Hiking Kilimanjaro Day 1 (part 2)

Adventure is out there! ~Up!

Five hours later at an elevation of 9,840 feet, our group made it to Machame hut, which is the first camp. Our five hour trek consisted of about four hours of hiking, a 30 minute lunch break and other small stops that accumulated to 30 minutes. 

To say I was super tired was an understatement. Though my adrenaline from excitement kept me motivated, the first day of hiking was physically challenging for certain. Almost the entirety of the hike was uphill with certain stints being very steep. If one thing is for certain, my legs and buns better be toned when this is all said and done.

The hiking we did today was through the rainforest that is at the base of Kilimanjaro. And while the surroundings were pretty to look at, the mud we traipsed through was not as appreciated. With waterfalls and beautiful flowers unique to Kilimanjaro, I took in the scenery to distract myself from the burning sensation of climbing stairs like on a Stairmaster machine. 

Aside from having sore legs, my right ankle aches (I have a bad right ankle) so I plan on wearing an ace brace tomorrow for extra support. I’m sure my ankle would hurt a lot more had I not had the walking pole for support. It provided a way of stabilizing myself when the ground was slick from mud and wet, mossy rocks. 

Relief and accomplishment are two things I feel right now. I feel relieved that a portion of the journey is completed and I know a little bit of what to expect for the next several days. I’m still nervous about getting sick from the altitude and I’m worried I’m not quite physically prepared enough.

Thankfully, Arnold eased my anxiety by telling me the oldest person he has guided to the summit was 68 years old. If a person of that age can get to the top of this mountain then that’s pretty good motivation for me to get there. While Arnold shared stories about his many treks, we ate a quick snack of coffee, hot chocolate, and kettle corn. 

After snacking, Rakhi and I went in search of the bathroom. The closest thing we found to a bathroom was a rickety, wooden shack that served as an outhouse. Hesitantly, I used my foot to push the door upon. Big mistake. I about fainted from the wretched smell that crept out of the shack and immediately, Rakhi and I booked it to the woods.

On our way back from the woods, I took in the camp and those around us. By this time, night was beginning to fall and everyone staying at the camp had arrived for the evening. Around us were people from all over the world including other Americans, people from Britain, Russia, Sweden, Peru, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada, Italy, and Holland to name a few. Although everyone was from different parts of the world, the one thing each camp was listening to on the radio were the World Cup games.

We listened to one of the games and chatted about Tanzania, London and America while eating dinner . Why was I ever nervous about what I would be eating on the trek? The food was delicious! We dined on a meal of zucchini soup, potatoes, bread, vegetables with coconut sauce, and breaded Tilapia. Sweet Tanzanian bananas were our dessert and they were just what I needed to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

Laying in my sleeping bag in the tent next to Rakhi, I was exhausted. Today was a great start to this adventure and I am excited for tomorrow’s journey.

Our group getting ready to leave at the Machame gate

Me hiking through the rainforest

Upward climb on the stairs almost the whole way

Daniel and Arnold pausing for a break

Mud made the path slick

Aaron and Rakhi resting for a bit

The Kilimanjaro flower

Aaron, me, and Rakhi at the Machame hut

Rakhi and me at our tent, affectionately nicknamed the Puma/Cub Tent

One of the goofiest pictures of the trip

Hiking Kilimanjaro Day 1

Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it. ~Cesare Pavese

Today has been absolutely crazy so far. I barely slept last night because I was so nervous and anxious about starting the hike today. It definitely hit me last night as I was trying to fall asleep that everyone in my study abroad group had really left and I was actually staying to hike Kilimanjaro. I felt like the kid playing baseball in the outfield too distracted by picking flowers in the grass to notice the ball falling from the sky conveniently right on their head. 

Though Andrew and Robert had left, I was fortunate to have one guy, Aaron, from my study abroad trip staying. Because he’s a graduate student in the distance education program who lives in Charleston, I had never met him before meeting in Tanzania for the study abroad trip and I didn’t know him that well at all. Knowing I had at least an acquaintance slightly took the edge off but I still slept restlessly.

I woke up bright and early at 7:30 and re-packed my belongings and took a nice, hot shower. It was slightly unnerving to think that I wouldn’t have the luxury of a shower for the next six days. It was even more unnerving anticipating how bad I would smell.

