Stage 1

Saturday 19th June:
National Park gates to Mandara Huts - 2700 mtrs

Breakfast was nice. A good meal now was the order of the day because, quite frankly, we didn't know when we would be eating again, or what we would be eating again. The answer to this particular question [we had many] would provide a most pleasant surprise indeed. This done and a few more 'hello's' said, we all made our way outside to the buses - except there was only one bus. I remember thinking, for the second time on the trip, that I had never before seen so much brand new hiking and walking equipment outside of a specialised shop. We looked sparkly clean and almost blissfully ignorant and innocent of what was to come.I am absolutely convinced that some of us thought we were "just going for a walk".

We were shuttled up to the start of the climb just inside Kilimanjaro National Park in three trips. Sara and I were on the first one, mainly because it would get us away from the multitude of 'salesmen' who had gathered outside the gates of the hotel to sell us everything from a Kilimanjaro hat to a large can of ground coffee(?)

We only drove for around 10-15 minutes before we went through the gates of The Kilimanjaro National Park where we got our first sight of the people who would be our rocks for the next six days - the guides and porters. Whilst they unloaded our rucksacks etc. from the bus, we made our way to the reception hut where we had to write our names, addresses and passport numbers in a register. Everyone who goes onto the mountain has to do it - it's the only way they know whether everyone who went up came back down again!

Looking around it was plain to see that we were, in fact, on the edge of a jungle. WOW! When would Tarzan swing out?! [Sorry, that's just the child in me going back to Disney!]

It wasn't particularly cold. In fact it was absolutely teaming down with rain, but did we mind? Of course not! We were intrepid explorers heading off into a dense jungle on our 'boy's own' adventure. We weren't going to let a little rain spoil our fun. We did, however, all put our [for the most part brand new] rainproof gear on and crowd under a small shelter until the others arrived.

The others turned up in time and with a "hey" and a "ho" and a "skiddly doo" we waved goodbye to civilisation and set off on our adventure. At the gate of the jungle [yes, apparently they lock the jungle at nights!] there was a sign that told us, in no uncertain terms, what we were about to accomplish. The sign had a list of all of the hut sites we would climb to along with their altitude measurements. The sign read:

I am not absolutely sure who, if anyone at all, took any notice of the sign but I have to admit that when I read it, the magnitude of our task ahead did not even register on my fear scale - and I now think the Kenyan Olympic Team must have been responsible for some of those times!

Something to think about...

Our first view of the mountain two days ago was from a distance of two hours drive away. Now here we are at the start of the twenty-one plus mile climb to the summit. Seeing the climb broken down into easily manageable chunks made the goal all the more achievable. By now we all knew the magnitude of the task ahead of us. Some people were already making themselves nervous by painting a picture of walking to the top. The truth is that, although the top remained our ultimate goal, today we only had to walk/climb for three hours to a height of 2700 metres.

How many people have a mortgage that, if the loan company demanded settlement immediately, they could not pay? The truth is that they don't have to pay it off immediately. Although they know the magnitude of the major gaol, which is to pay off the house in twenty five years or so, they are also aware that all they have to do today is find enough to pay this months payment.

Anyway, off we go into the jungle, or should we say forest? No! This is my adventure I want it to be a jungle so a jungle it is [humour me here]. It wasn't too long before we came upon our first jungle creatures. These were a group of young boys, perhaps somewhere between seven and ten, who just wanted sweets or a dollar. The truth is that these kids can only go to school if they take their own pencil and paper and a dollar would buy some paper and a pencil. Apparently, it would also buy anything else, including their photograph if we wanted it.

I felt a little tight taking his picture and not paying for it but we had been told that to give them money would cause more harm than good. Also, we were all just setting off into the middle Africa - who knows when we would see civilisation again - so we needed to preserve all of our food rations 'just in case'. [I'm sorry I seem to be getting a little too excited and melodramatic about the whole thing don't I?]

Something to think about...

I am constantly being told that money is not everything and should not be seen as one of the most important things in life. Try telling that to these kids. Just one dollar would allow them to go to school. Ten dollars would probable feed their entire family for a month. Try telling it to the single mother living in small rented accommodation with two young children and whose only goal is to get herself and her young family onto the property ladder. Try telling it to my taxi driver in Dubai who didn't see his family in Egypt for over four years because his choice was spend his hard earned money on visiting his family or educating his family. Ali would have to work for twenty-eight years to earn the same as I do in one year. No, money isn't everything. Oxygen is pretty important too. Money will buy everything else.

The walk was all up hill but I guess that should not have come as a surprise should it? The 'jungle' was humid and damp, it didn't take too long before people were stripping off all of the extra clothing they had put on during the rainstorm earlier. The main topic of conversation seemed to revolve around "What do you do then?" or "Where are you from?" This was the nice part of getting to know people. As we all walked at varying speeds the person we were walking next to would change regularly so we asked, and answered, the same questions over and over.

We had also been told that we might see a few monkeys during the walk. There was tremendous excitement when one of our guides, Moses [you will hear more about Moses later] thought he had spotted one or two in the trees. It was, as Sara pointed out, like something from the Arnie movie 'Predator'. We knew there was something there because we could hear it and see the trees moving, but we never actually saw any monkeys.

We had been given our lunch, a sandwich some chocolate and some cheese with a fruit drink, in small plastic boxes before we set off. We stopped after a couple of hours at some convenient benches in an equally convenient clearing to eat lunch and to gain our first experience of 'jungle toilets'. The latter was to become something of a talking point for the next hour or so.

Here, we also had our first opportunity to see the eighth wonder of the world that is...a Kilimanjaro Porter! These guys are fantastic! Balancing pots and pans, water, our rucksacks and even stretchers-with-wheels on their heads, they appear to be able to climb all day on one cup of tea and a slice of toast.

No brand new expensive walking gear for these guys. We saw everything from a decent pair of boots through to an old pair of Reeboks with the sole hanging off. I am certain I even saw one guy in bare feet but that could just be me trying to create folk law.

Their clothing consisted of an array of what appeared to be discarded or donated clothing from other climbers. This, we were to find out, was indeed the case. Needless to say that most people there were happy to leave a pair of £30 trousers behind, or anything else that we could buy for a pittance, that would make the world of difference to these guys.

Moses told me that the porters would be earning something in the region of $6 a day, which worked out at about £25 for the whole six days that they would spend running around after our every need. When you think that the majority of these guys will never see, let alone earn, in a lifetime what most of us in the group earn in a year it puts the odd blister into perspective, don't you think?