7/11 Fourth day.

Kinda kicked my butt a little. Started out beautiful and sunny, got a good picture of the summit and sunrise. Almost have a routine with squatty-potty but I still get some shortness of breath at this elevation as if I walked up a steep incline. 

Nice and sunny as we got to the Mawenzi Tarn campsite. Very warm, had to open the vents on the top of the tent. Got a little nap then Oswald and NGomu took us up another 'test' trail. It was socked in with clouds and wind. Then it started up with sleet and freezing rain so we didn't bother going to the top of the ridge where there was supposed to be a view, no point.

Came back down, had a snack and a little rest before dinner. We are at 14,180 FT, went up to about 14,535 FT. Only traveled about 3 kilometers. Snow overnight. Next day we head for the base camp at Kibo Hut.

Getting ready to go

NGomu w/ Red-hot Poker

Red-hot Poker flower

There she is

Mawenzi peak

Taking a breather

Campsite w/ poison pond in the 
background

Who piled these stones?

Mawenzi Tarn Hut sign

Ranger Gord's hut

Home for the night w/ potty in the background

Kikelelwa or bust!

 7/10 Second full day - Second Cave to Kikelelwa Cave.

Did NOT sleep better, only got three hours. Stepped outside the tent at about 1-2 AM (to pee, of course) looked up at the clear sky. Stars and Milky Way from horizon to horizon - AMAZING, AWE-INSPIRING, BREATH-TAKING, WOW! (Class 1 on the Bortle scale.) Unfortunately I was a little too cold to pop back out with the camera, it was so unbelievable. 

However, I did have to go out to avail myself of the 2-step potty - not a fun prospect IMHO. (https://youtu.be/M2UI_2ugx5I if you are really interested in how to actually use one.) Imagine, if you will, balancing on one foot, pulling my pant leg and shorts off the other leg then aiming my foot back into the waiting shoe. Then it's a shuffle backwards (still holding the pant leg, etc. off the floor) to get into the 'bombing' position and the bombardier sights aren't quite accurate from this elevation. BTW, since I haven't milked cows in many decades, my ankles can no longer bend such that my feet are flat on the floor and directly under my CG! To top all that off, the 'product' was (much) less than solid. The new diet, including millet porridge in the morning, may not be helping. This was my actual first time using one of these. In my prior trip to the Magic Kingdom I was able to avoid these completely, finally caught up with me.

Today we split paths with Angel & Benjamin, apparently they are taking the 5 day route. (This morning she said she didn't sleep much but Ben slept like a rock.) I gave him my business card, I hope they get in touch.

So, off to the next camp, tough hike (for me) up ridge, down to the gully, repeat. "We're almost there." was a lie! HaHa. Finally we sight camp, ~1/2 mile away and Ngomu says, "Five more minutes." Another lie! But, twende, pole-pole (twen-D, pol-E pol-E) which means "Let's go, slowly-slowly.", we made it. Along the way my allergies were acting up. We were hiking through moorland region today. Saw lots of evidence of buffalo - they are bulldozers. Lots of fresh wild dog scat and something our guide called dika-dika poop as well. Saw a couple little lizards, not much else in terms of fauna. 

This morning we had woken up inside the clouds. It was cloudy and sometimes nasty all day. Only two small breaks of sun. At camp it was 46°F, 77% RH, 19.7" Hg. Took some allergy meds and lay down for a 2 hour nap. Now it's almost suppertime. (We had lunch when we arrived at camp.) We are certainly fed well and enough.

Here's a bunch of pictures, enjoy.

Oswald, our main guide

NGomu, 2nd guide

Little fauna

There she is

First Full Day - Hakuna Matata

Perpetual camp follower

 They call me Simba, it has become my trail name. Kinda stuck.

7/9 Oddly enough the first camp is also called Simba. 

Simba Camp

I think this is a gladiola?

Initial view of 2nd Cave

Our campsite

Sign for the 2nd Cave camp

Better view of 2nd Cave

Angel & Benjamin

Mawenzi, one of the 3 peaks of Kilimanjaro
Mawenzi Tarn camp is near the base

Have stick, will trek

Little more of the flora, some sort of 
'everlasting' flower

Looking back down on our camp site

Simba camp to Second Cave, 11,440 FT, 52°F, RH 87%, wind 5-7 MPH, damp. Slow walk up, it took about four hours on what should probably have been about 2 hours (at sea level, haha). I was very hot and sweaty, again. Had to take my rain jacket off, left with just a t-shirt. Then took off my rain pants, my jeans were soaked from sweat. It's cloudy at Second Cave camp - then it rather suddenly cleared and the sun came out for a bit. Got to dry my shirt, jacket, & maybe my shorts, all soaked from yesterday. Diamox makes you pee - a lot! Up at 11 PM & 2 AM last night. Although it is hard to drink as much as the guides would seem to like us to. I don't need water to cool off when we stop because I'm sweating like a horse. Kili wasn't quite so shy, came 'out' for a couple pictures. 

