Entries from Kilimanjaro

It was a relief to sleep “low down” at 10,000 ft last night.  The air had oxygen and humidity and everything we’d been missing up high on Kili.  We ate breakfast at 7 AM and got walking downhill through the rainforest at 8 AM.  The trail was in better-than-expected condition.  It can be slick and muddy, which can make the 4,000 ft descent treacherous, but today we found it pretty easy going.  The team flew down the track at a record setting pace, making the Mweka Gate in just two hours and fifteen minutes.  Hot showers can be a powerful motivator.  A short distance from the National Park, our Barking Zebra staff treated us to one final picnic lunch.  We then thanked each of the 46 men who’d put so much effort and kindness into helping us climb the mountain. After tips were passed out, the staff sang a few very fun and traditional songs while pulling us in to dance along.  We then said our goodbyes and got on board the bus for the two hour ride back to Usa River.  We checked into the Rivertrees Hotel and sprinted for the showers.  When we next met to plan our four days of Safari, the team was nearly unrecognizable in fresh clothing and shampooed hair.  We enjoyed a dinner outside under the big trees and wished our climbing partner Rob a safe journey homeward since -as planned- he’ll head home and come back for Safari on a future trip. 

Safari starts in the morning!

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

11 PM sure seemed like it came early last night.  Some got a little sleep, some got none, but we all got up to go climbing.  We had an 11:30 “breakfast” before leaving Barafu High Camp just after midnight.  It was magically clear and calm.  We could see the lights of Moshi and a thousand other towns.  The moon didn’t rise until about three so there were plenty of stars to see as we marched by headlight.  Naturally, all the other climbing teams were getting going at the same time, so Naiman -who led the way- had to do some bobbing and weaving to get us free of traffic jams.  Eventually we broke free and were able to set our desired pace up the steep, zig zag of pumice and lava steps.  We took short breaks every 60 to 90 minutes, generally adding clothing layers as we got higher and colder.  It was still dark when we hit the crater rim at Stella Pt at 5:48. We took a short break and the guides broke out thermoses of sweet black tea which the team devoured.  Then we walked the rim to Uhuru as daylight slowly came on.  There is a lot to look at on a 19,000 ft stroll at sunrise.  We hit the tippy top… Uhuru… at 6:47 AM   There were a few tears and cheers, then a bunch of happy photographs.  We sat to eat and drink and then -after 25 minutes on the top of Africa- we began our descent.  The team made good time, boot skiing down thousands of feet of loose pumice.  In three and a half hours we were back at High Camp. Our staff welcomed us with cups of fruit juice and joyful songs.  Tosha -our chef- prepared a 15,200 ft pizza lunch to fortify us for our continued climb down.  The team pulled out of High Camp at 11:40 AM and got down 5000 ft of rocky and dusty trail in three hours.  It is clear and sunny still at 10,000 ft Mweka Camp.  Our team is tired but happy.  We’ll sit down to our final dinner on the hill in a few minutes and we’ll review the highs… and the hard parts of an excellent day.  There will certainly be a few mentions of the amazing job our guides and staff did to get us living out a dream. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We did not have so far to go today, so we took it easy getting started at Karanga Camp.  We got walking at 9 AM in the perfect morning weather we’ve become accustomed to.  The team practiced the “rest step” and some “pressure breathing” on the gradual but steady ascent to 15,200 ft.  We took two rest breaks along the way and made the move in less than three hours.  Our amazing support team had camp well established at Barafu and that made it quite easy for us to just roll in and rest up.  We sat down for lunch together and then lingered for a comprehensive talk about our summit bid.  Things had clouded up a little, as we’ve found to be normal in midday, but less sun just made it a little easier to lounge in the tents for the afternoon.  Early dinner was in order, because we’ve got big plans for the night.  Just when the team thought the day was done, our fabulous chefs and waiters surprised Rob with a birthday cake (brought specially and secretly by runner from Arusha yesterday) and a round of singing and dancing.  The entire team will remember Rob’s high altitude birthday for a long time.  It is 7:30 PM now and all are in bed.  We’ll wake at 11 PM and walk at midnight.  We’ve got mountains to climb. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We pushed back our wake-up and starting times this morning in order to let a few of the surrounding teams get out on the trail first.  The Barranco Wall has a few tight passages along rock ledges where we’d just as soon miss the traffic jams.  That meant a leisurely pace to rolling out of bed and packing up.  It was cool in the shadow of the mountain though, and a relief -during breakfast- when the sun hit. We marched toward the base of the wall at 9 AM with perhaps a few butterflies in some stomachs as folks wondered how it would all work out.  From below, the Great Barranco Wall looks very much like a Great Wall… intimidating.  But as we started winding up the trail and came to grips with the tricky parts, most began to relax. Our local guides -John, Tom, Naiman and Philibet were at every difficult move, pointing out hand and footholds and managing porter traffic.  Before long we’d cruised past the narrowest ledges and gotten to easier -though still steep- trail sections in the middle of the wall.  There were still a few places requiring both hands on the rock near the top, but then we popped out onto flat ground about 1200 ft higher than where we’d begun.  We took a well-deserved break and snapped a few pictures of the spectacular South Face of Kilimanjaro.  The rest of the walk to Karanga was easy in comparison to the Wall.  Just a few valleys to traverse, and lots of sights to see as much of the lower cloud melted away.  We sat down to lunch in our new camp at 13,100 ft.  The afternoon was a chance for resting and rehydrating.  As the sun set, John -our lead guide- led the team in an impromptu dance session on the concrete heli-pad adjacent to camp.  We sat down to dinner in our well lit dining tent and then came out to another beautiful night scene, this time with the lights of Moshi (the city at Kili’s Southeast corner) spread out far below. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was just a little on the cold side this morning at Shira Camp.  Kibo -Kilimanjaro’s main peak- was between us and the sun.  But  we were far above the clouds and it was clear up high, so the views more than made up for the cold temps.  The sun was on us by the time breakfast had finished and so things were comfortable when we got walking at 8:30 AM.  Our path led directly toward Kibo and the terrain was easier than what we’d dealt with yesterday.  We worked up broad, gently angled slopes.  Old lava flows.  Obsidian chunks were easy to find amongst the sagebrush and wildflowers.  By 11 AM we were higher than Mount Rainier and a short while later we were higher than Mt Whitney… thus breaking altitude records for everyone on the team (except Kim who has been to 19,000 ft).  We made it to the Lava Tower -at 15,200 ft- just after noon.  Clouds had formed up again and so it was cool, but not so bad that we couldn’t enjoy some lunch.  We began working downhill at 1 PM.  It felt good to drop altitude and to get back into warmer air.  We took a break just as we got into a garden-like grove of giant senecios and lobelias… the “Dr Suess plants” of Kilimanjaro.  Another careful hour of descent had us walking into 13,000 ft Barranco Camp just after 3 PM.  We settled in at the base of tomorrow’s main objective -the great Barranco Wall. 

