Conquering Kili!

Jambo  friends!  WE MADE IT!! Rather  than starting with all the summit  details,  we'll  give you a day  by day  summary of our trek.  Here  goes!

Day 1: Welcome to "dry season"
We were picked up from our hotel by our guide Amani  bright and  early.  He  started  to load our bags on to what appeared  to be a full local bus - little  did we  know,  the  bus was  filled  with our entire crew!  12  porters,  2 cooks and  1 guide.  So many men to get 3  little girls  up  one  mountain!! We  drove  2 hours to Kilimanjaro National Park and entered through the Machame gate  ready to start our climb. As we were waiting  for our crew to be  ready, we met  some other  people starting the Machame route that  day. A group of  doctors from the states  caught our eye, as  we noticed  they had brought their own PULSE  OXIMETER!! Julia and Allison tried  to befriend them in order to get our sats at  the summit. Once the crew was ready,  we  began our  trek with Amani. He  told us it would be about  4  hours of  walking, mostly uphill, through a rainforesty  environment. And then came the rain. None of us were expecting  this, as  its currently Africa's  dry season, but it poured on us for most of  the walk. We finally arrived at  Machame hut,  which sits  at  3000m  above sea  level (asl), and was our camping  spot for the night.

Day 2: Meeting the Irish       
We started  the day with another 4 hour,  but this time there was sun!  We left  the rainforest and broke  into rocky terrain. Along  the way, we passed a  number of trekkers, including  a large group of singing, boisterous  Irish people. They were a group of 44, members of an Irish NGO called  CONCERN doing  the trek as  a  fundraiser. They asked us where  we  were  from,  and misheard  "Canada"  as  "Kenya" - so for the  rest  of the trip,  the  three of us were  dubbed "the Kenyans". The walk  ended  at  Shira  hut,  which sits at  3800m  asl.  We spent the afternoon exploring our  campsite -  the clouds had finally cleared, and we caught our first glimpse of the Kibo peak of Mount  Kilimanjaro (the one we were  attempting  to summit).

Day 3: Up,  down,  up,  down. Repeat.
Today was a day for acclimatization,  which means a  LOT  of  up  and down. The morning  was  mostly uphill, and after about 4 hours we stopped for  lunch. As  we  ate, we heard  hail start to pelt our tent. Nonetheless, we bundled  up and continued  upwards to the Lava  Tower  (4600m  asl), which was the highest point  we would reach that day.  We  spent  20 minutes there  hanging out, acclimatizing, and taking pictures  after  the hail  subsided. Then came our first significant downhill. We went for about 3  hours before we  reached our campsite  for the night - Barranco, sitting  at  3900m asl, and at the foot of  the famous Barranco Wall. Amani looked at  us with a smile and said  "tomorrow you climb that!". Allison  was  excited, Julia needed to be  convinced  by Amani  that she would NOT fall off  the wall,  and Nicole  was  most  concerned  with  finding  a place to  pee (note:  at  this point, we  had  stopped  using "outhouses", and opted  more often  for  voiding behind large  trees,  rocks, or  anything that didn't move).

Day 4: The beginning of the longest day of life
This epic day started  with scaling the Barranco wall. We were comforted by the fact that the Irish had started ahead of us,  and were  periodically yodeling to the members  of their  group  still at  the campsite. The wall entailed an hour and a half of using our hands and feet to scramble up a mostly vertical wall - note  Julia  did  not  fall off!! At the top  we were  rewarded with a beautiful view of  Kibo peak, blue skies, and fluffy white clouds below us. Yes, another  photoshoot ensued - by this time, Amani  was a  seasoned  veteran with Nicole's  camera, after  days of  "Amani, can you just take this one picture for  us? Make sure you get ALL of  ________ in the back,  and ________ beside us.  Asante sana!". We  walked down, and then up  again,  and stopped  for lunch at  Karanga campsite where Julia and Nicole opted for a little power  nap  in  the  sun. For those doing Machame  in  7 days, they would  stay here for  the night.  Since we chose the 6 day option ( we  are  SO  intense),  our day continued  with a 3 hour climb to Barafu  hut which sits  at  4600m  asl  (aka  BASE CAMP!!). This  is the camp  from  which we would  attempt to summit  Kili in a  few short hours. We arrived at Barafu  around  4:30pm,  and Amani  put a rush on  our  dinner so that we would have time  to  nap  before our 10:30pm  WAKE  UP CALL to  begin  our summit attempt  before  midnight. Yowza. We  had dinner at  6, were in  bed  by 7. None of us slept much because Allison was too excited, Julia was nervous, and Nicole was wondering  how  she'd exit her summit outfit and  find an  appropriate place to  pee on  Kili. Fortunately,  none  of us had  experienced  any serious altitude-related  symptoms, so we  were feeling  confident we could make  it up. However, none of us could have  known what the next  12  hours  would  entail...     


