I
reached the top of Africa’s highest Peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro
(5,895m)
After
the Safari tour, I decided to climb Africa’s highest peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro. However, the travel agency that I went Safari
with wouldn’t agree with the price I offered (��600 + US20) which was about
US800. They asked for US50
more. In addition, they took the
Machame route which I had to stay in tent instead of hut which I didn’t like it
at all. So I decided to go to Moshi
(a town that is close to Mt. Kilimanjaro than Arusha) and try some luck. People came here only for one reason, to
climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
On
February 28, I arrived Moshi around noon.
After checking in at Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hotel, I went to a travel
agency which was referred by a Swedish couple. However, they wouldn’t agree with the
price I offered either. I went to a
second one but the answer was the same.
Later I met a guy on the street.
He was the manager of Africa Holiday Expedition. We talked and talked and finally he
accepted my offer (��600 + US30) for 6 days and 5 nights on Marangu Route . The price was including everything (park
fee, hut fee, rescue fee, equipment rental, a guide, two porters and a cook)
except the tips (about 10%).
Marangu route was easier than Macheme route on the first few days, but
it was harder on the last day when reaching the top.
2007
03 01 (Thu) Marangu Gate (1,890m)
→ Mandara Hut (2,720m)
The
guide came to pick me up at 8:30.
After an hour drive, we reached the starting point, Marangu Gate. After signing up, together with 2
porters and 1 cook, we departed at 11:15.
The trail was very nice and well maintained. It was surrounded by the tropical rain
forest. Occasionally we saw some
blue monkeys chasing each other on the trees. About 4 hours of hiking, we arrived
Mandara Hut. The site was
surrounded by the forest and there were Colobus Monkeys everywhere. After resting for a while, we went to
Maundi Crater nearby. It was an
extinct volcano with grass and trees grown inside the crater. The weather in the mountain was
unpredictable. There was big
thunderstorm, together with heavy rain in the late afternoon. If the weather was like this up in the
mountain, it wouldn’t be fun. The
guide talked to the office and found out there were someone carried down by the
stretcher this morning and there was not uncommon here.
There
was not much to do at the hut and it was very dark after sunset, so we went to
bed very early after dinner.
2007
03 02 (Fri) Mandara Hut (2,720m)
→ Horombo Hut (3,700m)
We
departed at 8:15, heading to Horombo Hut.
An average person would take about 5 hours. While ascending, we noticed the change
of vegetation, from tropical rain forest to moorland. The weather was cloudy, occasionally sunny
sky for a while. So far, we had not
seen Mt. Kilimanjaro yet.
We
arrived at Horombo Hut at 12:05.
After lunch, we had nothing to do, just hanging around at the dining
hall. I met a Spanish father and
daughter (Pitu and Irene). They
were playing Dominos and they invited me to join them. Although their English were not very
good, they were very willing to teach me.
So I played with them for the whole afternoon. It was a very interesting game and there
were many tricks.
Same as yesterday, everybody just went to
bed very early right after dinner.
2007
03 03 (Sat) Acclimatization, Horombo Hut (3,700m) → Mawenzi Hut (4,600m)
→ Horombo Hut (3,700m)
Woke
up at 7:00. The temperature was
only 6.8oC inside the hut.
When I opened the door, we could see sea of clouds below our camp
site. It was absolutely
beautiful. It seemed like the
weather was getting better and better and there was good.
Today
was the acclimatization day. The
guide and I went to Zebra Rock (4,100m). It took us in less than one hour and I
decided to go higher. Later we
arrived Mawenzi Hut at 4,600m. Still I didn’t have any symptom of high
attitude sickness, and so I requested to go higher. At last, we arrived about 4,800m, and still I didn’t have any high
attitude sickness. It seemed like I
had already got very good acclimatization.
Along the way, the weather was fine and it was the first time I saw the Mt. Kilimanjaro. It didn’t have an impressive look to me
as there weren’t much ice on the top. Due to global warming, only a
small part of the top was still covered with ice. According to study, the snow and glacier
on top of the mountain would be gone around 2020.
After
coming back, I met an Argentinean.
He had climbed the highest peak in South America, Aconcagua. But he didn’t make it to the top. He encountered bad weather and almost
loss his toes. He had no feeling on
his toes at all until one month after he came down from the mountain.
The
food was very bad. So far I was
given vegetarian food. I asked my
guide that I wasn’t a vegetarian, and how come I had been served vegetarian
food for every meal. He told me I
would have the chicken this evening.
At dinner, I got a piece of chicken wing that was harder than rock and
smaller than a pigeon wing. I
suspected it was brought up from Moshi three days ago.
2007
03 04 (Sun) Horombo Hut (3,700m) → Kibo Hut (4,750m)
Departed
at 8:45. After leaving Horombo hut,
there would be no water source, we had to fill up every water bottles for the
coming days. At about 11:00, we
passed the Saddle (4,430m). It was an area of alpine desert
area. The air had less oxygen and I
started to feel short of breath and faster heartbeat. I knew it was the symptom of high
attitude sickness and I had to slow down the pace. I realized that even the same attitude
with different vegetation would have the different effect on high attitude
sickness. At 12:30, we arrived at
Kibo Hut.
On
our way, I talked to everyone who came down from the mountain. Altogether 17 people, 6 made it to the
top, 3 made it to the Gillman’s Point and 8 gave up. I found out the problem with the
climbers. They all started at the
same time (around 12 o’clock in the midnight). Those who reached to the top arrived
around 4 to 5 o’clock and it was dark and freezing cold. They couldn’t stand for 2 minutes and
had to come down immediately. I
discussed with my guide that we should not followed everyone since our pace was
much faster and he agreed we should depart around 2 o’clock in the morning.