After finishing packing, Aaron and I met for breakfast. Along with some eggs, toast, and juice, we also took our first Diamox tablet to help with the symptoms of altitude sickness. Shortly after we finished, our driver from SafariMakers, Ltd. came to pick us up from the hotel.

The day before beginning our hike, we went to pay SafariMakers for the cost of the hike. While in the office, Aaron and I were asked if we minded a third person hiking in our group. As it would lower our cost, we agreed despite not knowing the other person at all. 

After the driver picked us up, we went to pick up this mystery third person. The dork in me hoped it was someone famous because wouldn’t that be cool to say you hiked Kilimanjaro alongside Jessica Biel or Emile Hirsche (who hiked several months after I did). 

Although not famous, the final person of our trio Rakhi was pretty fabulous. She’s a British girl in her late 20’s who lives in West London-so posh! She has a lovely accent and a great sense of humor which I can tell immediately. After meeting her I was sure we would get on quite nicely.

In the hour and a half it took to drive from Arusha to the Machame base, Aaron, Rakhi and I chatted about our lives and how nervous and excited we were. We stopped at a little convenience store on the way and I purchased a Coca-Cola (I’m addicted) and a bottle of celebratory champagne to drink at the summit.

After arriving at the Machame base gate, which is roughly 6,230 feet in elevation, we registered with the national park service. In addition to myself, Aaron, and Rakhi in our group, we have a crew of nine porters, one cook, one assistant guide named Daniel who is extremely quiet, and a lead guide named Arnold.

Arnold is Kenyan by birth but grew up in the village in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Although he’s only 29 years of age, he has summited Kilimanjaro about 40 times in the past three years. His first trip to the summit was with his father, who was also a guide, when he was a mere 15 years old. Interestingly, he’s also college educated and has a degree in civil engineering. He has a warm smile and I could tell we were going to become friends.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting because I was so anxious, we began hiking at 12:30. To find out how long the hike took us on day one, read tomorrow’s post!

Aaron, Rakhi and me at the Machame gate

Aaron went to Clemson for undergrad and as I am a Gamecock it was only natural that we would fight all the way up Kili about which school is the best. GO GAMECOCKS!!

It's Not Goodbye, It's See You Later

Rafiki: What was that? The weather - Pbbbah! Very peculiar. Don't you think?
Simba: Yeah. Looks like the winds are changing.
Rafiki: Ahhh. Change is good.  ~Lion King

Hopefully by this point you’ve read all of the preparation I went through for trekking Mount Kilimanjaro. And hopefully by this point you’ve gotten yourself prepared as per my process and you’re ready to conquer Kili.

As the end of my study abroad trip with my classmates approached, I began to get nervous. The two weeks leading up to hiking Mount Kilimanjaro that I spent in Tanzania I made some incredible memories and made great friendships. 

The day I said goodbye to those on my study abroad trip was a tough day. First of all, I didn’t want them to leave because we were all having such a good time. Secondly, I knew that as soon as they left I was on my own which slightly terrified me. 

I told my new good friends Robert and Andrew goodbye as they would be leaving for Kenya the next morning with their parents (their dad was our professor). I would miss joking around with them on safaris in the “Diddy-mobile” (our affectionate name for our all white safari vehicle), our Lion King sing-alongs (Tanzania is where the Lion King is set after all), our sad attempts at playing beach volleyball at the Jangwani Seabreeze Resort (I miss that DJ so much), and even our evening card games where they constantly killed me at Hearts or Spades.

Needless to say, this study abroad trip was incredible and I am lucky to have made such wonderful new friendships while seeing the world. As fantastic as the trip had been so far, there was still one more 19,334 foot tall task awaiting me. I am freaking out.

My whole IBUS 444 class visiting a school

The four of us in the "Diddy-mobile"

Andrew with bananas on his head at the Mulala village

Robert jumping with a Masai cattle herder

Me getting ready to dance with women of the Masai tribe

Nom Nom Nom!

As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices:  take it or leave it.  ~Buddy Hackett

When traveling, the take it or leave it principle can be applied to food as well. While abroad, your options become limited mostly to whatever is put in front of you.

Over the years I have gotten better about being a picky eater. Now I will give almost any type of food a try (seafood is still difficult for me though).  I start to get nervous about my food options when traveling abroad especially because your options become pretty limited to whatever the local cuisine is.