Day  5: To the SUMMIT!!!
After a  little nap  and  a quick breakfast at  10:30pm, we  bundled up in basically everything we  brought and  departed camp by 11:30. Accompanied by Amani  and two of our porters,we set out in the pitch black  with only the stars  and  the light of our headlamps to  guide us. We  were told that we had  a  6  hour climb  to the  crater  rim (5700m asl), followed by another hour hike to the summit. Amani timed this so that we  should be hitting the summit  right at  sunrise - all we  had to do was  make  it! There are no words to describe this night, certainly no pictures to document  these hours, and  no  way to convey how truly physically and  mentally grueling it was, but here is our best attempt. In terms of  the terrain,  the first  hour was  steep  and rocky,  followed by 4 hours of freezing  cold (think -15) switchbacks,  topped  off  by another  steep hour  to  the crater rim. In terms of us,  Julia  had a body of  lead (most likely due to altitude),  which certainly didn't help her hoist herself up the rocks. Nicole was dragging a  bum  leg up the mountain  (she had to  literally pick it up, and place it on the next  rock), while simultaneously battling nausea  and the spins. What was  this, a terrible  hangover?! Allison was in relatively good shape, until the legitimate fear of losing digits to frostbite set  in around  crater time. Amani was our hero during this trying time, doing everything  from  carrying  our bags, to opening our water,  to  putting our gloves back on  for us.  We're  sure he'd  have  fed  us our frozen powerbars if we'd asked.

Things  got significantly brighter at the rim, as  the sun  began to rise, and  we realized the hardest part was  behind  us. We had only an hour of  gradual climbing  left  until we reached the summit and the famous sign  that marks it. Julia then exclaimed "this  is the best and worst day of my life!!" and  we  set off  for the summit. The  walk  was actually nice, and we could  appreciate  the beautiful sunrise  to our  right  and the enormous glaciers to  our  left.  Once again, Amani was  right -  this  was  the perfect time to summit. We reached  the  Uhuru  peak  sign, which marked  5895m  asl, at  6:30am - this marked  7  straight hours of trekking up Kili. We shared a group  hug (and perhaps a few  tears),  snapped some pictures  with the famous sign (kudos to Nicole for  braving  the cold and getting her  camera out!),  and turned  right around to get the hell off that mountain.

Although the weather was  warming up, and the scenery was still breathtaking, we  were significantly less pumped for the 3 hour descent  that  faced us. The highlight  of the way down was  passing our favourite group of Irish  who were still on their  way up.  They weren't  their usual boisterous selves, so  we decided to chat them up and cheer them on. The man  who had dubbed us "the Kenyans" made his way over to us for a  high five and thanked us for the encouragement.  We  were happy  we could give them  a boost, as they had made all of  our previous days brighter. We finally arrived  back at  base camp around 9am, were handed mango  juice (our favourite!),  and were  instructed to go nap  for a whopping 2  hours  (a  common  theme in the  last  two days). We were awoken at 11am  for  lunch,  before it was  time to hike AGAIN  for another 3  hours  in  the afternoon. Sore  and exhausted, we  arrived at  Mweka  hut  (3100m  asl) for our  first  real  nights  sleep in 48h.

What a giant day!!!

