17th September 2011 - Luggage

We arrived at Nairobi Airport on time at 0630 having had a good flight but little sleep.  Luckily we only have an hour and a half before our connecting flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport and we all head straight to the gate.  Departure gates at Nairobi Airport don’t really have much to write home about; overcrowded, hot and chaotic.  As expected really.  We find a place to sit on the floor and wait for our flight to be called while trying to distract Steve from the fact that the plane has propellers.

As we walk out to the gate the Captain spots that we all have our trek t-shirts on and says to Lisa and I that we needn’t worry about climbing the mountain; he will hit the ejector seat button and drop us off at the top.  Is it worrying that he looks as if he’s just left the bar??

As we board we are happy to see our luggage on the tarmac next to the plane.  I do question that it appears not to be going anywhere fast but everyone tells me not to worry.

Once on board the Captain announces that we will be flying between Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru and everyone eagerly looks out of the window to the right to catch the first glimpse of the mountain that has been part of our lives for so long and our home for the next week.  Unfortunately it’s too cloudy and we see nothing.

We land at Kilimanjaro Airport after about hour, show our Yellow Fever Certificates and wait by the baggage belt.  Six bags appear, five of which belong to our group.  That’s all.  I was right, our luggage went nowhere.  It later transpired that so much luggage was too heavy for the plane and we were assured it would arrive the next day….we start climbing the next day.  We all sit outside and try to work out if we can complete the climb in what we have stuffed into our hand luggage as our buses arrive to take us to our hotel.  We leave the airport without our kit wandering if we would be able to complete the trek at all.

The A Team

After checking into the Impala Hotel, Arusha, we were informed by Geordie that there would be a briefing by himself and Jenny, our trek Doctor, after dinner. 

We were all still very excited, until Jenny started her brief.  With horror stories of the dreaded D&V we were all scared into overusing antibacterial hand gel, and with the details of altitude sickness and fatigue laid down before us, the reality of what we were doing to our bodies was finally sinking in.  Too late to back out now!

Geordie then introduced Moses, our Head Guide.  In one of the frantic panic phone calls from my worried mum before I left she told me that I had to find a 7ft tall, friendly Kenyan man to look after me while I was there.  Aren't mum's always right?  Moses was exactly that.  Moses told us that he has climbed Kilimanjaro 18 times a year for the past 15 years.  The most calming and reassuring man you could ever wish to meet.  We were told that what Moses says goes - that was fine by us.

The wonderful Moses

As the breifing came to an end - like a mirage a mini bus pulled up outside Reception and all our luggage appeared.  Lots of cheers and relief, although that means we'll actually have to do this.

As a group we had dinner, the topic of conversation being Jenny's brief (was she just giving us to the worst case scenario or were things really that dangerous?) This was until Foxy let slip that he'd accidently knocked on the wrong hotel room door looking for Nick (aka Lola), and started singing the lyrics of Copacabana to the poor unsuspecting man in a towel that answered the door - we were all hoping he doesnt get the tents mixed up in the same way during the week ....