Pole-Pole (Pronounced Pole-Eh Pole-Eh), Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

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Climbing Kilimanjaro was our original motivation for coming to Africa. Some of you may recall our engagement at Mt Everest in Tibet  (Everest Engagement or click archive 2006 on the right hand side of our blog page). Well, to 'top' our engagement so to speak, we decided we would climb Kilimanjaro and get married on the top. Of course, Martin and I couldn't just go on holiday to get married…no.  If we were going all the way to Africa, then we should at least see Africa. Well, I think I can safely say that we have done just that!

Our Crew - 3 guides, 1 cook and 6 porters (plus climb organizer)

Knowing our friend Bernie Sauter was coming from BC, we had done our research a few weeks before and found a small but established tour company for the trek paying a reasonable amount for the trip, not too cheap, not too over the top. Our 'training' last week in the Usambara mountains made us feel more confident about the climb. Of course being away for a year, we wouldn't have our usual hiking and winter gear with us, so we rented it from a local man (a friend of James and Katherine who had given us a ride to Moshi last week). Good-luck (yes, that's his name) helps Kilimanjaro porters who get paid meagre wages and are ill-equipped to go up the mountain. We have heard many stories of how poorly porters are treated doing such a tough job, and we were happy to support this good cause.  His goal is to lend out warm hiking gear and proper footwear (rather than flip-flops) to porters for their work on the mountain.

Kilimanjaro Routes

After the amazing National Geographic stuff of the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, we gave ourselves a rest day in Moshi before starting our Kilimanjaro climb. It turned out Bernie was extremely ill with food poisoning and since he had time, it turned into two days of rest after which he felt good to go. So, bang on 9am on the 21st Feb we were ready and waiting, if somewhat nervously, for our tour operator and guide with porters to collect us from Moshi Backpackers. A minivan (what else!) full of them arrived - about 11 in total. It wouldn't be until we reached the gate that our gear would be weighed and we would work out how many porters we would actually need. We squeezed in to the van with our stuff for the three hour drive to the National Park gate which gave us time to 'talk' to a few of the crew and start to learn their names - after all, if they're going to bust a gut getting us to the top of the tallest mountain in Africa, we should really get to know them! 

Shira Route Altitude Profile

At the Londorossi gate we tumbled out of the minivan, gear and man power. The porters formed a queue at the weighing station. Each porter is not allowed to carry more than 20kg. It seemed that the park rangers were pretty strict about it which is good as it would be unfair to carry too much more. In spite of this the bundles our porters later carried looked awkward and bulky and seemed more then 20kg! Hmmm! The loads seemed to change slightly as the trek progressed, but more noticeable with other groups porters.

Our chosen route was an approach from the west called Lemosho - a longer 7 day climb that allowed for gradual acclimatisation which would also be more interesting passing through the natural rain forest of the lower slopes of Kili, and then onto high moorland before entering the alpine elevations.

Our accomodation at Shira Camp 1

Heading back out the gate our start point was still a 1 hour drive up a mud road…and as it had been raining since the day before, we then discovered it was virtually impassable without a 4x4. On a couple of occasions the porters had to get out and manoeuvre the van through the mud. About 30 minutes in, a truck was strewn across the road. Seeing that it was going to be an arduous task, our guides proposed an alternative: to turn back through the gate and trek up another western route - the Shira route - via a more drivable, gravel road.

Disappointed that we weren't going to do our chosen route, we were secretly pleasantly surprised that we had skipped to a starting altitude of 3100m (10,200ft)  instead of 2100m (6,900ft) . Although it wasn't natural forest that we were walking through we enjoyed the low heather zone ambling through gentle terrain and occasional gorges. A short couple of hours and we had reached camp for the night - Shira One. By the end of Day 1, I had the names of our 7

Bernie and Michelle eat breakfast at Shira Camp 1

porters, 1 cook and 2 guides nailed. Shani, and Duncan-Mack (Ma Picha) were our main guides.  The additional summit guide would be Okwele, the cook, Ali, and the 6 other porters were Uncle, Peter, Captain, Laurent, Cedik, and Idi. We were happy to find the tents all set up, and the boys all getting the food ready for dinner.  I must say that the food was pretty tasty and very plentiful during our days on Kili, although sometimes tough for our stomachs to handle and sometimes we just don't feel that hungry.  Martin had a little bit of a stomach bug from the safari, so the food didn't always sit well with him.  Fortunately, the change in the route meant it was a fairly short and easy first day, and made for a less strenuous acclimatisation day right at the start.