Day 6: Our crew can sing!
Contrary to what you might think,  6am  wake up STILL  feels early after a 7pm bedtime. This morning however,  we were  pulled  out of  our tent  by Amani's promise  that the crew would do a song and dance for  us post-breakfast. We  scarfed  down  our porridge from our favourite purple  pot (in  which all  good  food comes),  and ventured  outside for the show.  And what a show it was!  They sang a traditional  Tanzanian  song,  and  inserted details  about our climb into it (fear  not,  Julia has  a  video). Then we began our last hike  - two  and  a half hours downhill to our waiting  bus. We  picked up our official Kili completion certificates and some  souvenir  t-shirts and boarded our bus back to Arusha. It  was  clear  that our crew  had become more comfortable with us,  since  our bus ride this time  consisted of  a song and dance party to everything from Shaggy to Leanne Rimes to local Arushan  rap sensations. We  returned  to the hotel,  booked our flights to ZANZIBAR (leaving  tomorrow!!), and have never been more  ready for a  beach vaycay.

All in all it was an unforgettable experience -  definitely challenging,  but very rewarding. We feel lucky that we  were all able to summit and  stayed  relatively healthy. This is something we  will   certainly remember forever.  Now on to  ZANZIBAR!!  

Sleeping in the Serengeti!

The following morning we were picked up by Moses and Zulu (our guide and cook for the trip, more on them later), and began the 6 hour drive into the Serengeti. Nicole and Allison were feeling pretty motion sick, which we attributed to the malaria pills we had started taking the day before, but we all made it there in one piece. We entered the Serengeti in the early afternoon, and Moses suggested a 'small game drive' before getting to the campsite. This did NOT disappoint, as we saw a pride of lions with several cubs ("very rare", by Moses' standards), a leopard in a tree with his previous kill, two cheetahs (also rare), and a glimpse of the great migration (a yearly event where thousands of zebras and wildebeasts migrate together to Kenya to follow the rain and food supply). At this point, we were certain we had made the right decision to include the Serengeti. We headed to the campsite and were very well fed (thanks to Zulu and his legendary soups and popcorn appetizers), and slept to the sounds of wildebeasts, hyenas and warthogs (oh my!).

Our next day started promptly at 6am (Moses takes safari very seriously), and proceeded to drive through the Serengeti all day. The day was amazing and hard to capture in words, but highlights include: lions inches from our jeep, leopards in trees and hunting, giraffes, zebras crossing the road in front of us, gazelles, wildebeasts, elephants, warthogs, hyenas, dik diks, a pool of hippos, crocodiles and pretty little lovebirds (pictures to come upon our return home that will capture this better). This day came with two very important safari lessons: 1) Moses was exploding with personality, and seems to have superhuman eyesight - especially for leopard sighting and 2) the profile of an average safari-goer is: retired, dressed in head to toe khaki, sporting a camera that rivals the Hubble telescope. Needless to say, we didn't really blend in.

The morning of our third day was spent in the Serengeti again, where Moses' animal intuition continued to amaze us. We swear he knew where animals were going before they did! After our succesful animal spotting the day before, we started to get picky with our safari requests. We asked Moses to arrange a viewing of a birth and a kill (our goal was to see the entire circle of life, both relatively unheard of on safari, but with Moses, we thought it possible). We were close to seeing a kill when a pack of zebras approached three seemingly docile lions, but after a 45 minute stake-out Moses announced that the lions would not hunt because they had "full stomachs", and we were done. We then spent the afternoon driving to the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater where we would spend our last night.

Our fourth and final day of safari was spent in the crater, which had a strikingly different landscape from the "endless plains" of the Serengeti. While the animals were similar, the main difference was the sheer numbers we saw in the crater. We did however finally see a rhino, which completed "the Big Five" of animals to see in Africa - the rest being elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo. Safari success!! And just in time, because we were sufficiently safari'd out. Or so we thought, until we arrived back at camp to pick up our tent and found an elephant IN our campsite!! This phased none of the locals, but we were happy for both the photo-op, and that our night would be spent back in the safety of L'Oasis. Back in Arusha, we were greeted by our favourite moustached friend who offered us a wealth of information for the rest of our trip. Thank you Achmed for this unforgettable experience and all your help!!

