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!!

A Pill a Day Keeps Altitude Sickness Away

Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases.  ~Karl Marx

I thought that after I got my general Tanzania vaccinations I would be good to go for hiking Kilimanjaro. Wrong! There were still a few things I needed to do to prepare myself medically.

Attitude sickness can be a hiker’s worst nightmare. Altitude sickness is a major contributor to preventing 50% of hikers from reaching Gilman’s Point (18,600 feet) which is less than an hour from the summit. It’s also a reason why only roughly 40% of hikers make it to Uhuru Peak (19,334 feet). Because altitude sickness can prevent you from reaching your ultimate goal of the summit it needs to be taken seriously and prepared for.

Symptoms of AMS (acute mountain sickness) include headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, disturbed sleep, and general discomfort. Altitude sickness especially affects those who are pregnant, have cardiac or lung disease, or ocular or neurological conditions. Be extra careful if you qualify for one of these characteristics! Learn more about causes, symptoms, and treatments at U.S. National Library of Medicine's page on AMS.

Looking for a recommendation on a type of medication to lessen the symptoms of AMS? I wouldn’t be caught on Mount Kilimanjaro without Diamox (pharmacological name: Acetazolamide). Diamox is a diuretic, sulfa drug that accelerates acclimatization. While most people don’t start to experience symptoms of altitude sickness until they reach 10,000 feet, I took my doctor’s recommendation and started taking Diamox the first day of the hike so I could get it into my system and let my body could adjust to it.

To learn more about Diamox, visit U.S. National Library of Medicine and WebMD.

If you want to stay safe, one other medical necessity is ensuring that you’re drinking clean water. Because the water you drink on Kilimanjaro is mainly collected for the freshwater sources on the mountain, it’s absolutely necessary to purify the water. Hand powered purification pumps are on the expensive side, so I opted to use Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets which I purchased at REI. These tablets will destroy bacteria, viruses, as well as other impurities. 

Do you cringe when you accidentally swallow pool water? Because chlorine is the active ingredient in the purification tablets, the taste of the water is less than desirable. One of the best tricks I can offer you to covering up the chlorine taste is by adding Crystal Lite On-the-Go packets to give the water a delicious flavor. Fruit punch and lemonade were my flavors of choice, but Cranberry Apple and Strawberry Orange Banana sound tasty as well!

Want to know if I experienced symptoms of altitude sickness on my Kilimanjaro adventure? Read future posts to find out!

Diamox Tablets to treat symptoms of altitude sickness

Yummy Crystal Life On-the-Go Packets

My favorite water bottle that I carried all the way up Kili! It's cute & eco-friendly!