KILIMANJARO 2000 -- BE PREPARED FOR A REALLY TOUGH CLIMB

Kilimanjaro September 2000

Peter & Barbara Giddy
Keith Braatvedt
Nico
Petera
Dawn Kumm

Kilimanjaro is a tough climb. Preparedness will help. Talk to people who have been up the mountain recently if possible as their memory will be fresh. Here is an account as best as I can remember it.

Barbara had this thing about wanting to climb Kilimanjaro. I had no such desire and so left all the organising to her. I felt that we could not afford such a trip and also that this would be something too taxing on the physical side of things. Nevertheless she continued to talk to various people and a fair number showed interest. But when it came to putting money where mouth is it was Dawn and Keith who were going to be with us. Keith found an associate of his from Johannesburg who was also keen to take on this adventure, Nico. Dawn had mentioned the climb to a man who Tracey knew from her work, Peter and he too agreed to come along.

Of all of us there was only Peter who had any climbing experience. As far as I can remember he had climbed in the Andes in South America and the Himalayan Mountains. Barbara & I were completely new to this and had to do a huge amount of shopping before we felt prepared. We visited Cape Union Mart on a number of occasions before we had bought the necessary down Sleeping bags, Sturdy Hiking boots, Thermal underwear gloves, headlamp torches, Special water bottles that don’t freeze up and big winter anorak jackets that had special fleece lining for the extreme cold. Another major purchase was the anti altitude sickness pills. I can’t remember the name of the stuff but we read extensively on the subject and made sure that we would be well stocked.

We set off to meet in Johannesburg The airport was our rendezvous place. The flight to Tanzania was Air Tanzania and we really did not have any illusions about the comfort levels that we should expect. I think that the flight was in the region of 4 hours and we landed in the evening at the Moshi Airport. Here we loaded all our stuff onto a bus. Peter could not find his luggage. It seemed to have been lost. But we had to leave so piled into the bus and headed off for Moshi. We had no idea what to expect and as we got to the hotel we were ushered into bungalow type accommodation. Keith and I shared, Peter & Nico shared and Barbara & Dawn shared rooms. That evening we went to the main dining area of the hotel and had a good meal. After this we gathered in a large entertainment area where we were given instructions for the next day. I had no idea what the man was saying and thought that I would just follow everyone else the next day. We bought ourselves some of the local Tusker and Kilimanjaro beer and settled down for the night.

The next morning was the most chaotic day that I can ever remember. We had a breakfast and then packed our things up again. Peter had still not found his luggage and so the rest of us men clubbed together to make sure that he would have enough clothes for the climb. We, of course, had brought way too much for ourselves. Fortunately Peter had the foresight to have retained the essentials for the climb on board the plane. He still had his video camera, Boots, jacket and I think that he had his warm sleeping bag. After breakfast we were introduced to our guide, Tobias. He had piles and piles of stuff that had to be loaded onto vehicles. We each were allowed a large tog bag not weighing more than 15 kilograms.

Finally it seems that we were the last to leave and left in a Landrover type vehicle. We drove into town where there seemed to be more chaos and filled up with petrol. As we drove we saw the mountain for the first time. It seemed awesome. It is not far from Moshe to the base of Kili where the climb was due to start. As we arrived at the base we were in even more Chaos than before. We had to sign in as climbers and sort out the tip with the head guide. What we did was to write it down. We had heard that a tip of about US$90 was expected from each of the climbers in a party. Most transactions were conducted in US dollars. Each of us had a small day pack and after quite a time we eventually started the walk. There was total confusion all around but somehow our bags and all the equipment for the climb was sorted out. At the base there were probably a couple of hundred people including porters and climbers. The porters loaded the equipment on their heads and began a brisk walk up the pathway. We had heard that the way to climb Kili was “Poly Poly” which is Swahili for slowly. The first day was along rough pathways and in enormous forests. We stopped a few times and I learned my second word of Swahili – Twende – This is the word for “Let’s Go”. At this stage we were having fun. It was not over taxing and luckily there had not been heavy rains recently so we were not in mud or slush. At the end of the day we walked into thinner forest and into our campsite. The first camp is the Machame camp. The walk had probably been about 5 or 6 hours that day. Our tents had been set up and after supper in the main tent we were in bed fairly early. Keith & I had done a bit of exploring to see if we could buy some beers at a hut in the center of this campsite.