Your options become severely limited when you’re hiking Mount Kilimanjaro and the only option to serve is whatever food your cook provides. This terrified me. In my hiking pack I brought so much food is looked like I was stocked a bomb shelter with snacks for the next year. 

Want to know what I was munching on? My favorite snack from the hike was chocolate chip Clif Bars. The peanut butter flavored Clif bars are good as well. Disclaimer though, I will not touch Cliff bars anymore after eating two a day for a week straight. Also Jif Peanut Butter packets To-Go were a life saver. I would add the peanut butter to bread the cook gave me to make little sandwiches and I would dip crackers in it. Welch’s strawberry fruit snacks were a sweet treat with my daily serving of 100% vitamin C. 

Although I had some great snack foods as extra energy boosters, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food on Kili was. Our cook was awesome and made delicious food for every single meal.

A typical breakfast on the mountain consisted of an oatmeal porridge, sausage, eggs, toast, a banana, some melon, and hot chocolate or coffee. Lunch was usually eaten as we rested during the hike, so the cook packed us each a little lunch box with our food. The lunch box had a piece or baked chicken (usually a leg, breast or thigh), a hardboiled egg, a banana, a juice box, and a butter sandwich. No, I did not forget to type peanut, the sandwiches just had butter and bread. This is where my Jif To-Go packets were handy! For dinner, we always had some type of soup (leeks, carrot, zucchini, or squash), chicken or fish, rice, potatoes, and then a random side like peanuts or beans. There was always a banana for dessert also and instant hot chocolate or instant milk.

Something for you to look forward to are the fruit you get to eat, especially the bananas. Tanzanian bananas are much sweeter than those found in America. While I usually won’t eat bananas or melon, I loved them on my hike!

If you’re a picky eater like I used to be, I would definitely recommend packed some substantial snack foods like Cliff bars, FiberOne bars, or meal substitute bars in case your cook serves something you absolutely won’t try. That being said, this is a once in a lifetime trip and Tanzanian food is really good so even if you are a picky eater, give the food a chance because I’m sure you will love it!

Typical breakfast on Kilimanjaro

Typical breakfast on Kilimanjaro

Typical dinner on Kilimanjaro

Typical dinner on Kilimanjaro

Must Have Travel Accessories

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.  ~Ansel Adams

Five fun accessories that I cannot travel without came with me on my hike to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. These items included two cameras, my journal, my coach sunglasses, and my iPod.

I am a camera addict. I love taking pictures, photo editing, printing pictures, and framing them. I brought two types of cameras on my trek up Mount Kilimanjaro: a small digital camera and a D-SLR camera. I brought two cameras because I knew I wouldn’t be able to charge the batteries while on the hike. If you love snapping photos on trips, I would highly suggest buying an extra battery for your camera.

I used a small digital camera during the hike to snap quick pictures when we didn’t have time to stop and get the D-SLR out of my back pack. Because you don’t want to carry the D-SLR around your neck for the majority of the hike, having a digital camera that slips into your pocket is key to documenting the whole experience. 

For the trek up Kilimanjaro I was using my four year old Sony Cybershot camera so the quality of picture wasn’t as good as I wish it had been. However, this Christmas I got a Nikon Coolpix S8100 and I love it! It’s perfect for on-the-go and although it’s compact, you don’t sacrifice the quality of the picture when it comes to this model.

Before my study abroad trip to Barcelona, I made a big time investment in a D-SLR camera. After browsing various models and asking around to friends and family, I decided that the Nikon D40 was perfect for me. While the price was incredibly steep at $700 after tax and warranty (you better believe I bought a warranty on it at that price!), I take incredibly good care of it. The unbelievable quality of pictures a D-SLR camera yields is worth every penny you pay.

Because I am not a dear diary kind of girl on an everyday basis, I wasn’t sure I would want to take the time to write in a journal on my Kilimanjaro hike. Each day though, I found myself more and more thankful I had my journal to record my experience in. It provided an outlet for my inner most thoughts and feelings on the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging experience of my life. I feel such a strong connection with my hike when I go back and read everything I wrote during that week. Even if you don’t find yourself having “Dear Journal” moments like Sue Sylvestor on Glee, you will be glad after your hike is over you forced yourself to write about your experience each day.

Really good sunglasses are a travel necessity, especially when it comes to hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. Because UVA/UVB rays are stronger at higher altitudes, protecting your peepers with sunglasses is essential. If you’re buying a new pair, consider polarized sunglasses to give you further protection. I wore black Coach sunglasses I already owned so I could stay cute while climbing. 