Today we met up with the company we'll be climbing Kili with - starting TOMORROW! We met with our guide, rented our gear, and are getting super pumped to start!! Stay tuned for an update in a week when we're back!

Nairobi to Arusha

Exhausted by Amsterdam, we all fell asleep before our flight could leave the ground. Nicole was thoroughly disappointed that she didn't get the chance to finish the Justin Beiber classic "Never Say Never" - thankfully Allison and Julia have already seen it. She has her fingers crossed for the return flight. We landed in Nairobi, grabbed our bags, and ventured out to look for our transportation to Arusha. We couldn't have been happier to see a woman with a sign reading "J Sorbara and N Visconti x 3" - luckily they let Allison take the place of one N Visconti. She directed us to a cafe where we patiently waited for our 'bus' - having read Jocelyn's blog re: Kenya time, we had no idea how long this wait might be, but we didn't care - just happy that someone was expecting us, and seemed to be putting us on a bus! The bus turned out to be a twenty person minivan with a mix of locals and tourists from the States and Australia. Nicole was lucky enough to get the solo front seat, while Julia and Allison were crammed in the very back. We think Julia's seat may have been derived from a pre-existing arm rest. Six hours of sweat (or freezing if you're Nicole sitting directly under the only working AC) vent, bumpy roads, whiplash and border crossings later, we arrived in Arusha at L'Oasis Lodge. We had no idea what to expect, as the lodge was located far from the main road (was it even on a road??), but we were all relieved to see the lovely grounds with a pool, lounge, and spacious hut style rooms. We promptly collapsed on our beds and fell asleep until a knock at the door announced Achmed's arrival in the lounge.

For those of you who don't know Achmed, he was our Safari coordinator extraordinare. Originally from the UK (though we think he's traveled the entire world), he settled in Tanzania years ago after he met "the wife" and started his own Safari company. To create a visual, he dons a red Amsterdam baseball hat, a plaid traditional Masai blanket covering his safari clothing, a white handlebar moustache (groomed to perfection, with neatly curled ends), a 1L Safari beer in one hand and a pack of cigarettes in the other. These are all permanent fixtures. He welcomed us with open arms, and introduced us to three Australian girls who had just returned from a safari with Basecamp (Achmed's crew). He does this every night, welcoming Safari-ers back and sending new ones on their way. This was a trip changing night for us, as we learned that our current safari itinerary had one minor flaw - it skipped the Serengeti (the LARGEST of Tanzania's national parks, with by far the most animals in terms of both numbers and diversity). Having learned this, we decided to forego our "rest day" and start our safari one day early, giving us enough time to get to the 'Geti.Once we settled on our new plans, we had dinner with the lovely Australian girls (highlight: the rum-laced chocolate pot for dessert that we proceeded to dream about for the next 4 days on safari), and headed to bed - excited to leave in the morning!

Afternoon in Amsterdam!

After our overnight flgiht from Toronto, we finally landed in Amsterdam!  We knew we would have a 9 hour layover, so decided to trek into the city.  After semi-successfully navigating the Schipol airport, we managed to get tickets on a train into the city center.  Our ride was smooth, as we were almost certainly in the silent compartment (something we only noticed after half an hour of excited conversation).  Oops!  Once in the city center, we started our mission to locate the "I Amsterdam" sign - not an easy task as we were quick to learn that it moves on a regular basis.  But, this journey was happily interrupted by coffee, lattes, and lunch at Bagels and Beans (coffee beans, not fava, green or string).  Fed and caffinated, we found the sign and proceeded to take an exorbitant amount of pictures of it, on it, with it and in it.  After what was likely an hour photoshoot, we ventured on to the Heineken brewery to jump on the last self-directed tour of the day.  Highlights include free beer and a 4-dimensional-being-brewed experience.  Soon after we realized that as great as being brewed was, it was not worth missing our flight to Nairobi.  And thus began our Amazing Race style journey back to the airport.  An hour of sweaty speed walking, street navigating and people/bike dodging later (who knew there was a separate bike lane off-limits to all pedestrians?!) we arrived back at Schipol airport and boarded our flight.  Off to Nairobi!