Tanzania: Would You Like a Monkey With That?

Let's just say that the night before heading out, I did not sleep well; anxious about what we were about to do.  Was I really prepared to climb a 19,341 foot mountain?  How would my body handle the altitude?  What would it be like sleeping in a tent for over a week?  I had never spent more than 2 days in a tent.  What if I didn't bring the right clothes?  Would that sleeping bag really keep me warm?  So many thoughts going through my head.  What was not going through my head was, will I be kept awake by monkeys tonight?

We traveled from the Stella Maris Lodge to the Londorossi Gate.  We traveled through a couple towns on our way.  We stopped in one town for about 10 minutes so one of the guides could pick up something.  From the bus we could hear the music of the Catholic Church across the street (it was Sunday morning), and on the other side of the bus was an adorable little Muslim girl smiling and waving at us.  There are no sidewalks anywhere, but walking is the most common way to get around.  Pathways had been worn next to the road from so many feet trekking past.  Motorcycles were a common site on the roads.  And I never really figured out what the speed limit was (or if there was one).  I saw signs that said "50", but if that was kph, we were going way faster than that.  Pass anywhere you feel you have room.  Needless to say, there is no way I would survive driving in Tanzania.

For a while we drove on what I would consider a decent two lane road.  Then we turned off it onto a dirt road that obviously had plans for improvements (piles of dirt every 100 feet or so), but those had not yet been accomplished.  I kept waiting for the bus to bottom out, but it did its job.  A+ for hardiness.  As we traveled up the dirt road we passed fields where people were picking carrots.  I had never seen a carrot field before.  It took us probably 2 hours to get to the gate, but I wasn't really paying that close of attention.

We were one of the first buses to arrive at the Londorossi Gate that morning.  Every one of us had to sign into their book.  After doing so we had our last chance for a real toilet (squat toilet) until we made it back down the mountain.  And we got our first experience of eating with our team.  Our cook Pitor had made us a delicious meal of spaghetti noodles with some sort of vegetable sauce.  And we got our first look at potatoes (there would be so many of these that by the end we said we wouldn't eat another potato for months).  We also learned how cleaning your plate of food just meant you needed more.  There was always someone there to put more food on your plate.  I think I ate more for lunch that day than I typically eat in a day.  But they know how much we need to be fed to sustain ourselves in the thin air and excessive hiking.

After lunch we got back into the bus and moved from the Londorossi Gate to the start of the Lemosho Trail.  It took us probably about 45 minutes to get to the start-off point.  We piled off.  Our gear piled off and was handed over to the porters who would take it up to the first camp.  All we had to carry was our daypack.  Our daypack had our water, snacks, rain coat, rain pants, fleece, first aid kit, sunglasses, camera, toilet paper, sun hat, beanie, headlamp, and trekking poles.  This is more-or-less what we carried with us each day.

We started our hike at around 7,000 feet.  Our first day on the trail was to be a trek through the rain forest for about 3 miles.  We were expected to gain 1,700 feet in elevation and for the hike to take 2-3 hours.  Because of rain the morning hours the trail was rather muddy and slippery in places.  Thank goodness for trekking poles or I wouldn't have made it past day one.  The forests were so green.  We heard and saw birds, and then probably about 30 minutes from camp saw our first monkeys!  They told us we would likely see Black and White Colobus monkeys and Blue Monkeys before leaving the forests, and to not be surprised if we saw some at camp.

We were the first people to camp from any of the trekking companies.  Our Peak Planet porters met us at the camp where our tents were already set up.  They gave us our first taste of the Jambo song, or Kilimanjaro song.  This was the first time we heard it, but definitely not the last.  You'd hear it at camp, on the trail, and probably in your dreams by the end.  The first day we mostly only got the words "Jambo" and "Hakuna Matata" down, but by the end I think any one of us could have sang it to you.  There were additional verses that were partially improv, partially not, but this is the main refrain for the song:

Jambo! Jambo bwana!

Habari gani? Mzuri sana!

Wageni, mwakaribishwa!

Kilimanjaro? Hakuna matata!

While we were waiting for supper we saw our first camp monkey.  A Blue Monkey had wandered into camp and someone had given him a banana.  We didn't get to appreciate him for too long because they were calling us, telling us they had snacks and hot drinks for us in the mess tent, the location that would become our main hangout.

After snacks we had our first experience of our daily med check.  We went through med check at least once every day, sometimes twice.  They checked our pulse, oxygen levels, blood pressure, and temperature.  And then we also got to know the more intimate things about each other.  What color your pee was, when you had your last bowel movement, any headaches, nausea, vomiting; all the good stuff.  Bet you've never been so open with people you just met the day before.

Because we were so near the equator (about 3 degrees below it...first trip to the Southern Hemisphere!!!), the sunset was rather early.  That meant that usually after supper, we had to rely on headlamps while walking around and the gas light in the mess tent for light.  After supper (also soooo much food), we hung around and chatted for a while.  As the sun went down, it started to get chilly.  I had to add an additional base layer under my hiking pants and throw on my fleece.

That night I had troubles falling asleep.  Once again the anxiety found me, but also the fact I was in a tent and could hear monkey screeching didn't help.  At one point Alex reached into the area between us in the tent looking for his water and my half-asleep self jumped about a mile because I thought a monkey had gotten into the tent and was pulling my finger.  Much too early, we were being waken by our wait staff, asking if we wanted tea or coffee.  Off for day 2 on the mountain.