On our first morning on the mountain we were greeted by a porter. His name was Richard. He had a Skeef eye but was one of our favourites as he offered “hot water washing” in the mornings. He seemed to be the equivalent of a Mountain butler and would be there to see to all our needs in the camp. We had ourselves a bit of a wash. It was freezing cold in the early morning but we soon warmed up as we began the days walking. Some teenager had a CD player but we had decided to enjoy ourselves and were tolerant to everything around. As we looked back to the Machame camp through the morning mist we saw how quickly we had ascended. At lunch time we were treated to hot ginger tea, soup and good food. Each time we stopped for a meal the porters would lay out a table cloth, stools and set out the meal as if we were picnicking at the beach next to our car.

This was a long days walk with plenty of climbs and no more forest. A lot of Lava rock and desert looking vegetation. On these first two days I had walked in shorts and a t-shirt. I was very grateful of the solid boots that I had as the pathway was rough and stony. At this stage this was still just a tough hike. That afternoon we reached the Shira Plateau. We were above the clouds. This afternoon many of the climbers were not feeling well as the altitude sickness was starting to take its toll. I realised that I had left my allocation of the anti altitude sickness pills at home and so had to share with Barbara. Fortunately I was not too bad at this stage.

Keith & I walked up and around the nearby koppies. Peter “super C” did a much longer walk along the plateau. As Keith and I looked down on the campsite below it stretched across a vast area and counting the number of tents I did an estimate that there were in the region of 300 people at this camp. I remember that the toilet facilities were (excuse the pun) the pits. There were these huts with a hole in the ground. And my apologies if I disgust you but many of the people using the toilets missed. Ugh! So we would mainly use the spade method. Littering is a big problem on a popular mountain like this. However the main litter to be found is toilet paper.

This evening we were all exhausted and asleep early. We had a talk to our main guide (Tobias) about the route. It seems that the way to overcome AMS (acute mountain sickness) is to walk high and then sleep low. So we should be doing a walk and then coming back to the same camp for the night. I am not sure if it was our or the guide’s decision that this was not a good idea in our case but the next day we packed up and walked up the plateau and away from the camp.

It is a mystery to me how the porters are able to pack up the tents, load all the provisions and our bags on their heads and meet us at the next camp with the tents already set up. But that is what happened each day. Our third day was a long and tough day. Tobias and Pascoe urged us to walk “Poly-Poly” and to conserve energy. I remember finding it so amusing that Tobias was entrusted with the bag carrying the eggs and Pascoe was carrying a gas cylinder for cooking. He would carry the cylinder on the back of his neck. The Guides of Kili have to undergo fairly rigorous training. They learn to speak English, to cook, basic first aid and have to be fit and accomplished climbers. Tobias had climbed this mountain many times before.

The terrain became increasingly harsh. We walked in biting cold winds. We saw less vegetation and by lunchtime we were all pretty exhausted. During the breaks we would sit or lie down and relax for as long as we were allowed. After the break today the walk became extremely tiring. We walked into a wind with sleet beating down on us. I put my Kili jacket on with the hood covering my head and face and walked in total misery. Eventually we reached the Lava Tower. The weather cleared to some extent and we were able to explore our surroundings. Some of the other climbers were extremely sick and we were able to assist with the AMS pills.

The Tower is this huge outcrop of rock and I think that Nico, Keith and Super C all climbed it that afternoon. I was too tired and flopped down to try to recover. There were not nearly the same number of other groups at this camp. I think that most of them had walked to the Baranco Wall and would take a different route to the summit. It was very cold here and I remember sleeping with all my clothes on. I would sleep well every night on the mountain.

The next (fourth) day Super C had walked up the west face of the mountain before breakfast. He called down to us to wave as he was filming with the video camera. He must have lost it I thought. I had just enough energy to walk to the breakfast tent and here was this man walking way up the mountain for fun. As we emerged from our tents it looked like it had been snowing in the night. But what it was, was the early morning frost and sleet making the ground appear white. We were told that today would be a very short walk.

