September 19th 2011 - Knackered

Simba Camp 2620m to Kikelewa Camp 3678m

9 hours trekking

Morning at Simba Camp broke with the tent being gently shaken by a porter offering tea and coffee (come to be affectionately known as “bed tea”) at 0630.  The inside of our tent must have looked like an explosion in the Watford branch of Millets with us waking up in a heap of rucksacks, thermarests, sleeping bags, thermals and of course dust, where we, and all of our kit, had slid down to the front of the tent overnight.

A porter then does the rounds with “water for washing”.  We try and scrub some dust out of our nails in the 2 inches of cold water and eventually give up.  Baby wipes are far more effective and there really is no point as soon as you touch your kit you are dirty again.

At breakfast we get our first taste of Kilimanjaro porridge, washed down with more hot drinks and everyones tales of bed sliding from the night before.  On leaving the mess tent the cloud has cleared and we can now see Kili's snow-capped peak for the first time.  She's beautiful, but big.  She glows a luminous pinky-orange in the sun and we can see that we are already above the clouds even after only one days trekking.

We fill up our bottles and camelbaks with drinking water that has been purified through a ceramic filter after being drained from the stream at camp.  It tastes ok – if you don’t mind a slightly muddy aftertaste.

We leave Simba Camp and begin our second days trekking in the sun at approx 0800, slightly later than Geordie wanted, but Lisa and Lyndsey are in your group, what do you expect?  Joseph is quick to hurry everyone into leaving – “zero minutes to leave” he starts shouting.

The path is quite steep from the outset so we head off very pole-pole today.  We climb mostly on narrow, and guess what, dusty paths through the moorland and we all immediately appreciate the stunning views of the Kenyan plains beneath us.  Our porters soon overtake us and everyone still in awe at how amazing they are.  Our guides entertain us along the way with radios attached to their bags (apparently Celine Dion is big in Tanzania??) and one teaching us the phrase “poa kichizi kamandizi in the fridge” – Im as cool as a banana in the fridge – apparently there is no Swahili for “in the fridge”.

After a few hours we stop for a break and excitement spreads throughout the group as we realise if we stand on a certain rock in the vicinity of David we can get enough phone signal to send a quick text home.

After approx. 3 hours trekking we arrive at First Cave, an ideal place for a quick break and some shade from the sun.  We have a short rest and practically inhale our personal ration of cereal bars and sweets while being entertained by one of our guides doing acrobatics on the cave roof.  Where do they get their energy from?

We then set off for Second Cave (a lava tube) our next stop, which will be lunch.  By the time we arrive we've already been walking a good 4.5 hours and have worked up quite an appetite. We are served up pasta and vegetables and we all tuck in.

Following our poor nights sleep Lisa decides this is a good moment to have a quick rest and is seen with her head on the table apparently asleep.  I know that she’s fine, it’s just one of those moments where you need 5 minutes because you’re “over it”.  However, Jenny the doctor, being ever professional is concerned.  She takes Lisa’s oxygen levels and it reads 86, as it should be.  Out of interest and for comparison she also takes Moses’ - it reads 85.  She then takes Lyndsey’s….92 – my weird, but natural to me, way of breathing appears to be paying off.

After lunch we trek for another 4.5 hours to Kikelewa Cave.  The walking starts to get a lot tougher, with boulders to clamber over in some very steep sections, and we get our first taste of what lies ahead. The guides warn us that we might start feeling the effects of altitude this afternoon as we go above 3,000m for the first time.

On the way there are urgent shouts for Jenny from the front of the group.  Jenny makes her way along the path to find a porter collapsed in obvious pain.  It’s horrible to see and reminds us that these guys are doing a tough job and are only human.  It appears to be severe muscle cramp and Jenny stays behind to help.

When we eventually spot the mass of coloured tents at Kikelewa in the distance, our spirits are lifted, but by now, the effects of lack of sleep and a very long trek is really setting in, the camp does not seem to get any closer.  After negotiating some swampy grass we arrive at camp.  Which again is at 45 degrees – anyone for a bed sliding competition?

The long-drop wasn’t one of the best at this camp.  The rule “if you can smell it before you get to it its best to find a bush” is definitely appropriate here.  As we first approached it we found Emma and Leanne in apparent distress – Emma’s gag reflex was in full flow and all we decided it was nicer in the bushes.

After a quick rest, its time to head to the mess tent for dinner. The group demolishes everything and we're all in good spirits now we've recovered from the walk.  Another soundtrack to our trek can be clearly heard during meal times – shouts of “can someone pass the Nido” have become a habit.  Nido being a milk substitute; that tastes nothing like milk.

Knackered, we head off to our tents about 8pm.  We decide to try and sleep horizontally in tent to prevent further bed sliding action.  After barricading ourselves in with our kit bags and dosing up on Night Nurse kindly being dealt out by David Marchant (what a hero) we don’t have too much of a bad nights sleep, however by now the effects of the Diamox (tablets taken that supposedly assist with the effects of altitude) start to really kick in.  One side effect is the increased need to pee.  We have to get up several times in the night and frequently cross paths with many others in the group.

I think by this point we are both starting to worry about the next couple of days. We'd prepared ourselves to expect the worst on summit night, but honestly hadn't expected the walking on the days leading up to it to be this tough. Hopefully tomorrow wont be so bad...