Pole Pole

Day 4 - True Date 6/9/13

Today was the first day of the climb, we would finally begin the long trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. This was only one of many early mornings for the group. We met for breakfast in the hotel dining area for breakfast at 7. The meal available was the same as yesterday, and so was equally as tasty. After eating we all had a few minutes to finish packing our gear and meet in the main lobby by 8. We put our excess bags in storage, Justin helped us load the jeep and we were on our way.

 We hit the road for what would be approximately a 4 hour drive to the entrance gate of the mountain. We stopped fairly early in the drive to use a restroom while our guide, Justin, and our driver, Ayubu, bought us bottled water and ate a breakfast of their own. We did not have to stop again until about the 3 hour mark. Here we registered with the ranger station to climb the mountain and all gear (including ours personal bags and the camping equipment/food/etc) was distributed among the approximately 30 person crew who would

be joining us. The last hour of driving took us along very narrow and overgrown roads that could only be navigated by means of a 4 wheel drive vehicle. When we reached the trail head we had to wait for the crew to catch up because their vehicle had to stop before ours.

 Before long the crew of porters arrived and only a few minutes down the trail helped prepare a lunch for us. The setup was used throughout the mountain, including a set of lightweight tables and chairs. This meal we were provided with materials to make ourselves sandwiches and hot water for making beverages. We were also offered a plate of local fruits and vegetable. The unexpectedly sour passion fruit led to some very entertaining facial expressions.

After lunch we officially began the hike. We began from one of the gates on the western side of the mountain at approximately 7,500 ft of elevation. As we hiked we saw our first glimpses of African wildlife. Starting at lunch we were introduced to the white-necked ravens. These are large black birds with huge white spots on the backs on their necks. They've apparently grown accustom to following the trails along the mountains and scavenge food from what is left behind by the crews. Not much further down the trail (as we were in the rain forest region of the mountain we saw both blue monkeys and the black-and-white colobus monkey. They were frequently fair from the trail and obscured by the trees, but were easy to spot when jumping from branch to branch.

The hike this first day was quite steep with only a few breaks. The path was clearly well maintained with

irrigation canals for massive water runoff, steps on steep slopes to minimize erosion and well kept bridges over small streams and ravines. We spent the whole day in the rain forest belt of the mountain though in this area the tree density drastically varied. At times you could hardly see to the next bend in the trail while at other moments the foliage opened up into nice views revealing many, many shades of green. We also moved quite slowly (though this seemingly slow speed got slower still every day) as is the motto of the guides leading treks up the mountain. "Pole, pole" meaning "slowly, slowly." By the time we reached the campsite we had hiked for just over 2 hours. We covered approximately 3.9 miles and did 2,000 ft of elevation. We ended our day's climb at the Montane Forest Camp at 9,450 ft.

The crew had prepared the campsite for us by the time we arrived. There were tents for us to sleep in as well as a mess tent and portable bathroom tents (these were an unexpected luxury that were very nice to have). As a group we spent most of the evening in the mess tent, and today that included little more than eating and a bit of talking before eventually calling it a night. We were first offered a plate of popcorn as a snack. Dinner itself was a pumpkin soup followed by Tilapia with fries and a vegetable salad. The pumpkin soup was fantastic and all coming meals would be judged by it's deliciousness. After dinner individuals retired to their respective tents for the early bed that is so common when camping.

For the first of many nights, some of us remarked on how beautiful the stars were...