Kilimanjaro Day 1

I was picked up at 9 AM from the hotel by Martha, who was going to drive me to Marangu Gate. This is where everyone registers in the logbook so they can keep track of who’s on Kilimanjaro. My group for the trek consisted of me and four Austrians in their 50s. I thought, oh no, not exactly my crowd. They all knew each other and were two couples. But I couldn’t exactly back out now! I had two porters and my own guide. The Austrians also had a guide and several porters. My porter was a 32-year-old Tanzanian man who didn’t speak fluent English, but he could communicate fairly well. His name was Ansasiel, and he was really pleasant. When you hike up the mountain, you only carry the essentials in your own backpack—like water, sunscreen, and sunglasses. The porters take care of all your other luggage, as well as their own gear and the food. The first leg of the journey was from Marangu Gate to Mandara Hut, and it was a beautiful hike through the rainforest most of the way. This segment took about 3 and a half hours, but it was a steep climb for most of the way up Kilimanjaro. There are different routes you can take. The most popular is the Marangu route, which is the one I chose. It’s the only route where you sleep in huts on the way up the mountain—perfect for me since I’m not always keen on sleeping in a tent! It’s also the shortest route, which means you go almost straight up. This can increase the risk of altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can be dangerous and, in extreme cases, even deadly. Every year, several people die on Kilimanjaro from altitude sickness... The symptoms of altitude sickness vary. If you just have a slight headache, you can keep going. But if it turns into a severe headache, you must descend immediately! Other symptoms can include vomiting, loss of bodily control, fluid in the brain and lungs—some of the more serious signs. Altitude sickness usually occurs from about 3,000 meters and above. The amount of oxygen you can take in at higher altitudes is much less than at sea level. Alternative routes include the Machame and Rongai routes. Rongai approaches from the back of Kilimanjaro (the Kenyan side), while Machame comes from the front. Both are great alternatives, but there are no huts, so you sleep in tents that you bring along. After we arrived at Mandara Hut, we were settled into our huts. I got my own hut, which was actually nice because it meant I could get a good night’s sleep. Dinner was served at 5:30 PM in a large room with several other trekkers. I struck up a conversation with the table next to me, which was a group of Spaniards, and they thought it was pretty funny that I could say a few words in Spanish. On a trip like this, people go to bed pretty early, both because sleep is good for altitude sickness and because you wake up really early. I fell asleep around 9 PM—and slept really well...