Journey to Kilimanjaro
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So excited when the morning had finally arrived!
Entering Kilimanjaro
National Park
Literally just about to start
Lush green Rainforest on
Lower Kilimanjaro
The Lemosho Route has
the best view on Kili
Trekking along
The Lemosho Route
L to R - Ursula, Nicole, Gavin,
Zak, Natalie, Me, Brandon, Margot
Our fabulous waiter
Elisha
Each project has info on funding and progress
Lemosho Gate
Starting Point
With James Makoye
G-Adventures CEO
Spot the monkey!
A Colobus Monkey
G-Fighter
Our incredible porters
Arriving at Mti Mkubwa Camp
Lemosho Route, Kilimanjaro
Mti Mkubwa Camp
Lemosho Route, Kilimanjaro
Dinner!
Day 1 - 18th February
Lemosho Gate to Mti Mkubwa Camp
Lemosho Gate - 2,100m Mti Mkubwa Camp - 2650m
7 km hike - approximately 4 hours
Written by Tina Sibley in March 2022
The day I had been waiting for had finally arrived. The start of my trek along the Lemosho route on Mt Kilimanjaro.
I was ridiculously excited - and had absolutely no idea what was in store for me. That's probably just as well as it was tougher than I could have ever imagined.
The Night Before
We had our briefing at around 6pm the night before. We were briefed by Isaac, who was the base guide for G-Adventures. He led the introductions and we were a group of 8 people. As well as myself, there was Margot and Brandon a mother and son from Ireland, Gavin also from Ireland, Ursula from Germany but now living in Canada (who I spent the last couple of days with), Zak and Natalie a couple from Wales and London and Nicole from Switzerland. Everybody in our group was really nice - we all got on very well and it was apparent from the outset that we were going to make a great team.
At this point, we were paired off but I was an extra female so discovered that, although I didn't pay for a single supplement, I would be on my own in my tent - probably a good thing as I have discovered that I'm a bit of a nightmare with always needing to visit the bathroom in the night etc!
We were introduced to James, our mountain head guide or CEO (Chief Experience Officer) and he seemed very quiet but very nice. His full amazing personality would appear once we hit the mountain!
We were told what to expect and we discussed our kit and what we might want to hire. We were also offered a kit check in our room, which I was grateful to take up. James came to check my kit and was happy - he told me I had obviously done my research and was well prepared. The only thing I needed to hire was a set of gaiters.
After our briefing, we all had dinner together and then got an early night - we were all nervous and excited, although I was a little intimidated by the levels of fitness of the others. They were all super fit, doing Iron Man, running marathons, lots of trekking and mountain experience - and then there was me!
I was way too excited to sleep and spent the night visualising what it would be like at the top of the mountain that I could see from my window.
Video of the day
Morning Preparations
After the lovely breakfast provided by our hotel, it was time for our kit to be weighed. We were allowed to take a duffle bag of no more than 15 kilos (including our sleeping bag) which would be carried by our porters. Then we had to carry our own day pack which would contain layers and waterproofs, at least 3L of water and any snacks plus camera equipment. Hiking poles were also highly recommended and proved invaluable.
Once we were ready, we boarded the G-Adventures bus and drove to Moshi for some last minute supplies. As the weather forecast wasn't great, we were advised to get some trash bags to put our duffle bags and sleeping bags into to protect them from the rain. We were also advised to get some chocolate for the trail, especially for summit night - an order I was very happy to follow!
After going to Moshi, we turned back and drove in the direction of Arusha to get to the West side of the mountain, and the western entrance to Kilimanjaro National park.
We were all in very high spirits on the bus.
Arriving at Lemosho Gate
After a couple of hours, we entered the National park and James had to file some paperwork for our registration while we took photos.
Then we drove up to the gate and starting point itself.
The plan was to have a hot lunch cooked by our chef for the week and then hike for about 3 hours to camp.
As the bus pulled up to the hut at Lemosho Gate, the heavens opened and we experienced a tropical downpour. We had thunder and lightning and were a bit daunted by the prospect of hiking in such rain.
Lunch
Lunch was wonderful - cucumber soup which was so nice, even though I don't like cucumbers! Then I think we had chicken, potatoes and the most yummy vegetables in sauce. Plus fruit. As the rain was so hard, and was blowing into the hut, we felt a bit cold and had to pull the table in but our spirits were still high. We took lots of photos and couldn't wait to get started.
Setting Out
We were introduced to the assistant CEOs who would be accompanying us and who would take it in turns to lead us. They were Iddy, Kajeli and Adolf and at the time we had no idea how wonderful they would all turn out to be. (In some of the videos, I got the spelling of their names wrong!)
James needed to organise the team of G-Fighters (our porters) so we were led by Iddy with Kajeli and Adolf bringing up the rear. As we set off, we were accompanied by thunder, but fortunately the torrential rain had given way to a more gentle rain so although we needed our waterproofs, we didn't get too soaked.
