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May 5, 2002 - Summits and Simbas (Tanzania)
6 cold, showerless days. 62 horizontal kilometres and 8200 vertical metres covered. 33.5 hours of hiking, 12 of which were in one day, a further 9 of which began at midnight and continued non-stop, heading, by light of the moon, what seemed like straight up. Thin-air induced headaches. What could possibly be worth it?
Easy. Watching the sun rise amidst a sea of flaming orange clouds and illuminating glistening glaciers the size of office buildings. Looking far down into a massive caldera formed by an ancient volcano. Being surrounded by an ocean of cloud as far as the eye can see. Reaching Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak at 5895m above sea level. Our adventure began early on a Monday morning. We met our small entourage of (mandatory) guides and porters and began our ascent. Day one took us through very moist, very dense rainforest. Tall trees were moss covered and leaves dripped water. Colubus monkeys with bushy white tails swung from branch to branch over waterfalls and a rushing river to the right of our path. On day two, the forest thinned, trees became smaller and wet dark green moss turned to dry, pale green 'old man's beard' hanging ominously from branches. We then emerged into drier fields, covered in heather and other moorland shrubs. Kilimanjaro's secondary Mawenzi Peak came into view in the distance, but clouds moved quickly in around us. We walked for a good part of the day inside the cloud, seeing only a few metres in either direction. Day three was a hike for acclimatisation, heading up the mountain a ways for views of Uhuru Peak and the days to come, then down again, sleeping a second night at 3700m. On day four we ascended into "The Saddle", the relatively flat alpine desert between Uhuru and Mawenzi peaks. Rainy season finally took its revenge, soaking us and the vegetation-less moonscape around us with dense wet cloud. We arrived cold and drenched at Kibo Hut, perched on the mountain side at 4700m. We looked forward to an afternoon of rest and sleep. Midnight came too soon, and with the alarm, we climbed out of our (semi-)warm sleeping bags and into our final outer layers of weatherproof gear. After forcing down tea and the infamous "Glucose" biscuits so popular here in Tanzania, we headed out. It was undeniably a trudge up those 1200m to the summit, with only Power Bars and near-frozen Cadbury's chocolate to fuel us. The grade was about 50 degrees and the path traversed loose black volcanic rock and cone ash. We were walking switchbacks! The eerily bright light of the full moon made it all seem surreal. 5 hours and 25 minutes later we reached Gilmans's point and our first glimpse into the crater - a reminder of why on earth we were doing this. Not far then to Uhuru Peak, the true roof of the continent of Africa. The sun rose behind us as we reached the summit - cold and tired, but happy. Overall, it was a great but tough experience. The huts on the mountain were nice enough - little rooms each for four people, with a communal dining hall and bathrooms lit by solar power. Our cook, Benjamin provided fabulous food and even peeled my hard-boiled egg for me when my fingers were too cold! But nevertheless, when we finished, our bodies were tired, confused and angry and we very much looked forward to .... drum roll please.... our safari in the luxury lodges of Tanzania's northern national parks! We began our safari the very next day. Off we went in our Land Rover Defender 110 with friendly and keen-eyed guide Charles (Cha-less) at the wheel. We began with the afternoon in Lake Manyara National Park. At the entrance gate, we removed the roof panels from our 'Landy', stood up and prepared to take it all in. With cameras and binoculars hanging from our necks, we definitely looked like the ultimate safaristi! Yes, we were on safari in Africa's national parks with reputedly the most prolific wild animal populations, but it was still shocking and very incredible to see a giraffe walk across the road ahead of us!!!! Followed closely by elephant roaming in the bushes, zebra and wildebeest hanging around on the plains, warthog snorting over grassy meals, monkeys swinging from tree to tree, gazelle and impala grazing in the long grasses, baboons munching loudly in trees and hippos bobbing peacefully in the huge Lake Manyara. Days two, three and four we spent in Serengeti National Park. Here we added an impressive list of 20 lion (mostly sprawled lazily on rocky outcrops), 3 leopard (lounging in trees), and 1 cheetah (on the hunt), as well as hyaena, jackal, mongoose, dassies, various antelope and huge African buffalo to our viewing repertoire. Very impressive was the annual wildebeest migration. Along with a fair number of zebra (with which they share a symbiotic relationship), we were lucky to see literally MILLIONS of wildebeest roaming the flat Serengeti plains. In the distance, they looked like a black blanket over the fields. Our nights were spent in 'luxury' lodges, certainly luxurious in comparison to the mountain huts on Kili (or any other accommodation thus far!). Our meals were fully catered and often buffet style, and we took away boxed lunches with us each day. In the evenings, it was really neat to watch National Geographic style videos depicting scenes of the Serengeti we had seen that day with our very own eyes! Best was waking up to giraffe chewing on acacia trees outside our hotel room window! Our last night was spent in a lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Upon arriving, we were treated to the most incredible scenery. From the lodge balcony and from the ceiling to floor windows of the bar, restaurant and our very own room, we had expansive and uninterrupted views of the crater, which spans some 20km around. The crater was lush green with yellow 'everlasting flower' carpeting, with areas of brown savannah and forest. Patched with sun and cloud cover, it featured Lake Magadi, a salt lake blurred pink with seas of flamingo. Through a set of high-powered binoculars mounted on the terrace, we could see elephant, buffalo and the very endangered black rhinoceros (only 16 left in Tanzania, all in the crater) grazing in the grass and amongst the trees. On our last day of safari we descended 610m down onto the crater floor. We got a close up view of all we had seen from the rim, as well as being lucky to witness a newborn Thomson's Gazelle's first shaky steps just minutes after birth. We watched nervously as the mother abandoned the baby, because (according to our guide), she sensed a predator about (probably hyaena or jackal), but breathed a sigh of relief when mother came back. It was a long drive back to Arusha after leaving the crater, then back to Dar Es Salaam and our final good bye to Tanzania. > See photos from the whole Africa trip. > See photos from Tanzania. > See other Africa journal entries. 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