We napped and read and sipped tea through the remaining afternoon hours. Dinner finished up by 8 PM and we marveled at the stars on this moonless night.

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

We woke up to low clouds over Rivertrees Inn… but that has been an everyday kind of thing, so it wasn’t much of a concern.  We had our breakfast and did our last-minute packing and gear sorting and then boarded the team bus at 8 AM. 

It took about two hours to get to the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park.  We did a lot of people watching on the way, seeing how Tanzanians go about day-to-day life.  And we watched the plants and vegetation change as the bus climbed up to the 6000 ft gate.   As expected, there was a little time to kill at the park entrance as the permitting process was completed.  We used the time to review efficient walking strategies and to discuss the terrain that lay ahead.  Finally, at about 10:30, we got walking with our staff of local guides.  Tom, Naiman, Phillibet, and John set the perfect pace, as usual.  We had about four thousand vertical feet to climb in about six miles.  Before long we were climbing in the clouds rather than under them.  It was easy to understand why the thick forest had moss on every surface.  The cool conditions made for the perfect walking temperature. The trail was a little muddy and slimy underfoot, but not to the point that you’d sink into the muck.  We didn’t have much trouble with traction or with maintaining a steady pace.  We took a few breaks for snacks and water, but by mid-afternoon the forest was changing to smaller trees, and it was clear that we were getting somewhere.  We came out above the clouds and the trail dried out.  The last hour or so into camp was in fine, blue sky and sunshine weather.  We rolled in at 3:30. Such a pleasure then to see that our staff already had camp built and ready for us.  We just had to move in and enjoy life at 10,000 ft.  That got easier when the last clouds above fell away and Kibo (Kilimanjaro’s central peak) came out for sunset. 

