Our day started with the hearty breakfast buffet at Legendary Lodge in Arusha, including coffee fresh from the plantation. The Lodge is situated on a working coffee plantation; the grounds are lovely, lush and tropical gardens, and the Jacaranda trees were blooming. This coffee is so good that even if you normally drink your coffee with milk and sugar, you don’t need it here. Sweet and chocolatey and rich and yummy.
We then set off on a 3 hour drive through Tanzanian countryside and villages to the Rongai Gate of Tanzania National Park.
We arrived at Rongai Gate and while other trekkers sat on rocks or whatever else they could find, we lunched in our own private spot with table cloth and all. This would be a theme of the climb; Khashana had chosen for us the best and most expert Kili outfitters, with the most stringent safety and cleanliness standards, the nicest accommodations, and the best meals on the mountain.
The day was cloudy, and a perfect cool temperature for hiking. We hiked from 1pm-4pm and immediately, a second theme emerged: “pole pole”, which means “slowly, slowly”. Apparently this is one of the keys to proper acclimatization to the altitude. We started at 6,400 feet elevation, and our first camp, Rongai Cave, was at 9,300: a rise of 2,900 feet in three hours.
The hike was first through plantation or harvest forest of introduced pine, which is periodically cleared and tilled (by hand) for growing potatoes and carrots, with just bits of indigenous forest, barely connected enough to support some animals and birds. But we were lucky enough to see baboons, blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, tuaracos and sunbirds, and the first of many white-necked ravens.
We hiked past a small market set up by some locals, and though we didn’t need anything, we stopped to give a treat to some small children. Unfortunately, the individually wrapped candies I had brought along specifically for this purpose were in the bag our porters were carrying, and we only had a single candy bar on us, so that’s what we gave one of the three children, hoping they would share. As we walked away, though, we heard his wailing as it was apparently taken away by one of the adults. Darnit, wrong move!
Our porters and staff had camp all set up when we arrived. There was a dining tent, a toilet tent, 3 identical tents: one for Will, one for Anne-Marie and one for our guides (Pendael and Godlisten), and then… the Trieb Mahal. Yes, we had chosen the luxury upgrade of this walk-in, stand-up tent with cots, mattresses and pillows – never to be lived down, but not to be regretted for one instant.
People continued to come into camp throughout the evening, and the sounds of nature throughout the night were more human than otherwise as the tents became more closely spaced. One unexpected thing the first night was just how noisy the campground was, both with other hikers arriving, setting up and talking, and with what Will termed ‘the Tanzanian Shouting Olympics’; the porters were jabbering nonstop!!
We ended the evening with Anne-Marie’s suggestion of Rose, Thorn, Bud. My rose (my favorite thing of the day) was starting this next epic adventure with my soulmate and love of my life, Mark. My thorn (my least favorite thing of the day) was leaving the candies in the porter duffel bag such that I didn’t have them to give to the children we passed. And my bud (what I’m looking forward to) is to see Kilimanjaro in all its glory, as we haven’t gotten a good look at it yet due to clouds.
Our Kili Outfitter: Nature Discovery
Trip created by our travel pros, Khashana Adventure Travel. To see more view our other posts or visit their web site.
Looks wonderful; I hope to make it there someday!
Shauna and Mark…its wonderful, all the lovely pics and all the details, I could almost have been there with you! Can’t wait for the next installment……LOL “Mum”X X