. We ate and stood at the ready at 10:30 pm for the scheduled departure for the summit. We waited another hour for "that member of the group", prompting her several times to get a wiggle on, her response venomous at best, but by midnight we were finally on our way for the summit. Unfortunately due to the delayed departure courtesy of our group-mate, we did not make it to the rim to watch the sunrise as we had all been hoping for. We were assured, however, that the sun did indeed rise.