So, in terms of passing through the distinct climate zones that make up Kilimanjaro, we had passed through cultivated/Savannah then rainforest and now were heading up into heath/moorland type rocks and vegetation. Slow like a tortoise/chameleon is the pace our guide told us to do today. A slow, steady pace is the best thing for acclimating. Though I think the wife and I took slowness to new levels...
Day Two was steeper than the first day. We used our poles extensively for the first time today, they are actually kind of nifty when you get used to them. A lot of boulders to navigate, moving into more fog and rain. More of a Lord of the Rings vibe today. The rain bucketed down as we stopped for lunch in some rocky clearing.
(lunch time)
We hung out with a nice American couple living in Arusha and an Aussie from some unpronounceable part of Oz. Porters still racing ahead, we did hear one fall over, pole (sympathy). We went up onto a ridge with views of miles of foggy covered ground before heading down to camp ('Shira Camp 2'). The camp was 3820 m high, so today we did 5 km and climbed about 800 m.
The camp was replete with awful longdrop toilets and big, ugly ravens (who hunt the mice and tourist waste).
My dull headache persisted during the day, drinking lots of water seemed to help. We went on a short acclimatization climb up from the camp (past the helipad where sick people were flown out and a guard with an AK-47 to stop Kenyan bandits coming to prey on hapless tourists).
(on the walk)
On the walk we saw cloud lift from the nearby peak of Kibo (ie Kilimanjaro is two peaks Kibo (bigger) and Mawenzi (smaller))...it looked massive.
Cue more headaches, camp noise and bustle and mice noises at night. So far I am not sleeping all that well on this mission. Tomorrow was destined to be a big day, with big altitude gains. The make or break day ie if you are going to get seriously sick you will start to show it tomorrow eep.
To Be Continued
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