On to Kilimanjaro
Now it is on to Kili. We left our camp at 8:30 in the morning and arrived at the end of the jeep ride at noon. Along the way we had many views of Kilimanjaro. The photo on the right shows the road we were "following".
The rules!
Thankfully sleeping in caves had been abolished or I’m certain my adventure seeking husband would have figured out how to work that in.
The start of the hike - there were 4 of us hiking. We had 3 guides, Bonaventure, Mhina (Sam) and Boniface. Bonaventre called me “Mama Julianna” the entire trip. He tried calling me “Jean” the first day and then said, “I just cannot call a mother by her first name. What is the name of your oldest child?” I answered “Julianna”. He called me Mama Julianna the remainder of the trip. In Tanzania, when a woman has her first child, she goes by “Mama” and the name of the first born. My sister-law joined us after the trip and she was “Mama David”.
I still haven’t filled in my certificate for hiking Kilimanjaro – I’m not certain if I should use “Jean” or “Mama Julianna”.
So the three guides – for 4 trekkers and then the amazing porters – 39 to carry our gear and food. The porters all carried about 40 pounds of gear and were ALWAYS in the lead. The size of the porters back were larger than half their height. They amazed me
When we were about 20 minutes out of camp our for the night, and the end of the hiking day neared, the personal porters came to carry in our backpacks. Each one of them said, “good job” – and knuckles of the porter and trekker met. Sweet sounds after a day of hiking.
It was then determined the Range Rover couldn’t drive all the way to the trailhead because it was too muddy – so instead we hiked in the mud. We had lunch at the trailhead before starting up at about 2PM. The trail was incredibly slippery from the mud, even our guides and porters slipped and some fell.
Our first day took us through equatorial forest. As I hike much slower than others, I am generally assigned my own guide. On this trek, it was Sam. He taught me about the vegetation, Tanzanian history and other unusual things along the way. At one point he asked why moss didn't grow on the trees. I had no idea. He said that the elephants rub their trunks on the trees. So the trail we were taking through the forest was originally an elephant trail.
I asked if there were women guides and porters and learned were and they mostly hiked the Coca Cola Trail.
Sam was very encouraging. Although I hike slowly, I surprised Sam by not wanting to stop. Slow and steady...that's me.
At dinner that evening in the Forest Camp (9000') I found out others had a difficult hike, I wasn't the only one. Dave and Hugh came in about a half hour before me. Not too shabby for a 60 year old lady that doesn't like to hike!
The boots are a testament to my day of hiking. On right, our home for the night. Thankfully the tents were numbered so I could find mine in the middle of the night.