We started off in heavy mist. We had absolutely no idea where we were going. We could see that there were gouges made by ancient glaciers that had slid down the mountainside and we walked through these mini valleys. It was really not long before we were at the Arrow Glacier camp. The wind was whipping up at the tents and it seemed that they would not last. But our guides were clearly experienced and secured everything down.

The four men decided to do a bit of exploring and walked over to the Glacier where we did a Zulu Warrior dance for Super C’s camera. The porters collected water from pools of melted ice. That evening we had a meeting with the guides who explained the routine. We would try to get to sleep as early as possible and they would wake us up at about 23.00. We would then have something to eat and drink and then start walking at midnight. We looked up to the rockface that we would be climbing and tried to imagine doing this in the pitch dark. But we were in the hands of the guides and had to do what they told us.

Sure enough, after some tea and biscuits we set off at midnight for the ascent through the Arrow Glacier. We did not have to climb through any ice. It was just a rock face that we walked and climbed with the aid of our headlamps. There were a number of other parties but they seemed to go at a quicker pace than we did. At this stage we could see the snake like line of lights up and ahead of us. Eventually it became light and we could see how high we had walked this morning. It was freezing cold. We had our big gloves on as well as the Kili Jackets and beanies to try to ward off the biting wind and cold. At one time we stopped for tea.

This was one of the toughest times of our lives as we huddled in the rocks to cut out the wind. Barbara was in total misery as she now had her own, plus the guide’s gloves on. I was in no state to help her and she wanted us to press on and she would follow later. Fortunately the guide was able to understand how she was feeling and eventually got her going again. I remember Super C taking pictures of the clouds below as the early morning sun shone on them. And how he nearly fell to certain death as he took a step backwards and nearly over the cliff face. We tried to be extremely careful as we climbed up but being so tired and out of breath it was difficult to think clearly.

Eventually after about six hours of climbing we reached the top of the rockface. The sun shone onto where we sat and tried to recover. I had this dilemma that I needed to breathe and wanted to take the beanie off my mouth but if I did that my face froze. Super C walked over to the Glacier at the top to measure how big it was. I think that it was about five times his height. It was huge and vast. At this stage we were in a kind of valley just below the highest point of the mountain. We walked in single file to the base of the very last part of the climb. We saw that some of the groups had gone ahead and up this section. Barbara, Dawn and Pascoe were behind us.

In hindsight I was selfish and thoughtless and worried about my own preservation only. But we went on and up the final section. Keith does Karate and counts to ten in Japanese. So what we did was contour up this section at ten steps at a time with Keith counting in Japanese. After each ten steps we would stop and rest. Once we crested this section it was a flat 100 meters to the signpost saying that we had reached the top of Kilimanjaro. The Uhuru Peak. This point is just short of six kilometers above sea level.

It seems that what most people do is to take pictures and immediately begin their descent. But we had to wait for Barbara and Dawn. We looked down to the valley where we had just been and there we saw them. It looked like they were resting. So we decided to do the same and had a good sleep before they eventually joined us on the top of the mountain. It was midday and we had been hiking for 12 hours by now. On the top of the mountain there are some vast Glaciers. We hear that these Glaciers are melting and may soon disappear and may be a thing of the past for future climbers. We took a few pictures and began the descent.

Pascoe found a glacier pool and fetched us water. Water is so essential on the mountain-top. This is what we should have been drinking to stave off the headaches. Super-C had no medication, only water. We were going down a different way. It was shale and loose rocks for most of the way. Keith was not feeling well. But we had to continue down. Again we became separated from Dawn and Barbara. We did not know how far we would have to go before we met up with our camp. We had been told it was called Millenium (or High) Camp. We passed though a camp with huts and fires on the go. This was not ours. We finally reached our camp and found our tents. Keith & I looked around to find the place where beers were on sale. We paid double the already exorbitant price but were happy to do so as a celebration was in order. We had no idea where Dawn & Barbara were and after a while we became anxious.

It was getting late and it was dark. The Guides put together a bit of a picnic supper boiled eggs and some ginger tea and sent out a search party to find them. Eventually at about 23.00 they walked into camp. Barbara was severely sunburned and they had been on the go for 24 hours. Probably for both of them this was one of the very toughest days of their life. They had been having illusions on the pathway. Seeing all kinds of things and not knowing where they were.

