Kilimanjaro Tomorrow

Mount Meru

As dusk approached, the clouds and fog filtered through Shira plateau creating a surreal visual drama. Forty four miles due west from Kilimanjaro, the 15,000 foot active volcano Mount Meru wasn't about to be outdone by it's more famous neighbor

Kilimanjaro viewed from Shira Camp

In the late afternoon, as we waited for dinner at Shira Camp, the clouds began to open for the first time since early morning. Looking due east, we caught our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro at this altitude. The last time we saw it was leaving Machame camp, where it appeared like a distant peak in the horizon. Now we could make out the details of the glaciers, and we realized how far we had come in only two days.

Sasquatch on Kilimanjaro?

Shortly after arriving at Shira camp, I shot these series of pictures of a rather cumbersome creature with a long mane moving at a high rate of speed in the distance.

Actually, it was only Jeremiah, who had volunteered to sprint around the camp in order to let me test the auto-tracking feature on my new Canon 20D. This was no small feat, as any exertion at 13,000 ft left you pretty winded.

February 2, 2006: Shira Camp Arrival

We more or less stumbled/wandered into Shira camp in mid-afternoon. We were still surrounded by the cloud line and so the views were rather unspectacular. However, this belied the views that were to materialize a few hours later at sunset. We were greeted by a winged sentinel, the white necked raven. Although ground fauna were few and far between, these birds were still abundant, jockeying for whatever scraps were left unattended by the trekkers. Unlike Machame Huts, vegetation was sparse at this camp site. You could see tents sprawled over a flat 1/4 mile stretch of rocky earth when the clouds slowly started to lift.

One year anniversary of Kilimanjaro summit day

This is being posted at 10:45 pm EST on February 5. In Tanzania it is 6:50 am, February 6th; almost one year exactly that Jen, Ajay, Jeremiah and I summited Mt Kilimanjaro.

If you happen to be waking up in Moshi, and the early morning clouds are just right... this is what you would see. You would peer towards the summit and wonder who was standing there- on top of the world for a day.

Day 2: The Enchanted Forest

After lunch, we continued our trek to the Shira plateau. The remaining distance to the camp was about the same as what we had done earlier in the morning, but was much easier in terms of effort. We were now essesntially hiking west along the slopes of Kilimanjaro with relatively little change in elevation.

A dense fog rolled in over the earthy landscape that surrounded us. Old man's beard covered the gnarlled vegetation that we walked through.

February 2, 2006: Lunch and the fresh vegetable dilemma

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from working on this blog, but I'm not one to leave things half finished. It's been over a year since our Kilimanjaro trip began to take shape, but it seems like a longer time has passed. In any case, continuing our trek to Shira Plateau...

Along the midway point of our hike, our first lunch was served. Our guides had set up a table with a blue table cloth and served us a lunch of sandwiches (cheese and vegetables if I remember correctly), biscuits, and fruit, as well as bottled fruit juice and tea.

The cook and waiter (yes, the tentman in charge of setting up camp doubled as a waiter) had done a great job making our meals feel like something special. At least as good as anyone could do under the circumstances. Speaking for myself only, anytime I'm camping, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy in terms of food... I can eat anything. However, we were faced with one dilemma. The cook had prepared the sandwiches using slices of fresh tomatos and bell peppers. We inquired as to how these vegetables were prepared and were told they were washed using boiled water that had also been sterilized by a portable UV irradiator. There was certainly no reason for us not to believe that they had in fact done this. One of the reasons Ajay had choosen Zara Travel for our trip was based on their good reputation and track record. They didn't earn this reputation by cutting corners and leaving a wake of sick customers. However, we had all done enough traveling to realize that we alone were responsible for avoiding the things that might make us ill, such as eating potentially contaminated vegetables and fruit. We were torn between being ultra-cautious and not eating the sandwiches versus possibly offending our cook who had really worked hard to do something special for us. After investing so much time and money to finally make it this far, the last thing any of us wanted was to fail to reach the summit due to a nasty case of gastroenteritis. In the end, I believe Jeremiah and Ajay chose to avoid the veggies, while Jen and I rolled the dice and went for it and ate the sandwiches. Part of my decision was made because I typically have an iron stomach compared to others. The other part of my decision was made because the sandwiches looked and tasted good. To make a long story short, none of us got sick in the end.