Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Lazy days! We are currently working on our tan on the North peak of Zanzibar. We are staying at a private house together with a lot of other Swedes and we are enjoying ourselves outrageously:-) We will be staying here until the 19th when we will again head to Stonetown and by extension Dar. Our ferry leaves Stonetown at night and we will reach Dar at 06 am the next day......a bit slowly some people might say but as you all know, we love the sea:-)
Now the day has come to tell you the story of the high peaks and snows of Killimanjaro in a more passionate way, we will also through in the safari bit as a bonus:-) We are still in Afrika which means that pictures will only be added at a later date....(once we reach a more internet friendly continent)
So it begins.....the following is an extract from our diary which we carried through rainforrest, alpine dessert, snow and ice, with heavy feet and with tendons as tenced as Daniel Westling on a pressconference.
May 24th
We are nervous now, we have both been to the tiolet x amount of times and we cannot sit still. We are waiting for our team to pick us up from Umoja hostel. At 9.20 they finally arrived and to our surprise our crew was two people more then we anticipated. Two guides, two hikers, one cook, one waiter, six porters, approx a hell of a lot of water, to much porridge (the runny kind), three tents, a lot of mats and sleeping stuff but only one Toyota Land Cruiser from the time when DDR was still a country. Back to the point, it managed to take us from Moshi to the beautiful village of Macheme, passing by coffee and corn fields. After signing us in at the gate at 1800 m ASL we started our hike through the rain forrest. The first day we were only accompanied by our waiter Mr Lucas since our guides could not handle the high altitude very well. Anyhow, after five or six hours through moisty rain forrest we finally reached our camp, Macheme hut at 3000 m ASL. Upon arrival our sleeping tent, the guides' sleeping tent and our food tent were already in place and afternoon tea with popcorn was served in chairs at a table. The view from the camp was spectacular, consisting of the rain forrest below us and above us the moreland laid strecthed out. As a bonus we had a clear view of the glaciers and later at night the million stars.
May 25th
Short day hiking through the Moorland, very steep in some parts but extremly beautiful as a reward. The lunch was accomanied by two "white backs" which Jessika found a bit scary. After 4 hrs we reached our next camp, Shira at 3840 m ASL. As a note, this camp was the most scenic of all with a clear view of Kili above and the deep valleys all the way to Mount Meru to the other side. Our tent was right on the ridge...the mandatory peeing sessions at night was a bit risky... After the tea and biscuits we had a short walk for acclimatization together with our guide. At this point we are still extremly impressed by the food which is always a three course dinner starting with a soup and pancake, followed by something heavier and ending with fresh fruits.
May 26th
Long day ahead....got an early start of a slow (pole pole) ascending up to
to be continued as soon as the electricity is back to this part of the world....
- comments