23rd - Safari photos, leopard

23rd - Safari photos, cheetah

23rd - Safari

I won’t go into detail with our 5 days on safari, as it is limited how much can be built upon “we drove, we stopped, we took photos, we continued, repeat” so I will instead create posts with names of specific animals and post photos of these and maybe with a short comment on how we met it.

When we entered Serengeti NP we started by going to the administration center to be registered. After stretching our legs we started driving around, looking for animals. After app. half an hour we were still just driving and I thought of asking our driver to stop so we at least we could get some photos of the gazelles. Suddenly a shriek was heard from the back of the car – our Swedish group member Sara was sure she had seen something out in the distance, so we reversed a bit. And far out there, on a dirt mount, a single cheetah was standing and overlooking its surroundings. After a short while, we saw several other heads appear from the long grass, and we ended up seeing a mother with 4 (!) cubs from last year. We were so lucky that they actually decided to pass the road where a significant number of safari vehicles now where trying to get a good shot at them.

After seeing them passing by (and getting a bunch of photos) we continued, and it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes before we were stuck in another traffic jam – this time it was a leopard walking around – and also crossing the road. The start of the safari couldn’t have started any better. Of The Big 5, the leopard is the most difficult to find and the cheetahs are usually even harder to find – and seeing a group of 5 in that manner is apparently very rare.

We continued to drive around and saw a lot of animals we were hoping to find, and after some time, all of The Big 5 had been seen – except for the rhino. We were promised that the only chance of seeing the rhino would be in the Ngorongoro crater, where we would finish the safari.

The camp we stayed at before entering the crater had a couple of visits from elephants who came to drink from a water container. Both of them came wandering directly through the camp ignoring the people staying there. Some had their lunch stolen – never a good idea to leave such stuff lying outside when an elephant comes wandering by. Between the camp and the showers a herd of zebras where grazing, so even there a certain amount of caution was necessary.

When entering the crater the rhino was of cause the highest priority (though some of us also wanted to see some of the big cats involved in some blood and gory). We drove around and entered the only forest in the crater where we would have the biggest chance of seeing the rhino. After some driving the second car stopped, and far out to one side (800-1000 meters) a rhino could be spotted. After a while, further to the left a mother with its calf could be seen entering a small clearing, and suddenly three more were seen further to the right, chasing a group of zebras. The one the in middle (the original sighting) disappeared and then appeared a short while later, having now turned into a couple with a calf. Our guide told us that spotting a rhino was far from guaranteed, and you could come here several years in a row without seeing a single one, and now that we had seen 8 of them confirmed that we had been very, very lucky. Especially considering that the rhino population in the crater is 20-25 individuals.

Going on a safari for the first time, I consider myself being very lucky that I got to see all of The Big 5 (rhino, leopard, lion, buffalo and elephant) in one go. Even though that all the sightings of the rhinos was at a very long distance (app. 1 km give or take) it was a great experience. But sometimes you just get lucky. And I’m not complaining about that.

The dirty dozen. Well, close. We are more than a dozen, but after the safari we aren't particularly clean...

17th - Kili day 6

As I didn't have time and energy to write any notes this day this post wil be done by memory.

Mweka Camp (3100 m) – Mweka Gate (1980 m)

Today we got up early and left camp at already 0730. This was to get to the gate early before everyone else to avoid too much queuing. We have never walked this fast on the entire trek, and 2 hours later we had arrived at the gate, after almost running through a rain forest like the one on the first day. When we arrived at the gate we agreed that busses never have been so beautiful.

We signed out at left for the hotel. After settling the tip for the “our” employees and getting our certificates, we were done. We promptly celebrated with a couple of drinks at the bar, a lunch, and then a well-deserved and –needed shower. After settling down and getting things in order, we returned to the bar and had dinner when the restaurant opened. After which we made sure the bar still was where we left it.

That night was a good night.

16th - Kili day 5 aka Hell on Earth

As I didn't have time and energy to write any notes this day this post will be done by memory.

Barafu camp/Base camp (4500 m) – Mweka Camp (3100 m) via Summit (5895 m)

This day would be the absolutely longest of the entire trek. Started at midnight, with a climb to the summit, followed by a descend back to the Base camp for a couple of hours of rest, and then continuing down to our last camp at 3100 meters.

First of all: Yes – I did make it. I did reach the summit at 5895 meters. And to my big surprise I didn’t feel much of altitude sickness during the ascend. I felt a little nauseous at times, but I suspect that was because of my pulse being in the high end for all 8 hours it took us to reach the top.

It was a beautiful sight looking up towards the top when walking, as all you could see was other people’s head lamps. It was like looking at several worms of light crawling up the side.

If it was easy? Pff. It wasn’t a problem at all.

And if you believe that, I have $10.000.000 for you, and you just need to pay me $25.000 to cover transfer expenses to get them.

It was probably the physically hardest thing I have ever done in my life. You headlamp gave you the possibility to look at your own feet, the feet in front of you, and the ground in between. You felt disorientated as you had no knowledge of what was going on around you, but that was for the best, because you had to save as much energy as possible for just walking. The pace was extremely slow; a step that took one foot and put it all the way in front of the other would be considered as being a long step. Every step drained energy you didn’t have, and now and then rock formations appeared from the dark which you had to climb over, which drained even more energy. Long breaks weren’t possible, as the wind and low temperatures prevented us from staying still for too long. The average steepness is hard to estimate, but I probably won’t be far from the truth when guessing it was between 30 and 40 degrees.

When reaching Stella Point (5685 m) the rest was almost a walk in the park. Uhuru (the name of the peak) was almost 200 meters higher up and less than a km away. But due to the previous steep slope this felt as nothing.

