Poli Poli

Africa - Day 3 - Wednesday September 25

We got out of bed at 6 AM and prepared for the first day on Kilimanjaro.  We headed up for our breakfast buffet which lasted until about 7:30.  After that we packed everything in the room; bag 1 - stays with the lodge, bag 2 - goes up the mountains with the porters, bag 3 - is our personal backpack we carry ourselves. 

After a 1.5 drive to the Kilimanjaro trail head (that includes 4 stops for Evan to pee), we were ready to go,,,,, almost. First we needed our passports so that we could check in and obtain a permit to enter the park.  After that we enjoyed tea and cookies while our guide made his final preparations. During this time we were approached by wild monkeys that wanted some of our cookies. We didn't feed them but it was fun to watch them work.

As we started our walk to the official "starting point", it was interesting to watch all of the porters from all of the different teams prepare for their ascent.  We learned that there can be over 1000 people on the mountain at any one time. Most groups of 2-4 hikers had a team of 17 to 30 porters. We had 21 porters, 1 head guide, 1 assistant guide and 1 chef in our group.  This is what we were told, we didn't actually meet them until we arrived at camp.  

As we learned the day before, today's walk was going to be completely in the rain forest, from 5000 feet to exactly 10,000 feet. The first day of the hike was easy, or as Evan would say, like a green.  The guides kept saying "Poli Poli" which means "Slow Slow" and "Magi Magi" which means "Water Water.". They wanted to make sure we acclimate to the elevation properly.  The first mile was just a dirt road with a slight incline. After that the road narrowed to about the width of a sidewalk.  We hiked for about 2.5 hours until we reached our lunch spot.  

Lunch was interesting. Keep in mind, there are probably 5 groups that left with us (there are over 100 companies that guide on this mountain), so about 150 people including us that headed up at the same time.  Each group had lunch at the same spot. Some guiding companies provided a log or rock to sit on along with a boxed lunch to eat. We had our own picnic table setup along with a crew of 3 to cook and serve the food.  Not too shabby.

After lunch we continued up the mountain through the rainforest. After 4 hours and 10 minutes of hiking and 5000 feet of vertical accent we reached camp for day 1.  First step, we had to sign in with the ranger at the ranger station.  After that we waked through something that looked like Occupy Kilimanjaro. Past that we hiked another 100 feet vertical to our private camp area. Our crew greeted us with singing and dancing which we joined right in on.  

Camp was interesting. They had the three of us in two big tents (plenty of room).  Our night bags were already in our tents ready to go.  We also had our own private shower and bathroom.  They also setup a mess tent, which we use to eat and kill time (think playing cards).  Our two guides shared a small tent and the porters shared two larger tents (12 to a tent, wow!)

After getting familiar with how things work, we all cleaned up for dinner.  I took a shower which turned out to be more work then it was worth.  Dinner was awesome but, after not sleeping last night, I was beat.  As soon as dinner was over I headed back to the tent (about 15 feet) to crash.  I don't even remember closing my eyes, it was a solid night of sleep after a hard day or hiking.