Day 1: to Mti Mkubwa Camp (2750 m)

After arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, I passed easily through customs and immigration, and my bag arrived quickly and safely -- big relief! (I think getting the Tanzanian visa in advance saved on some big delays.) There was a scrum of guys waiting with hand-written signs, once we exited. Eventually, we located the guy holding the "Zara" sign - he would be our driver to Moshi. (It turns out that the US trekking company, "Ultimate Kilimanjaro" subcontracts everything in Tanzania out to a local outfit called "Zara Tours". Zara would be managing all aspects of the trip from here till I returned to the airport at the end.) A number of other travelers were rounded up and we were on our way to Moshi to the hotel, the Springlands Hotel.

The room was ok - bit hot and small, and the shower didnt work at all, but these were minor details. I got a beer and a trademark cheese and tomato sandwich, and tried to prepare for the following day. A group of Irish guys nearby were discussing their coming trip. There was a general air of activity and movement in the place. I was ready to go with the hike...

The next morning, after breakfast, I was packed and waiting at the main entrance with a bit group of other travelers. There was a general sense of mild chaos and nobody seemed to know exactly what was going on. Eventually, we were all assigned to different groups and loaded onto vans. (In my group's case, we all squeezed on to a beat up Land Rover -- it seemed we had to travel across some very rough terrain to get to our starting point!) We were also introduced to our guide, Bruce, who would be leading us along the Lemosho trail to the summit and back.

We head off towards our starting point, the Londrossi Gate, but we soon stop to get "supplies" at a local supermarket. (Seems like a bit of a scheme to throw some tourist business to their friends at the supermarket.) In any case, I oblige, and get a packet of Ginger Snap biscuits for the outrageous price of $4.

Off again, the road surface gets increasingly rough. We pass out of the populated areas on to dirt roads with scrub & rocks at either side. The driver stops along the way to point out herds of zebra and wildebeest near the roadside -- we get right up to them!


Finally, we get to the Londrossi Gate and get some lunch. The porters join us in a large covered truck. They take our larger duffle bags and we drive again, over a horrendous rutted road, to the start of the trek.

Soon enough, we get there. We get our day packs on and I try out my walking poles for the first time -- it's 3:30 PM and we're finally started on the first day of the hike.

The pace is fairly easy, though my stomach is not feeling strong. All around there is rich vegitation and fairly dense forest. We can hear the croaking of monkeys all around. Occasionally, we see a few -- colubus monkeys with black and white coloring and long tails, a bit like flying skunks (they are flitting around in the trees above). We finally make it to our first camp, Mti Mkubwa (Big Trees) after about 3 hours.

Our tents are set up as is our personalized outhouse! we get a dinner of leek soup, potatoes and some fairly tough but very tasty spicy beef. There are strong wafts of pot around the campsite - this is clearly the porters' way to "acclimatize". It's very cold outside so I get into bed in the tent by 9 PM and immediately drop into sleep. I wake again at 4 AM, and am roused again from a fitful sleep by a monkey chorus at about 6 AM. Time for Day 2...