MOUNTAIN - Cape Province Mountain Club

From the Cape Flats to the Roof of Africa
For many of us who hike, there is always the dream of
climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and for us it all started with
a mere comment about 8 years ago. We began planning our
trip by reading up on the subject and by chatting to those
who had actually climbed the mountain. During casual
conversation while hiking with our friend, Mark Kruger,
early last year, Mark asked whether we would be interested
in climbing to the Roof of Africa. It was fortuitous because
we had decided that, without giving any thought to details,
we would be doing so in 2009. We can now say it was
all thanks to Mark’s hard work in relentlessly sourcing
the cheapest transport and accommodation that we had
managed to pull of this holiday of a lifetime.
On 27 July 2009, we departed Cape Town International
Airport and embarked on our adventure. After two flights,
a three hour ferry ride to Dar-es-Salaam, five taxi rides
and a nine-hour bus ride, we found ourselves at the foot of
Kilimanjaro National Park (altitude 1970m AMSL). Our
party comprised of Mark Kruger, Christopher Smith and
us (Ronald Holmes and Sharon Desai) and we started our
climb on 1 August 2009. We planned to summit during
the month of August (on the recommendation of our good
friend, Trevor Johnston), as it is considered one of the
most “stable” months insofar as the weather is concerned.
We opted for the Marangu Route as it is by far the most
economical and, more importantly, the easiest of all the
routes on offer.
The first day saw our group, which was supported by
a team of eleven, go through a tropical rain forest which
was lush and green. We would describe the walk as being
similar to that of the contour path on Table Mountain or
that of the forest on the Harkerville Trail. The thing that
really surprised us was how clean the ablution facilities
were especially after all the horror stories we had heard!
The first day’s walk took about 6 hours to reach Mandara
Hut (at 2720m), where, due to some or other chaos, we
ended up sleeping in the porters’ quarters which actually
turned out to be more spacious than we had imagined.
Supper was great and comprised of meat and potatoes,
preceded by soup which was to be the standard for all Kili
suppers.
Day 2 saw us walking through the moorland to Horombo
Hut (3780m altitude) where we would be spending the
next two days. The change in terrain was quite sudden
and dramatic and as one left the lushness of the rain
newsletter of cape province mountain club / november 2009
forest one could actually see how the vegetation changed
over a distance of about one kilometre. The gradient on
the walk was so slight that it placed no real strain on the
limbs, which was a good thing because by now the effects
of the high altitude were beginning to show. With Kibo
constantly in sight as well as the awesome views, spirits
were high and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day’s walk.
As usual, supper was delicious but now the nights were
becoming bitterly cold and we all dreaded the night visits
to the toilet which were becoming more frequent due to
the amount of fluid we were taking in to combat the effects
of altitude sickness.
Day 3 was basically a rest day as all we did was take
a short walk in order to acclimatise and to enjoy our
surrounds.
Day 4 saw us leave the moorlands and walk through
the alpine desert. This part of the walk was the most
interesting for us as it was crazy cold and with almost no
vegetation. Our spirits were still high and as usual, we
were chatting most of the way to Kibo Hut (4750m). As we
drew closer to the hut, the effects of altitude were becoming
more noticeable. At Kibo we received our final briefing: we
were allowed an hour-long nap, followed by supper at 6pm
whereafter we were to get as much sleep as we could; we
would start our climb to the summit at 10pm.
When we woke for supper, it felt as though we had barely
closed our eyes and the same applied to the short sleep we
were afforded after supper. At supper we basically had to
force our food down our throats as our appetites were nonexistent,
yet another effect of the high altitude.
As we started our nine-hour climb to Uhuru Peak
(5895m), the one thing that stood out for us (besides the
excruciating headaches and extreme nausea) was the cold!
It is definitely not a feeling that we, as Capetonians, were
used to. The temperature was so low, the water in our
hydration packs froze; water in our thermal flasks was so
cold that when you drank it, it chilled you to the core. It
was a long and cold walk in the dark but after daybreak
the summit was in sight and it was a short two-kilometre
walk along the rim of the crater to Uhuru Peak, making it
all worthwhile. Thereafter it was a quick descent to Kibo
Hut where we slept for about 2 hours before making our
way down this awesome mountain. The entire experience
was surreal making it a memory that we will carry for the
rest of lives.
Ronald Holmes and Sharon Desai