We were happy with camping, and having spent so many nights in the tent we'd bought in Jo'burg over the past year, were used to it, apart from maybe it being a little cooler than what we were accustomed to. Waking up to clear skies was a typical morning.  The mountain was stunningly clear up until about 10AM daily, when at that time the clouds seem to roll in and obscure it from view for most of the day.  So, crystal clear blue skies, with a sunrise over Kilimanjaro was a daily sight that we did not take for granted.

Shira Camp 2

Although the Shira route is one of the quieter routes on Kili, camp seemed to be busy, but we knew more crowds were set to come, as we would meet up with the Machame route on Day 3. We crossed the large (approx 62 sq km), wild and picturesque Shira Plateau. This is the original volcano of Kili and we saw lots of evidence of ancient volcanic activity: light, porous rock underfoot and the towering lava structure of Shira Cathedral which we climbed for acclimatization. Our progress was, as they say here, 'pole pole'. Slowly-slowly for acclimatising purposes. We knew why and we didn't mind and we enjoyed the landscape which was wild and barren in places, and then suddenly we were in the giant-heather zone with lots of old-man's-beard moss straggling down from tall heather trees. Unfortunately, the cloud came in and we didn't have much of a view from the top of the Cathedral.  Day 2 was an acclimatization day where we hiked up above the 4000m (13,100 ft) level, but slept at about 3900m (12, 800 ft) at Shira Camp 2. Arriving at Camp 2 we rested and killed time.

Barranco Camp with Kili looming above

Leaving the Shira Plateau on Day 3 the path east took us through barren moorland to the Lava Tower (4600m, or 15,100 ft) - a merging point with the Machame route. Here we stopped for lunch and were disgusted at all the litter that has been left by other climbers. It doesn't seem like people/porters stick to the 'pack-it-in pack-it-out' policy. We then descended through thickish fog to our next camp Barranco campsite at 3950m (12,950 ft). This day was longer and we hiked for about 6 hours or more. We were definitely tired when we got to camp and we tried to relax and rest at our new altitude.

At this point at the end of day 3 we were all feeling strong, no headache or symptoms of altitude, and enjoying the hiking. The look of the Barranco Wall which was to be our hike for the next day seemed a little intimidating though, with its steep and long path visible from our tent.

Leaving camp at 8am on Day 4 the following morning we discovered that it wasn't as steep as it looked, although there was some scrambling (the use of hands to ascend the rock) involved. Unfortunately, we were followed and felt rushed on by porters at one steep scramble section and Martin felt like he over-did it. We stopped to recover and the view from the top of the Great Barranco was cool looking towards Mt Meru, Kili's neighbour, in the west. Next, a traverse over screes and ridges to Karangu Valley campsite for lunch at 4000m (13,100 ft). Still feeling good, we continued on. It was along this trail

Bernie and Martin amidst the interesting trees

across ridges and steeper scree to Barafu Hut campsite at 4600m (15,100 ft) that Martin started to feel tired and as he approached the tents, exhausted.

We had already decided to have a rest day the next day, but once Martin  settled down in the tent to rest, it became clear that his breathing was becoming worse. When he breathed in and out you could hear crackling sounds from his lungs like someone crinkling a crisp packet. He had High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPO or HAPE depending on how you spell oedema) - fluid in the lungs.

From a biological perspective the human body is pretty fascinating - how it handles high altitude and lack of oxygen. The increased acidity of the blood triggering the brain to increase breathing rate etc, etc. If your body does not adapt quickly enough to the altitude, the lack of oxygen results in leakage

Bernie, Shani and Michelle climbing the Barranco Wall

of fluid from the blood into the lungs (like Martin) and brain (called Cerebral Oedema which he didn't have, thankfully). I say fascinating because getting high altitude sickness doesn't appear to be scientific. More, random. It seems to be nothing to do with fitness or gender or age. It's even random within the same person, meaning sometimes you can get it and sometimes you don't: in fact, it was me who had trouble at Mt Everest at base camp in Tibet in 2005 at 5200m (17,050 ft) when Martin had no problem at all.