The pace that Ide set was "pole pole" - very slow. A pace that was really comfortable as the trail was very steep in parts.
The trail setting out was absolutely beautiful - the mountain goes through five distinct climate zones - cultivated, rainforest, moorland/heather, alpine desert and finally arctic. We had driven through the cultivated zone and our trek began in the rainforest.
It was so lush and green, with amazing views and we also got to see monkeys - the Colobus monkeys with black and white fur and beautiful white bushy tails.
After organising the G-Fighters, who passed us along the way carrying insane amounts of gear, James joined us and we started to see his amazingly cheerful personality. He was such a lot of fun! There were so many G-Fighters - around 24 of them - a ratio of 3 of them for each of us! They included the chef, the waiters and the toilet engineer! It was a tradition to greet them with "Jambo" and a fist bump as they passed us. They put us to shame, walking so quickly while they carried so much.
After about 3 hours, which seemed to go by very quickly, we arrived at our camp, Mti Mkubwa Camp. Each of us had been assigned a G-Fighter to take care of us in camp and mine was a lovely guy called Mustafa. Each night, when we arrived at camp Mustafa would greet me, take my backpack and poles, show me to my tent and put my stuff inside. Then - after I sat down, he helped me off with my boots and gaiters, helped me get out of my wet weather gear and then it was time for a rest before we were brought a bowl of hot water for a "washy-washy" to freshen up!
Evening at Camp
Once we had washed and changed into something more comfortable, we were invited to the mess tent for tea, coffee and popcorn with roasted nuts. We had a meeting with the CEOs to report on our hike and this included reporting on how much water we had drunk and how we were feeling. We also had our oxygen saturation levels tested as well as our heart rate. The first night, my oxygen level was 94 which wasn't too bad, although we had only climbed to about 2,600 m above sea level. My heart rate was a little raised for me - in the 70s, whereas my resting rate is usually around 55. But mine was good - others were much higher.
After our health check, which we all passed, it was time for dinner.
We had gorgeous soup again, this time Leek soup followed by macaroni pasta and meat sauce, which was also really good. Afterwards we had the small sweet bananas that were to be a regular feature in our nutrition.
After dinner, some of us went to bed early, but a few of us stayed up a little longer and drank tea, hot chocolate and chatted for a while - we were too excited to think about sleep!
Eventually, we went to bed - still very early, especially for me!
My Overview of the Day
A drama filled first night!
When I went to bed, I was in very high spirits and totally unaware of the night that was in store for me!
I had drunk about 4 litres of water that day, as I know that's important to ward off altitude sickness and was determined to drink as much as I could. The only problem with this was that now I wanted to visit the bathroom every five minutes!
It seemed like no sooner I came back from the toilet tent, I wanted to go again - a process that involved wriggling back out of my sleeping bag and liner, putting on leggins and shoes, unzipping the inside and then outside of my tent, zipping them back up, walking to the toilet tent, unzipping it, taking care of business, pumping the flush and then reversing the whole process. It was exhausting!!
At about 1am - I wanted to go again - for about the 4th time!
I made my way out of my tent and then started to feel dizzy and sick. I stumbled and fell over and couldn't get back up again. Every time, I tried to get up I became dizzy and fell back down again.
I cried out a pathetic little help - feeling quite ridiculous but didn't know what else to do.
Ursula came to my assistance, just as I vomited. And then James arrived. As I needed the bathroom, they got me to the toilet tent and Ursula helped me as I was very unsteady on my feet.
I don't actually remember getting to the toilet tent, but I very vaguely remember being helped in there. I have zero recollection of coming out of it. I think that, as I came out of the tent, I passed out. I remember being off in "la la land" with weird music and I have a very vivid memory of the feeling of coming back to earth. It was as though I was somehow 'above' my body and the music gradually faded and it was like I was falling through some kind of black material, back down into my body again. Very, very, very weird!! As I came back to awareness, I found myself being carried by James on one side of me and Iddy on the other side of me.
They bundled me back into my tent and somehow got me into my sleeping bag - I have no recollection of this. I do remember them taking my oxygen saturation levels and checking me over.
James was concerned about me being in my tent alone, so he got his mattress and sleeping bag and joined me in my tent. He asked first if this would be OK and it was very reassuring to be taken care of.
I remember drifting off and then waking up again to hear the sound of the monkeys calling very close above us. The next morning, I thought I hadn't slept as I remembered the monkeys, but I must have got more sleep than I thought as James told me he checked on me and took my oxygen levels every hour but I don't remember any of that. At least I didn't have the urge to visit the bathroom again the rest of the night!
With the state of me, I really thought my trip had come to an abrupt end. I had felt so ill and weak and couldn't understand why as we hadn't even hit real altitude yet.
