The night before we had our briefing and met all but one member of the group. 10 people in total - the four of us, James and Rhiannon -doctors from Wales, Judith and Dominique physical therapists from Canada, Doug a carpenter from Australia and Shaniz was the missing one- a nursing student from England who'd been in Tanzania for the past couple months working.
In the morning we gather in the lobby with all our stuff - ready to be weighed - we can give 35lbs of our stuff to the porters. There had been a little panic the night before because Lenny - the guy who booked everything, told us we didn't have to worry about our sleeping bag, coat or mat. Well, we did. It wasn't so much the weight but the space they took up in our bags that had us worried. We'd laughed earlier about how huge my bag was for what we needed to put in it and it turned out my bag *just* fit what we needed.
At 1am, we finally had all our stuff packed and ready to go, so in the morning when we brought it to be weighed (Sam and Sally had brought a scale - brilliant idea) we were all set and without worry.
There were a couple other groups in the lobby as well, most notably a group of 22 who were some type of charity group (we later found this out - they sponsor Kenyan students to go to college). One of the ladies in the group (who wore a pearl necklace and earrings) was a bit rude in the morning. They'd taken up most of the lobby with their bags, so we were forced to put ours around them in the only free space we could find. At one point she exclaimed in disgust that her bag was going to get mixed up with ours. Why she'd think we'd want any additional weight is beyond me, but from that point on we decided we didn't like her and were happy to be with the group we had.... and she wore her pearls the entire time on Kili, so we referred to her as such.
Ours were the last vehicles to arrive, so we were the last to leave the hotel for the 2.5 hr drive to the trail gate. The Rongai Route, which we were on, is the only one that comes from the north, so we had to drive around to the Kenya side to begin our journey. Along the way we passed so many people in the street - it was Sunday so everyone had on their best dress. Some looked like they had on prom dresses, others had full suits. It was crazy hot, but that didn't get in the way of dressing up for church. Amazingly, the whites were as white as could be (Shaniz said it has something to do with the Serengeti dust and rain). I tried to take some pictures and video, but what I captured doesn't do the people justice.
After about 2 hrs, we decided we had to go the bathroom (we are in hydration mode, as that's supposedly one of the ways to fight altitude sickness) so our driver stops on the road and 4 of us go into the woods for our first of many bathroom breaks. I say this because eventually this is one of the most bonding times we have - and the first one started us off b/c there wasn't a lot of private space, so we more or less formed a circle and just hung it out for all to see (ok, we were far from the road, so the folks passing wouldn't see, but we were close enough to each other that all shame quickly went away). 15 min. later we were at the gate and we realized there were proper toilets waiting for us - oh well. One thing I can say for sure is you really get to know people when you travel as we did together.
We all get out of the car and go to the tourist waiting area and eat our boxed lunch while the porters weigh all their supplies. We sign in and meet our guides - a little nervous because the one they introduced as the head guide is flapping his arms like he's trying to fly - a strange sight indeed. We get a group picture as we set off on our journey.
We walk thru a bit of a forest - not a rain forest, more of a normal forest and we get passed by the porters as memories of the Inca trail flood my brain. Heidi, a forensic photographer, is already giving lessons on photography as she teaches Rhiannon and James how to make the most of their new mac-daddy camera. We stop for a rest before we had a chance to be tired. I felt like we were going a bit slow, but others said they thought we were going faster than they expected, so I shut up.
The walk from the gate to the camp site was only about 3-4 hours long with a 750m (2,460ft) overall gain in elevation. As we went up we could look back and see the plains of Kenya. The views were already amazing and everyone was falling in love with Africa (as I'd done years ago when I visited Kenya). We stop at a great overlook and the guide, Hubert, said we'll take a break to rest, eat and send emails - which we thought was odd, then he got on his phone. We all headed off into the woods for our much needed pit stop (we were really good at hydrating), tissue, nappy sack and hand sanitizer in hand. I started in one direction and Dominique said "Judith is over there" which I took to mean "she'll want her privacy" so I headed in another direction and she said "Sally is over there" and I said, oh, trust me, that means nothing.
We get back on the path and I decide to hang at the back and take some pictures (again, we were going a bit slow, so I figured why not entertain myself with "flower mode"). Lemack, one of our guides, stayed with me as I stopped to take pictures and any time we'd start walking back towards the group he'd say "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly).. but of course, being the invincible hiker that I am, I didn't really listen. He would never leave me, though, no matter how far ahead the group got - the guides took care of us that way, right from the start.
When we got to the first camp we passed the most beautiful port-a-potty (I kid you not, you'll recognize it immediately when you see my pictures) and them come to the opening where our tents were all set up. We dropped our stuff in our tents, grabbed our camera and water bottle and went for a short acclimatization walk up a few meters then back down. When we returned to camp, the porters gave us buckets of warm water for "washy washy" and then we went to the mess tent for tea and popcorn, followed by a 3 course meal.
Going back to the tents after dinner was a treat because as you looked up to the sky the stars had all come out to greet us - with no light pollution, the night sky was overwhelmingly full of white lights...twinkling and in clusters so big that you couldn't determine the constellations that are easily seen when only the brightest shine through. I never got tired of the night sky (and unfortunately forgot to take a picture, though I did talk about it!)