Again
there was nothing to do in the afternoon.
I borrowed a book from a Czech. It was “Kilimanjaro, a trekking guide to
Africa’s highest mountain” written
by Henry Stedman. The book had
everything you need on climbing Mt.
Kilimanjaro. There was a statistics done by the Park
Authority. It mentioned about the
success rate of reaching to the top was about 40-50%. It was quite close to the interview result
I got.
The
weather started to change at 16:00 and it became very windy and foggy. At 17:00, it started to snow. Dinner again was vegetarian, same as before. After eating the same kind of vegetarian
food for days, I had no appetite at all.
At about 19:00, everyone went to bed.
2007
03 05 (Mon) Reach the top, Kibo Hut (4,750m)
→ Uhura Peak (5,895m) → Horombo Hut (3,700m)
Most
of the climbers woke up at 23:00 and left around midnight. I said to them, “See you at the top.” I was taking easy and got up at
1:15. I didn’t sleep well. I seldom got insomnia and I didn’t know
why. It could be the high altitude syndrome
or maybe I was too excited. I was
given only a few biscuits and a cup of tea. We departed at 2:00 and we were the last
one to depart. Only the guide and
I. It was a clear sky with the
temperature about -1oC.
It wasn’t too cold but the wind was blowing occasionally. The moon was so bright that we didn’t
need to use our headlight. The
trail was not as good as the days before.
It was very steep and we had to walk zigzag. It was all volcano pebbles and soil and
there were many times that we moved one step up and slipped half way down.
At
about 5,100m, there were
altogether 7 people who had given up.
For myself, I started to feel hungry and I had no energy. I scolded our guide that he should know
that we would need a lot energy for this trekking and he had not prepared
enough food. He should know better
than anyone. He didn’t say anything
because he wasn’t feeling well too.
He had high attitude sickness and had very bad headache. I told myself not to give up. I had reached this far and spent a lot
of money and time. Should not give
up! No, never! It was all about the mind that pushed me
going.
Sunrise at 6:30, and we reached
Gillman’s point (5,681m). This was the crater of Mt. Kilimanjaro
but not the highest point yet.
Climbers who arrived here could get a certificate from the Park
Authority. At Gillman’s Point, we
could see the whole crater. It was
covered with snow and ice. However,
there was still another one and half hour to go in order to reach the highest
point. This was quite tough as the
trial was narrow and slippery. When
looking down the crater, it was several hundred meters down and it was very
dangerous. I was wondering who
would come to save me if I accidentally slipped down to the crater. I finished the Mars bar I bought and it
was the only food I had. I still
felt hungry and I was exhausted. It
was so hard to move one step as if my legs weights a million ton. Each step was very very hard work. Without strong determination, I would
have given up already.
At
8:15, I reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Uhura Peak
(5,895m). I felt the joyful of achievement. The temperature at the top was -6oC
and it was very windy. Sometimes,
we had to bend down when walking.
As the weather was cold and I was totally exhausted, I had no mood to
enjoy the scenery. I just took some
photos and went down. While we were
leaving, we saw there were still some people coming up from Machame route. When I arrived the Gillman’s Point
again, I was dead tired and couldn’t move at all. I sat aside and within minutes I felt
asleep. The guide was in front of
me but he was exhausted too. He was
resting and didn’t notice me. After
slept for a while, I felt much better. I was lucky I didn’t get frozen. I shared my last Mars bar with the
guide. I was thirsty too but
couldn’t drink my water because it had already frozen. Another two hours of down slope, we
reached at Kibo Hut. I jumped into
bed immediately. About an hour
later, I was waken up by someone. I
didn’t feel very good and I found I had fever. No wonder it was so hard while I was
trekking. I was thinking to sleep
at the Kibo Hut and left the next day.
But the guide’s high attitude symptom had become very serious. We must left to a lower attitude
immediately. In addition, we didn’t
have any food left. I was starved
to death. We left Kibo Hut at
14:00. On the way, the guide’s high
attitude symptom began to disappear.
At 16:45, we arrived at Horombo Hut.
I
had a very little piece of chicken for dinner and that was the best dinner I
had in these days. After dinner, I
took a Panadol and went to bed.
2007
03 06 (Tue) Horombo Hut (3,700m)
→Marangu Gate (1,890m)
→ Moshi
Slept
until sunrise. I couldn’t believe I
had slept for about 11 hours. I
felt great and it seemed I had fully recovered. We departed at 8:00 and arrived at
Marangu Gate at 12:30. I got my
certificate and went back to Moshi. Again stayed at Kilimanjaro Backpackers
Hotel。
Although
climbing of Mt. Kilimanjaro is
comparatively easy. It doesn’t
required special mountaineering training and equipments. However, I never look down on this
mountain. In fact, it was much
harder than I expected. I knew
there were people got carried down by stretchers everyday and there were people
got killed every year. At first, I
thought acclimatization would be the major challenge because the time for
acclimatization to reach that height was too short. But turned out I had very good
acclimatization. It was the food
and not enough rest and sleep that almost caused failure. Fortunately the strong will overcame the
difficulties. It ain’t easy. For this trekking, I not only felt
joyful of achievement but also learned quite a lot on mountaineering. I was thinking to challenge a 6,000m mountain in the near future.
For
photos, please click the following: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/lam_kuo/albums