We got to camp around 1 PM today, had lunch, then a rest. Thought it was going to rain but thankfully it didn't. Then we took a short 'stress test' hike up to 11,900 FT and back down.

Got a few more pictures and back to camp by 5:45 PM, supper is at 6:30 PM. Then try to pee some more before hitting the sack. There are two ravens here looking for hand outs. Oh, and we saw a lot of buffalo 'exhaust' along the trail up here. However we have seen no other animals than the ravens. Apparently elephants are not unknown around these parts as well as wild dogs.

Sun is going down and it's starting to get chilly. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight.

Today is the day!

7/8 I was up too long in the middle of the night, wanted to get up at 6 AM, slept until 7:45! Crap! Packed up everything since I had to leave my suitcases, cash, etc. at the hotel. 3 S's, headed down for breakfast - only 2 cups of coffee for me. :( Went upstairs and brought everything down, duffle, pack & luggage to store at the desk. Check out, pay my beer tab, etc. TrekkingHero picked us up at 10:30. Gabriel drove us and all the porters (8). Three and a half hours on the road with one stop for lunch; saw bananas on the tree for the first time.

Bananas by the bunch

Little 'beer garden' where
G & I had our box lunch

Unloading all the gear

Neighborhood raven at the trailhead

Stopped at the gate to pay the fee then it's a long drive up to the trailhead to unload & distribute the gear. Porters are only allowed to carry 20 kilos on their head but whatever else on their back. I could not have done what they did for 7 days. Met a young couple (Angel & Benjamin) from Switzerland. They had been speaking French so I had to ask - Geneva area, he grew up in Neuchatel. They are moving to north New Jersey now that the pandemic is loosening up the world. She works for a pharma company & knew of McKesson. He is a mechanical engineer and had worked in a number of places but was very familiar with Charmilles EDM machines (company I used to work for.) We headed out ahead of them but they soon caught up and passed us.

Cloudy, foggy, damp, and drippy - I was sweating like a pig. Made it to camp in good time. Had tea then supper around 7 PM. Now it's dark, time for rest, and pack lighter tomorrow! 52°F/85% RH.

First night camp

Back along the trail

Yep, foggy/cloudy

Our mess hall

Trekking Eve

If you can't climb Kilimanjaro you
 can always drink Kilimanjaro

7/7 Completely overcast again; no sunrise. I remembered to order eggs with sausage. Should be meeting with Jackson and Oswald for some reason that is not clear to me (Jackson never showed.)

Slow day but got my steps in by walking around the neighborhood & took a few pictures. Oswald stopped by to chat with Gordon (my trekking partner) and me; chatted about general stuff. We leave tomorrow at 10:30 AM. Apparently Oswald thought I walked too fast yesterday so I 'failed' my first test. I wasn't winded at all even though Moshi is 2,700' +/- 500'. At sea level I had been doing 16.5 minute miles at 38°C and higher temps. Of course that is at about 0 feet elevation.

Good chat with Gordon (he asked for separate tents b/c he gets up a lot at night apparently and didn't want to disturb me). He is some sort of clinical neurological psychologist (PhD not MD), had some POV on Alzheimer's and current research. Note - he started out, as I think I said before, wearing a mask in public and obviously the topic of C-19 came up and he said, "Oh! You're one of those!" when I said that I rarely wear a mask - never asking or listening to the 'why'. Knee-jerk reaction, very 'tribal' which is another discussion.

A lost 'sole'

View back up to the hotel

Gates, fences, and walls - seems to be a
human condition since the beginning of time.

Lots of little open air markets if you need a
chicken to go

Guys on the bikes wait at corners, etc. as a
quick and cheap taxi (they also haul loads)

Local 'guard' dog - some are not so friendly

The hotel really is on a paved road

Open air bar/restaurant as part of a
convention center area

From the other direction

Watch Cat watches

bed turned down, sweet