Carys and I at the roof of Africa

Going down again was done slightly faster; it took us 8 hours to get up, but only 1½ hours to get down. But the issue here was that it was all gravel (we didn’t take the same way down as we did up), so for every step we really had to force the boots down into the gravel to be sure that we didn’t lose our grip. It gave a huge strain on legs and knees. We finally made it back to Base Camp, where we got a couple of hours of rest (i.e. sleep). Glenna, who hadn’t joined us when we left due to her problems with the altitude, had enjoyed her morning with a good sleep and relaxation. If we had left for the ascend around 0800 instead of midnight she would have had a chance to try to get to the top (yeah yeah, Glenna. That’s easy to say… :P ).

After the rest we started the first part of our descend, down to 3100 meters altitude. As we didn’t have to take acclimatization into consideration any more as we were going down, we were let go by our guide and could walk as fast as we wanted. Looking forward to getting to camp to get some well-needed sleep it couldn’t go fast enough.

15th - Kili day 4

As I didn't have time and energy to write any notes this day this post will be done by memory.

Barranco camp (3980 m) – Barafu camp/Base camp (4500 m)

Obviously, a good night’s sleep and decent amounts of re-hydration did Glenna good; she seems more alive than she has for a while. Good for her!

To be honest, Barranco Wall was quite a surprise; after having read all the scaring stories about it I was almost expecting Death looking at me at every corner. That was not the case. Not completely, at least. It was difficult, no doubt about it, but having mentally prepared me for the worst, it actually wasn’t as bad I had feared. With that said, you couldn’t do it without paying full attention at all times. Otherwise it would, and could, go fatally wrong. It was like the situations on the second half of the second day, where a slight step to the wrong side would result in death, but here there were just many more of those, and the error margin was at times much smaller. And it all took 2 hours to get through. At one time we would be standing on a small ledge big enough for only half a boot, and the next spot to step on would be almost a meter away. Between those two points: nothing. Stepping from the first to the second was like stepping into the nothingness, and you just had to rely on that your boots would keep their grip and that the guide would get hold of you at the other end. The two small edges also slanted, so there was nothing reassuring about it.

These two hours was a perfect example of how annoying the porters could be; you would be standing holding on to whatever you could with whatever you had, afraid of losing balance, and while looking for the next place to step/jump to, you would see 2-3 porters go past you, whistling, hands in pockets and 20-25 kgs on their backs/necks/heads moving briskly as if they were going shopping. That made you feel truly pathetic.

After that the day was relatively normal as the others. Just a lot of walking upwards and after a long day we ended up at Base Camp with was covered in mist. Towards the end of the day Glenna began showing signs of altitude sickness again, but she kept fighting and wouldn’t let it get between her and the next camp.

Arriving at the camp we got served an early dinner, and then we quickly went to sleep. The plan was to leave the camp at around midnight to try to reach the peak at sunrise. That meant that we got around 3-4 hours of effective sleep before we had to leave. For the first time I slept with my thermal underwear in the sleeping bag. Not because it was getting cold, but just to be able to get faster out and going when we got woken up. For a short while I considered unzipping the sleeping bag as it quickly became too hot – a nod to the quality of the stuff I’ve been spending money on the last couple of months.

Tomorrow will be Hell.

14th - Kili day 3

Shira camp (3800 m) – Barranco camp (3980 m) via Lava Tower (4600 m)

Woke up with a fabulous view in clear frosty air. Nothing particular happened this morning, an soon we were continuing our walk.

When moving upwards we could look back and see the clouds slowly rise and cover areas we had already been. Fortunately we stayed ahead of the clouds the entire day with the exception of a whiff now and then. The conditions were rock and gravel and very little dust. Happy about most of the dust gone, but the gravel can make it into a living hell to get a decent footing.

Glenna is obviously having problems with the altitude; we are have had quite a few short stops so that she could get her nausea under control. It doesn’t really matter, though – in the long run it’s to our all’s advantage that we are moving slow, as it will make it easier to acclimatize to the lower oxygen levels.

The goal was to reach Lava Tower at app. 4600 meters altitude, and then descend back down to almost the same altitude at where we started today, to prepare the body for the challenges the next couple of days. Because of Glenna’s issues with the altitude se was led by a porter around today’s tall point, staying down at a more manageable altitude. After Lava Tower we descended again, and even though it only lasted app. 1½ hours, I have a feeling that the long descend from the summit will be pure Hell. Just after these 1½ hours my knees and calves weren’t happy.

Closing in on the point where we were to meet Glenna again the clouds caught up with us, and within 10 minutes visibility dropped to app. 100 meters. We reached camp, and due to the weather it took some time for us to find our tents. We had an early dinner, and when we exited our mess tent it had gotten dark and the fog had decreased visibility to below 30 meters.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day. We will start with Breakfast Wall (Barranco Wall) which is an almost 90 degree steep cliff wall we need to get up and over before we can continue. The (informal) name is due to all the breakfasts that have been sacrificed during the ascend. The Wall will probably be our biggest challenge yet – and it isn’t because we haven’t had enough challenges already on the trek. After this we will have a 5-7 hours walk so it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. We will end at around 4500 meters. During dinner we discussed the possibility of Glenna having to get her to our last camp the last night and meet us there instead of continuing with us. But we agreed that we would see in the morning how her condition will be.

My neck is getting itchy. More sunscreen, please!

Technically we have come halfway in our trek (3 days down, 3 to go), but I think that if we look at it difficulty-wise, we won’t be halfway until after tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow will be our summit day. That will be a climb from 4500 meters to the peak at 5895 meters, followed by a descend that will end us at 3100 meters. My legs will file a complaint, of that I am sure. I can already feel a certain amount of fatigue in them, so they might already be rebelling?