Friday, June 30, 2023; Day 1
Ndarakwai provided the best night’s sleep of the trip yet, with the combination of the cool breeze through the hut pairing beautifully with the cozy blanket on the comfy bunk. After sleeping at 9p, I woke at 11:30p, already feeling rested. I laid awake comfortably for an hour or so and fell back asleep until 6:10a when the birds got started with their morning songs.
Jason mentioned that he’d heard some “Irish piano music” around 5am and suspected that it was the alarm from the Doctor, who’d vowed to wake up at that time at dinner the night before.
By 7am, we were both up and chatting, waiting to walk down to the common hut where last night coffee was promised to be prepared “at 7:15 or 7:30, or 7:45 maybe“, in the “Hakuna Matata” fashion that the Tanzanians seem to express schedules.
When it’s finally time, breakfast was coffee, scrambled eggs, potato hash browns, bread, and little donut-like treat. While we fill up our bellies, our various devices all fill their batteries:
After breakfast, I finalize my choices for the gear that I’m leaving behind in two collapsible backpacks, and we bring our duffels back to our initial common lodge to fill up our water bottles, and weigh the duffels to ensure that they’re below the 15 kg weight limit. I managed to give away two bandanas, a Nalgene bottle, and a pack of wipes to folks whose bags are yet to arrive. Thankfully, I’ve ended up at exactly 15 kilos.
After tipping the staff at the ranch, I’ve got $1399 in cash left in my camera bag where it will hopefully remain for the next 9 days as we hike the trail.
The crew loads our duffels into the two Land Rovers and we all pile in for the drive to the trailhead, around an hour away. When we finally arrive at the parking lot for the trailhead, we all eagerly climb out with our packs and eye the many dozens of porters waiting nearby.
We spend over an hour futzing with poles and gaiters, meeting personal porters, and being introduced to our crew. Our final party numbers 67: 10 guests, 1 head guide, 3 assistant guides, a chef, chef’s assistant/waiter, 6 personal porters, and the enormous crew of camp porters who carry the tents, food, and everything else that will be in camps. We truly will become a village on the move.
I take two trips to the bathroom, our last indoor opportunity for over a week.
We have lunch together in a pavilion next to the trailhead. The meal seems unnecessary– we hadn’t done more than sit since breakfast not long ago– and I eat little, eager both to get started and avoid anything that might upset my belly before we even begin.
Finally, we embark.
We’re bathed in DEET to repel mosquitos, although we don’t see too many and I end up with no bites. The forest around us is pretty, but mostly reminds me of other hikes I’ve been on — there’s still no sight of Kili’s peak. The grade of the trail is more varied than I expected — it was much more ups and downs than a gradual uphill.
My poles helped a ton and I had my first inkling that I’d be using them much more than predicted.
Perhaps fifteen minutes after leaving the trailhead, we arrived at the the formal “Gate.” It wasn’t really much of a gate, more of a sign to pose for pictures with the team.
I wore my gaiters, but I took them off halfway through the day’s hike after realizing that, given my high boots, their only real function was to hold in my sweat. My pant-legs ended up drenched at the bottom. It was chilly– just over 60F, but I still ended up working up a pretty good sweat between my long-sleeve shirt and my pack. We stop to drink and eat snacks every half hour or so.
Overall, everything felt basically good, and my heart rate stayed just over 100 for the entire hike.
At our final water break around our expected arrival time, Respicius announces that we’ve got about “forty five minutes” left to go for the day. We’re all in good spirits though, and nobody complains that we seem to be behind schedule. When we arrive at our first camp minutes later (around 3:40pm), Respicius insists with a twinkle in his eye that he’d said “Four to five minutes.” We all know he’s lying, but this becomes a pattern– an pleasant surprise just before finishing each day’s hike.
The Forest camp (aka “Mti Mkubwa“/”Big tree”) is buzzing with activity, there seem to be at least two other groups of similar size. After signing the Ranger’s guestbook, we head to our group’s red and grey tents in a small clearing near the back of the area.
We have a welcome ceremony with songs and dancing, but I hang back to watch and avoid getting pulled in.
After the welcome ceremony, we meet our crew’s two “toilet engineers”, who teach those of us who’ve never before used one before how to use our chemical toilets.
While it doesn’t seem too dire (“lift lid. use. pump blue handle. pull white handle.”) I’m happy that I don’t need it yet — we boys end up peeing in the trees a dozen yards away.
Shortly after arrival, we have our first tea-time with popcorn, small cookies, and tea (ginger, peppermint, and black tea). As will become customary, Respicius passes around the meter to see how we’re doing. My PulseOx/HR were 95%/72bpm, the best numbers of our party.
Jason and I unpack our sleeping gear from our duffels and inflate our own mattress pads– non-trivial, but I warn myself that it’s only going to get harder as the altitude increases. (It turns out that this is the last time we’ll do this– despite our protestations, porters will do this for us at all subsequent camps).
Jason seemed worried that I’d been quiet (not lingering with others at tea), but I’m mostly lost in my thoughts, listening to my trekmates’ stories, and writing in my journal: “At camp @9300 feet, waiting for dinner service at 6pm, my portable solar panels are recharging my Fitbit watch, and I’m listening to the others telling stories in the dining tent next door. It’s supposed to rain tonight, but the tent looks pretty sturdy and watertight — fingers crossed!“
Dinner ended up consisting of a delicious pumpkin soup, vegetables, and a shockingly ambitious (and yummy) lasagna. Dinner discussion ranged from amazement at the food (“Lasagna?? On a mountain?”) to lamentation about delayed luggage, and optimism of it perhaps arriving the tomorrow (as a high mountain road runs near our next night’s camp).
Our final surprise of the day was a 20th Anniversary cake for Jason H and Sherry.
Dinner ends with another verification of everyone’s PulseOx and our first nightly briefing about what to expect for the next day. We’ll wake at 6am, breakfast at 7, and depart by 8.
I’m unprepared for how chilly and dark it gets in camp, and have to learn how to effectively brush my teeth in the dark and otherwise get ready for bed with limited lighting. I’m excited for tomorrow, and despite the chatter from our trek-mates and adjacent camps, I snuggle down in my sleeping bag early. I end up going to water the trees an hour or two later and can still hear our neighbors awake.
Despite the tent’s thick rubber flooring and my sleeping pad (which it turns out I’ve over-inflated), my bed is quite uncomfortable and I have a very restless night.
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