While I was unable to use my iPod Touch frequently because of the inability to charge the battery, my iPod served as a great pick-me-up when we were trekking a particularly long stretch and I started going crazy because I had run out of thoughts to entertain myself. The six most played songs on my Kilimanjaro hike were:

1) Time by Hootie & the Blowfish-my favorite band of all time (they met at the University of South Carolina too!) and one of my favorite songs. This song always puts me in a good mood when I hear it, as do all Hootie songs.

2) Two Step by DMB-another upbeat 90’s hit. I am a 90’s music junkie and in my opinion no music compares to that of the 90’s! This song is a great pick-me-up and has one of my favorite song lyrics of all time, “Celebrate we will for life is short but sweet for certain.” 

3) The Climb by Miley Cyrus-incredibly cheesy, I am aware, however this song truly spoke to what I was doing and it provided me the motivation I needed to get through the experience.

4) Babylon by David Grey-I love this song because of the lyrics “let go of your heart, let go of your head, and feel it now.” Sometimes all you can do is just let go in a situation and completely immerse yourself in everything you are feeling in that moment.

5) United States of Pop 2009 by DJ Earworm-a mash up of all the most popular songs from 2009. It’s upbeat and gives you a good pace to walk to or workout to. Definitely a pump up song!

6) My Wish by Rascal Flatts-this song always makes me think of my loved ones, especially my younger sister and brother. When I was missing my family and wished I could talk to them and tell them I was okay while on the mountain I played this song.

Nikon Coolpix S8100

Back side of the Nikon Coolpix S8100

Nikon D40 D-SLR camera-I LOVE this camera!

My travel journal from Tanzania

My black Coach sunglasses

My beloved iPod Touch 3rd generation

Playing Doctor

Be prepared. ~Girl Scout & Boy Scout Motto

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably pretty incredibly accident prone. I have fallen down stairs, had sprained wrists, and gotten surgery on my ankle. My most embarrassing moment in college was when I passed out in the dining hall at peak lunch hours after donating blood at the Carolina/Clemson blood drive. What was possibly more mortifying was being wheeled out of the dining hall with everyone staring as I drowned my sorrows in a glass of orange juice the nurse gave me (hey, anything for a freebie!).

With this in mind, I brought an emergency medical kit filled with basic supplies in case my clumsy self took a tumble on the way to the summit. My medical kit included nail clippers, Qtips, tissues, eye drops, hand sanitizer, tweezers, ace bandage wraps, an ankle compression brace, band aids of various sizes, gauze, Neosporin, medical tape, moleskin (for blisters), an IcyHot roller, scissors, and a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide. 

You can purchase a pre-made Adventure Medical Kit to make sure you don't forget any essentials. This kit is good to have around your house or apartment in general in case of minor injury.

To ease aches and pains as well as headaches, I made sure to bring more than enough Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Also, Tylenol PM was a must have, especially for the long plane ride to and from Tanzania. 

Because prescription medicine such as blood pressure medication, birth control, insulin, anti-histamines, and your Malaria pills are incredibly important, storing them where they won’t be exposed to water is crucial. Kilimanjaro weather can be unpredictable, so I stored my most important items like medications, water purification tablets, and my passport in an Otterbox waterproof case. They range from $20-$35 depending on the size you purchase, but if you find yourself in a torrential downpour, you will really thank yourself for spending that extra cash.

I also kept batteries, a digital clock, a Maglite, and my trusty head lamp in the watertight box. A headlamp is an absolute necessity for your Kilimanjaro or camping adventures. I wore my brother’s Petzl LED headlamp every night after dark when I ate dinner, rummaged around the tent, or wrote in my journal. Also, the day where you trek to the summit is done completely in the dark in the middle of the night (details to follow in later posts), so you must have a headlamp to make the nocturnal journey. Petzl headlamps come in fun colors so you can pick one to coordinate with your cute jacket.

With a quality headlamp to guide your steps and a medical kit in case you stumble, you will be well on your way to reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Adventure Medical Kit

Icy Hot will ease your aches and pains on your hike

Otterbog watertight box to keep your valuables safe from rain

Maglite flash light

Cute colorful headlamps will be key to lighting your way

Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release Capsules will help headaches you may experience from altitude