We went to bed knowing that day 1 was a success - excited for the days ahead.
Click for Pictures
In the morning we gather in the lobby with all our stuff - ready to be weighed - we can give 35lbs of our stuff to the porters. There had been a little panic the night before because Lenny - the guy who booked everything, told us we didn't have to worry about our sleeping bag, coat or mat. Well, we did. It wasn't so much the weight but the space they took up in our bags that had us worried. We'd laughed earlier about how huge my bag was for what we needed to put in it and it turned out my bag *just* fit what we needed.
At 1am, we finally had all our stuff packed and ready to go, so in the morning when we brought it to be weighed (Sam and Sally had brought a scale - brilliant idea) we were all set and without worry.
There were a couple other groups in the lobby as well, most notably a group of 22 who were some type of charity group (we later found this out - they sponsor Kenyan students to go to college). One of the ladies in the group (who wore a pearl necklace and earrings) was a bit rude in the morning. They'd taken up most of the lobby with their bags, so we were forced to put ours around them in the only free space we could find. At one point she exclaimed in disgust that her bag was going to get mixed up with ours. Why she'd think we'd want any additional weight is beyond me, but from that point on we decided we didn't like her and were happy to be with the group we had.... and she wore her pearls the entire time on Kili, so we referred to her as such.
Ours were the last vehicles to arrive, so we were the last to leave the hotel for the 2.5 hr drive to the trail gate. The Rongai Route, which we were on, is the only one that comes from the north, so we had to drive around to the Kenya side to begin our journey. Along the way we passed so many people in the street - it was Sunday so everyone had on their best dress. Some looked like they had on prom dresses, others had full suits. It was crazy hot, but that didn't get in the way of dressing up for church. Amazingly, the whites were as white as could be (Shaniz said it has something to do with the Serengeti dust and rain). I tried to take some pictures and video, but what I captured doesn't do the people justice.
After about 2 hrs, we decided we had to go the bathroom (we are in hydration mode, as that's supposedly one of the ways to fight altitude sickness) so our driver stops on the road and 4 of us go into the woods for our first of many bathroom breaks. I say this because eventually this is one of the most bonding times we have - and the first one started us off b/c there wasn't a lot of private space, so we more or less formed a circle and just hung it out for all to see (ok, we were far from the road, so the folks passing wouldn't see, but we were close enough to each other that all shame quickly went away). 15 min. later we were at the gate and we realized there were proper toilets waiting for us - oh well. One thing I can say for sure is you really get to know people when you travel as we did together.
We all get out of the car and go to the tourist waiting area and eat our boxed lunch while the porters weigh all their supplies. We sign in and meet our guides - a little nervous because the one they introduced as the head guide is flapping his arms like he's trying to fly - a strange sight indeed. We get a group picture as we set off on our journey.
We walk thru a bit of a forest - not a rain forest, more of a normal forest and we get passed by the porters as memories of the Inca trail flood my brain. Heidi, a forensic photographer, is already giving lessons on photography as she teaches Rhiannon and James how to make the most of their new mac-daddy camera. We stop for a rest before we had a chance to be tired. I felt like we were going a bit slow, but others said they thought we were going faster than they expected, so I shut up.
The walk from the gate to the camp site was only about 3-4 hours long with a 750m (2,460ft) overall gain in elevation. As we went up we could look back and see the plains of Kenya. The views were already amazing and everyone was falling in love with Africa (as I'd done years ago when I visited Kenya). We stop at a great overlook and the guide, Hubert, said we'll take a break to rest, eat and send emails - which we thought was odd, then he got on his phone. We all headed off into the woods for our much needed pit stop (we were really good at hydrating), tissue, nappy sack and hand sanitizer in hand. I started in one direction and Dominique said "Judith is over there" which I took to mean "she'll want her privacy" so I headed in another direction and she said "Sally is over there" and I said, oh, trust me, that means nothing.
We get back on the path and I decide to hang at the back and take some pictures (again, we were going a bit slow, so I figured why not entertain myself with "flower mode"). Lemack, one of our guides, stayed with me as I stopped to take pictures and any time we'd start walking back towards the group he'd say "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly).. but of course, being the invincible hiker that I am, I didn't really listen. He would never leave me, though, no matter how far ahead the group got - the guides took care of us that way, right from the start.
When we got to the first camp we passed the most beautiful port-a-potty (I kid you not, you'll recognize it immediately when you see my pictures) and them come to the opening where our tents were all set up. We dropped our stuff in our tents, grabbed our camera and water bottle and went for a short acclimatization walk up a few meters then back down. When we returned to camp, the porters gave us buckets of warm water for "washy washy" and then we went to the mess tent for tea and popcorn, followed by a 3 course meal.
Going back to the tents after dinner was a treat because as you looked up to the sky the stars had all come out to greet us - with no light pollution, the night sky was overwhelmingly full of white lights...twinkling and in clusters so big that you couldn't determine the constellations that are easily seen when only the brightest shine through. I never got tired of the night sky (and unfortunately forgot to take a picture, though I did talk about it!)
We went to bed knowing that day 1 was a success - excited for the days ahead.
Click for Pictures
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