The following morning there was frost on the ground and the tents. It was cold but we were feeling good having all achieved the climb successfully. Barbara was in a bad way with sunburn. Today we started off in high spirits and although it was a fairly long trek. We finally made it to the check out gate where we were certified as having reached the Uhuru Peak. Tobias did the paper work while we waited. There was quite a long queue of people at the gate.

After the formalities we walked on for a little while to an outdoor restaurant type of place where we were given a plate of Stir-Fry and rice. We also bought ourselves a beer each. This was a real treat. It was delicious. After our meal we were loaded onto busses and rode back to the Moshi Hotel. Here we booked in again to our Bungalows and had a good shower. And finally after we had washed up we all met outside the hotel with our group of Guides and Porters.

Tobias handed out the Certificates while we treated everyone to beers. The Porters then sang us the Kilimanjaro song. To which we replied with a version of I-Zika-Zooma-Zoomba-Zey. They delighted in this. We had gathered a whole lot of stuff that we would not be needing back in PE, including snacks and clothing that we had made them carry up and down the mountain. This pile of stuff we handed to the porters together with the pre-negotiated tip.

For the six of us climbers there had been a team of about 15 guides and porters. Not all of them had been with us all the time. While we were hiking it was Tobias (Head Guide) and Pascoe (assistant Guide) who had stayed with us. Richard was the Butler and I think one of the cooks. The rest we had hardly seen as they would hike up the mountain with our stuff and often run down again. Others would carry tents and equipment to the next camp, set up the tents and begin the meal and so everything would be ready as we arrived into camp.

After a good nights rest in the Bungalows we loaded our stuff up the next morning and were driven by bus to the airport. The airport wait was quite pleasant as we chatted to other hikers and visited the shop there where we purchased a tape with the Kilimanjaro song. We were shown onto our airplane through the rear entrance and were told that there was “free seating” and that we were headed for Daresalam.

Daresalam is Tanzania’s largest city and is on the East Coast. This was a mystery for us as we though that the flight was direct to Johannesburg as it had been on our trip up. Anyway, Who were we to argue? An amusing feature of this flight was the coffee that was served in the thinnest of plastic cups imaginable. If the cups had been any thinner they would have melted and leaked. It was a short trip to Daresalam and we were ushered to the transit lounge. I think that it must have been Sunday as none of the shops were open.

We sat in a café area and watched the Olympics that were on at the time. After a while we were told that there was to be a delay as “the plane, she are broken”. We were issued with meal tickets in the form of boarding passes which when we tried to redeem them were handed a packet of Simba Crisps. After a while the trays of Airplane food were wheeled into the lounge area and we were fed this. Then I think that we were either told or a rumour spread that we would be boarding soon. So we checked through the security x-ray machine and sat in the waiting area for a while until we became bored and walked back to the restaurant area. All during this Dawns Ice Pick was frozen on the screen of the X-ray machine!

It seemed that we were going to be there for a long time and the airport officials were getting sick and tired of us so they gave us an outing to the city. We were loaded into taxi combi's and driven through town to a plush hotel. The streets of Daresalam were some of the worst I have ever seen where we would have to ride over onto the side of the road to avoid huge donga's in the road. The Hotel was something quite different. Here we were treated to a sumptuous meal and given a room to change so that we could have a swim.

We had been told to be ready at 18.00 at the front of the hotel and there we waited for quite some time as even when the busses came to collect us there were arguments about how the bus drivers were to be paid for all their efforts. We were at this time concerned that we should be back at the airport for our flight back to Johannesburg. But it all worked out okay and I think it was about 21.00 when we finally boarded a Nationwide flight that had been chartered specially for us to fly home. As the doors of the airplane closed and we taxied on the runway I realised how it must feel to be a hostage and then to be freed. Our own experience was hardly a hostage one but we felt a huge sense of relief as we headed home and were being flown by South African Pilots and were being served by South African Stewards.

Our day in Daresalam had been an experience on its own. When we finally reached Johannesburg, Keith’s wife, Suzanne was waiting to collect us. She drove us to their home where we spent the night telling stories. The next day we were able to fly home to recover from this amazing experience. We have an album of photos as well as a copy of a Video that Super C Peter had taken.

Peter Giddy
September 2000