Mti Mkubwa Camp (2650M) – Shira One Camp (3610M)

We are woken at the start of the day with a cup of coffee or tea. Today it was at 6.00am, still dark. We have 30 minutes to drink coffee, get dressed, pack our bags, and then leave them outside on a canvas mat. Once the luggage is there the porters can dismantle and pack the tents away and start the transport of the tents and bags to the new site. An individual porter is responsible for your bag and tent. You are always housed in the same tent for the whole of the trek. Each tent is labelled with a number, as is the luggage. My tent was number 5, and when you arrive at a new campsite, you look for the tent, number 5, and there it is with your bag already in it.

Today there were some monkeys in the trees, blue monkeys. Managed to grab a few pictures, two of which are reasonable. Breakfast in the mess tent was a runny porridge, frankfurter, omelette, and papaya. Tea or coffee. Started on coffee, but transferred to tea, not liking instant coffee.

Our walk today was to Shira One Camp. This was an up and down walk, starting in the rainforest, then into the heather and finally open space. It was a lovely walk, plenty of trees and flowers to see, then as the trees disappeared, we were greeted with views back to the lowlands around the base of the mountain.

On the walk we passed the first of several helipads built by Roman Abramovich in his 2009 attempt to climb Kilimanjaro. He failed to summit and gave up the fight at 4,500M, and was helicoptered out. We had a couple of snack breaks on the way to Shira One. We reached the campsite for lunch of chicken and French fries.

After lunch it poured with rain, and my tent sprang several leaks. The tent porters soon corrected them, so I had a dry, snug tent. At every camp stop, there are two containers of water, one drinking and the other warm for washing. Filled a bowl of warm water and had a quick wash in my tent. Should have brought a towel to dry. My tee shirt is absolutely covered with salt stains from the two days of walking and sweating. Should have brought a few more clothes on the hike. No problem I change into one set of cloths for socialising in the evening and the smelly, sweaty cloths for walking. It will be getting cooler now, so there will be something on over the tee shirt.

Water is gathered at each stop. Sometimes the water team must walk long distances to find the clean stream, other times the water is close nearby,

In the pictures you can see our tents, and the two loo tents, one for the women, and the other for the men. The campsites do have their own permanent toilets, these are very smelly and dirty, they are the squat type of toilets. The portable toilets in their tents were nice to have and were kept clean.

As evening approached, the rain stopped, and I was able to grab some snaps of the campsite and a nearby stream. This evening we were entertained by quiet singing from the porter team. This was quiet, because singing in the park had been banned, with some guides losing their license to lead groups. COVID was used as an excuse to ban singing.

Supper tonight was rice and vegetables. It was much cooler tonight, so when I went to bed, I still wore most of my clothes. Still lovely and warm in my sleeping bag.

Our Route to Shira One Camp

The earlier trip to Morocco had been a practice run for the climb up Kilimanjaro. So, I felt confident I would succeed in climbing Kili. I booked the trip quite late to Kili, the last booking I believe. The Omicron variant initially stopped me from bookin. I thought Tanzania would be added to the red list to join South Africa and several other African nations. It soon became apparent this wasn’t happening, and the red list soon lost its African countries. I booked the trip in January, getting a 20% discount from Explore. Unseen benefit!

I few weeks before travelling, I bought insurance for it, which had to include cover for over 6,000 meters. I also completed my Tanzania visa application online. The visa was granted withing 36 hours.

Despite the wind down of the pandemic, there were rules still to be obeyed for entry into Tanzania. A couple of days before travelling a PCR test was taken and delivered to the pickup point just off the M40. I waited with my fingers crossed for the result to be texted to me the next day. Yes. Negative, so I could travel.

The next day (9th February), I had to complete a Tanzania passenger locator form, and pay $10 for an LFT for when I arrived in the country. Not sure what happens when you fail this test. I assume, holiday over and into state isolation. I decided to travel to Heathrow by train and the Piccadilly line, no way was I going to pay the rip off Heathrow express fares. The alternative, the Oxford Airline bus service, is still not back to its pre-Covid timetable.

Arrived at Heathrow unstressed, checking in quickly, presenting my paperwork, (visa, vaccination status, PCR test and booked LFT). Soon I was in the departure lounge. Many of the bars and restaurants are still not open in Terminal 2. Even the bar I had a pint in closed shortly after I entered.

Soon I was boarding the flight to Addis Ababa, and despite not purchasing My Sheeba Space, I had an empty seat next to me. Ethiopian Airlines was very insistent that I should bid to upgrade to business class, or failing that, I should purchase empty seats next to me, the so-called Sheeba Space. The food on the flight was good. Two meals on the flight to Addis, and they also did not stint on the wine. Another meal and wine on the short flight to Kili. Some European, American, and British airlines have something to learn about when it comes to service.

In Addis I transferred to the flight to Kilimanjaro Airport. This was a fullish flight although there was a spare seat next to me again. I could not believe so many were flying to Kili, only realising later that the flight was destined to Zanzibar, and only twenty people disembarked at Kili. Small airport where I was temperature checked and had my LFT test. (Very gentle tester.) Seems they were testing only the British. Americans did not get tested, and I heard one American demanding her $10 back. I had slept during some of this flight but luckily awoke as we were flying over Lake Naivasha, Kenya. A town I once lived in. Homes and cultivation now surround the whole of the lake.

There was one other Kili client on my flight. We were both picked up and driven to Weru Weru River Lodge around 60 minutes away. All the other clients had arrived on earlier flights through Nairobi. Some had been booked on to my flight but Explore had cancelled their flights and put them on the Nairobi route. This was because of the escalating war in Ethiopia. I think because I was a late booker, the security issues had diminished, and the Ethiopian Airlines option was back on.

We arrived at the lodge, showered, and then met the others for the briefing. The lodge has large well-appointed rooms. There was a swimming pool and bar. Even managed to get a Negroni for a relaxing evening drink. Oh and of course WiFi.

Supper was terribly slow to be served. Despite the number of chefs, it appeared ages to prepare. I ate an Avocado salad, followed by Nile Pike.