Things happened pretty quickly after our head guide, Shani, checked Martin. Only one thing for it: to go down down down. Everyone rallied. Within half an hour I had packed, dressed Martin in winter gear, and the porters packed up tents and headed down. Two porters and Duncan Mack, the assistant guide, would remain behind with Bernie to do a midnight bid for the summit which is standard. In the meantime, as Martin had enough coordination (he had not progressed to cerebral symptoms), we walked slowly-slowly 'pole-pole' in the dark with Shani supporting Martin on one side, and porter Peter on the other at the ready should Martin need support. It was not an easy path,  more scree and stones. Quite remarkably, I don't know how Martin managed to walk three hours (arriving at midnight) when he was absolutely exhausted. Survival. He even threw up on the way down, showing the evidence of the stomach bug he was complaining about.  He knew that going down to lower elevation was the only way. Just as we arrived at Millennium camp at 3900m (12,800 ft), we thought of Bernie just starting his ascent.

The rest of the night was not a fun one as now that Martin's body had stopped being distracted by the walking, it could go back to adjusting to the altitude. He slept a little, but his breathing remained 'crinkley'. After that he coughed non-stop and was now spitting up clear yellow fluid. Even trying different sleep positions for comfort didn't help. At 3.30am I called Shani and we decided that we would continue lower in the morning at first light on the stretcher, if necessary, that was available at Millenium's ranger hut. At about 5am Martin fell asleep and then so did I.

In front of Mt. Meru after climbing the Barranco Wall

Thankfully, Martin seemed better in the 'morning' of Day 5 and we held off on going lower. We rested, ate a little, thought about Bernie and awaited his return. He made it to the top! Got to camp at about midday after ascending 1250m (4,100 ft) to Uhuru peak (summit at 5895m or 19,341 ft) and then coming down 2000m (6, 550 ft) to us. Of course he would get to the top! In our minds there was no doubt that he would, but he said there were a couple of times when he thought he wouldn't. It was THAT difficult. He had passed many people either throwing up, fainting, or just plain in a bad way on the summit bid.  By this time Martin had deteriorated a little; 3900m (12, 800ft) was still too high. So, poor Bernie, after he'd had a sleep an hour and ate some soup we headed down to Mweka Hut at 3100m (10,200 ft). Summiting from Barafu Hut and descending all the way to Mweka Hut is standard for the Lemosho/Shira route that we had chosen, but we still felt bad for Bernie as it was a long way down and super-tiring day. Having said that, Martin's energy and spirits were coming back and we

Martin on way up to Barafu Camp

got down relatively quickly. Even though he still didn't sleep much that night, we felt happier about being lower.

At camp the next morning we celebrated surviving the challenges of the mountain and as is customary the porters and guides sang and danced. This was also the time that we handed out the tips to each of them (not a choice unfortunately, but an expectation). A tricky thing really as to know what to give. Not too much, not too little. We really liked all our porters, always ready to do anything for you and always in good spirits in spite of their jarred conditions: some didn't have good gear or even sleeping mats for the high elevation camps! We all had a good dance and sing along to the catchy 'Sawa Sawa Le' song that Duncan Mack liked.

The walk down to the gate was beautiful through the natural heather forest and then through tall

Mosquito Net Veil and Maasai Tribe Beaded 'Tiara'

jungley rain forest. We were a day early off the mountain but a minivan was there to collect us and get us back to Moshi town where we said fond goodbyes to our crew. We were alive and that was all that mattered.

From a bucket list perspective we were both gutted not to have conquered this great mountain, but it is just a mountain. From an emotional perspective I was very happy to have a healthy and alive Martin! As for getting married at the top, it was very disappointing, but there are plenty of other exciting and amazing places on the planet to choose from, many of which are at the safe altitude of sea level! I will keep my mosquito netting veil and Masai head dress for the next place. So watch this space…but don't hold your breath! *Mush

Things Michelle will remember:

1) Nko Chesi Nkomo Ndizi - Cool as a Crazy Banana (In the Freezer) - a random saying that they say on the mountain
2) The amazing crystal clear morning views of Kili peak.
3) The cool giant lobelia plants that reminded us of saguaro cacti in Arizona. Every arm indicates 15 years of growth.
4) that we had Bernie singing Sawa Sawa Sawa Ley by the end of the trip!