Hello Everyone… Tony Winston here. So I’m afraid today’s post will only be a partial one because Bill encountered some cell phone connection issues while dictating the blog entry onto my voicemail early this morning. Apparently, Mt. Kilimanjaro is not included on AT&T’s “in-network” blue coverage map! Nevertheless, I have included what I could in a few short paragraphs. But don’t worry, there will be more to come so please stay tuned and enjoy!
“Jambo Kaka na Dada.” (Translation: Hello brothers and sisters)
Greetings from husband Bill and the Kili-Krew! This morning, I am dictating this narrative from the Barranco Camp (Camp #2) at 12,926 feet to talk about an amazing day we had yesterday.
We began at 9,350 feet in the jungle zone and started our ascent at about 9:00am - after a breakfast of eggs, coffee (good thing I brought my instant Starbucks), peanut butter, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and papayas.
CINDY ABLE TO TAKE OVER HERE... We broke camp together with our wonderful crew of porters led by God Listen, known as Goddy. We also had a second porter, a young man named Rogate. Little did I know then how indispensible he would be to my goal to reach the summitt.
We ascended immediately into the forest zone - one of the 3 temperate zones that we walked through during our 7-hour hike yesterday. We continue to hike through a jungle with huge trees filled with branches wrapped and dripping with hanging moss. Our path is dense and narrow and we walked single file. Occasionally porters would come up behind us with their heavy duffle bags and folded tables and chairs, food and tents and we would all move over to the side to let them pass through. Because my shoulders were really bothering me in the beginning, I was able to pass off my backpack to one of our guides. Then I'd see a porter walking by me with this huge basket or duffle on his head! We heard that new safety rules now permit the porters to carry loads weighing no more than 42 lbs. There is actually a weighing scale at the entrance to the trails to be sure this rule is followed. It's good for the porters in that doesn't completely kill their backs (I guess...), and also creates jobs as due to the weight restriction more porters need to be hired.
After being in the jungle zone for several hours we finally broke into the sunshine and with the scenery opening up we were able to see our first glimpses of Killimanjaro. Now we are hiking on a trail that is less muddy and a little wider. We see some very pretty tiny yellow flowers that cluster around the rocks, as well as some big purple flowers. We are now in the Moorland zone. We come up to our first "wall" of rock to climb, requiring us to use our hiking poles and hang onto the helping hands of our guides as they pull us up the wall. Before long we come into fields and fields of the strangest looking trees - Giant Senecio trees. Some stand alone, many stand in clusters. They look like a tall thick stick with a burst of green shooting out of their tops. It is now late afternoon and the clouds and mist are coming in.
We reached Barranco Camp in time to wash up (remember just a bucket of hot water...) and have some dinner. Unlike our previous camp, this one had many other climbing groups alongside ours, and that makes for interesting conversations...we met people from Belguim, Australia, Slovenia, and Idaho! There was a lot of activity outside into the wee hours, with the many porters catching up with each other. Still, after the climb we had today, it was not difficult to quickly fall asleep.
To be continued…
No comments:
Post a Comment