We spent the time before dinner staring at the giant rock walls and impossibly steep ice fields and glaciers. In our dining tent, we had a great feast and a little story time as John -our lead guide- explained his progression into becoming a full climbing guide, 255 Kili summits ago. The team checked out a few Southern Hemisphere stars before crawling into tents and calling it a day.  A good day. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Today was an easy day of getting packed and ready for the mountain.  We began with an after breakfast meeting outside under the big trees while monkeys jumped from branch to branch above us.  We discussed the plan for our climb and talked about how the gear needed to be ordered and arranged for starting out.  Then we conducted equipment checks back in the rooms to help folks decide what to leave in and what to take out.  There was then plenty of time in the afternoon for packing, napping away the jet lag, walking the peaceful grounds of the hotel, and eating.  We got together for a team dinner at 7 PM to cap things off.  Everything is set to go now, we’ll head for Mount Kilimanjaro in the morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

It was pretty incredible to wake up deep within Tarangire National Park just before daylight.  Birds were starting to sing, monkeys were at play a few feet from our tents and lions were about.  Someone heard an elephant.  We drank coffee and watched the light come up.  The team ate breakfast, bid the hotel staff goodbye and hopped into our now familiar Landcruisers.  We set off on our final morning of Safari on a big cat mission… no stopping for zebras and wildebeest… bring on the kitties.  And sure enough, we struck lion gold.  First there was that big, beautiful male hanging out with four females… but wait, wasn’t that another couple of lions over in that tree and still more under it?  All told there were thirteen, big and small in the pride.  We watched them watch us and we watched them wrestle and climb trees.  And then we made slowly but steadily toward the park gate (we did indeed still stop for zebras and wildebeests).   The day got ordinary -though still pleasant- as we commuted back to Usa River and Rivertrees Hotel to repack and prepare for the airport. We recalled our favorite parts of the climb and Safari, we planned out future trips.  Then the team busted up finally… hopping on planes and departing Africa.

I’ll stay on for another climb and Safari that will begin soon.  Thank you for following. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team

We came down from the highlands of Karatu.  Down from the rich farmland surrounding the Plantation Lodge and out South and West into drier and hotter terrain.  But on the way we stopped at a great tourist shop and found a few things to remind us of our journey.  We then set out for Tarangire.  We entered the park at about midday and immediately started seeing animals.  We also saw about a thousand giant baobab trees.   Tarangire is an interesting contrast to our last two “parks” because both of those are confined in geographical terms by mountains or water.  There is no sense of confinement at Tarangire.  It is a huge expanse, and one eventually looks out at zebras and elephants and giraffes as far as the eye can see.  We were lucky enough to see two big lions passed out over tree branches.  We saw hundreds of elephants, mostly in family groups with little duffel bag sized babies stumbling along next to their moms.  We saw Eland and water bucks and impala and wildebeest.  We saw dry riverbeds and acacia trees and palms and grasslands.  As the afternoon went on, we got farther and farther away from other visitors and deeper into the wilderness.  In the early evening we pulled into a tent camp with no fences… zebra and giraffes were wandering a few hundred feet from the lodging- but with extremely friendly and helpful staff who made us feel at home.  We sat around an outdoor fire pit and watched the sun go down and the trees sway and the clouds flow… they call it “bush television”.   Then we ate an incredible dinner and shared mountain stories for one last evening. 

We’ll still be looking for animals tomorrow… but at the end of the day the team will be boarding jetliners.  Tonight though, that can all wait.  We’ll sleep to the sounds of wilderness tonight with perhaps a lion’s roar or an elephant’s trumpet to “disturb” us. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

A great day on Safari, according to our Kili climbing team.  We got out early (7:15 AM) on the drive to Ngorongoro Crater.  It takes a bit to drive the rough road up onto the crater rim, to cruise along that rim for miles and miles and then to drop down the steep road into the caldera itself.   Immediately upon hitting the valley floor, we saw two male lions a few hundred feet from the road.  But they might as well have been rocks.  They were sleeping so hard that we never even saw an ear twitch.   We moved on and began to encounter everything from wildebeest to jackals to hippos and Corey bustards.  The abundance of zebra and Cape buffalo and gazelles was stunning.  There were herds beyond herds stretching to the distant crater walls.  We cruised amongst the ostriches and wart hogs for hours, at one point getting great views of a Cerval Cat on the prowl.  Finally we stopped for a picnic lunch and then began our exit of the crater.  We stopped at a Maasai village on the crater rim and spent an hour with the villagers as they danced, sang, made fire, threw spears and generally explained why they choose to hang on to their traditional methods in a modern world.  Then we went back to that modern world, relaxing for the evening at the very comfortable Plantation Lodge. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn