Tanzania : Part 3 - Kilimanjaro Trek (Day 1) : Machame Gate to Machame Camp (6 hours)

050916 - Today, our trek to Mount Kilimanjaro starts. 7 days. We start the morning with a good breakfast. This time, we were ready for breakfast by 7am. I had two helpings of breakfast to give myself an energy boost - banana and cereal and papaya (do you know their papayas are yellow in colour unlike the orange ones in Malaysia), and scrambled eggs with the stir fried potatoes and baked beans. I had watermelon juice and tea while the sister had pineapple juice and coffee. 

After breakfast, it was time to have Diamox, the acclimatisation pill. We took one every morning for 6 days. On the 7th day, we did not take any because we were descending. The side effects of Diamox includes an increased frequency to pee (which happened to me every night which is so annoying because I get into my tent and 3 minutes later, I need to pee. It is bothersome to unzip the tent, zip the tent, face the chill, pee and unzip the tent again, zip the tent back. Happened 4 times each night.), and the tingles in the fingers and toes (which happened to my sister. She is lucky she did not experience the frequency to pee).

We went back to our room, and prepared our items. The guide brought the items that we borrowed from the agent and we packed into our bags. Since we did not want to buy mineral water from the restaurant (1.5liter costs TZS2000 / USD1 / RM4), we opt to take water from the tap in the bathroom and sterilise it. Good investment in a Steripen. My sister bought it in 2013 for our Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal where drinking water was expensive. 

We have 3 bags to be left in the hotel. The receptionist gave us a numbered paper to record our bags, which did not serve much of a purpose because when we got back, the receptionist gave us the wrong bags. I had to go to the store room to look for my bags. The bags were not properly arranged in the store room.

At 9.20am, we were ready for our drive towards Machame Camp. It was going to be an hour drive. If you are curious on what my sister is carrying, it is her camera, stabiliser and microphone to record birds' call. 

We stopped at a shop to buy fresh frozen chicken. There is a cooler box to put the chicken in. While that happened, my sister and I went to pee. It is a toilet in the soil with a door. 

We reached the entrance to Machame Gate (1,640m) at 10.20am and it was drizzling. There were a lot of people! I cannot believe my eyes. I remembered, when I trekked to Everest Base Camp, it was just me and my sister because it was the starting of the trekking season. I guess September is a good month to trek in Kilimanjaro. We registered ourselves while the guide and his team segregated the items to be carried by each person. Each porter can only carry 20kg including his items. The guide and assistant guide only carry their items. The chef can only carry a thermos flask and eggs and his items. His items has to be light to enable him to be the first to reach the campsite to start cooking. 

We were ushered to wait in the Tourist Hut with all the other tourists. Segregation of customers and the guide team was very apparent in Kilimanjaro. There is a tourist toilet and a porter toilet.

At the arrival of every camp, we were required to register ourselves because the National Park wants to keep track on how many trekkers visit the Park.

Of course, the must-have photo at the signboard that we were at Machame Gate. 

I got sight of the Park Fees. I get excited seeing numbers and I need to calculate. I need to know what am I paying for. That is what happens when you are not a millionaire or earn USD. Haha.

There is a large variation between East African citizens and the rest of the world. That is normal. The locals will get the cheaper fees. Let me illustrate some of the fees that I am incurring:

A) Conservation fee per person for 12 hours (there is a difference for the age group too :: 5 - 15 years and above 16 years old). I am only relating above 16 years old because I am obviously more than 16. Also, I don't understand why 12 hours. Why can't they charge a daily rate?

East African : TZS10,000 ; Non East African : USD70 ; Tanzanian Expat : USD35

B) Camping fee 

East African : TZS5,000 ; Non East African / Tanzanian Expat : USD50

C) Rescue fee (not required unless you are rescued)

East African : TZS2,000 ; Non East African / Tanzanian Expat : USD20

D) Crew Fee - USD2 per person/day

There is also a Hut Fee, a Filming Fee and a Motor Vehicle Fee. 

Therefore, our estimated expenses would be ::

Conservation Fee - USD70 x 2 persons x 2 (2 of 12 hours make up 24 hours) x 7 days = USD1,960

Camping Fee - USD20 x 7 days = USD140

Crew Fee - USD2 x 11 staff (1 guide, 1 assistant guide, 1 cook, 8 porters) x 7 days = USD154

Total = USD2,254 for both of us, therefore, USD1,127 per person for the fixed cost in the National Park. The balance of the fee you paid to the agent will be the price of the service levied upon you.  

I was bored and not to mention, super cold waiting in the Tourist Hut and I wandered around. I saw the porters packing the items. I was very shocked when I saw foldable chairs! At that time, I was not familiar of the idea that the trekkers will be sitting on a proper chair. 

The porters are queuing up to weigh their luggage. If it is more than the weight, you need to remove the items or be fined. My guide experienced this before a few months back and his guide license was suspended for 3 months. Therefore, he follows the rules rigidly.

Back in the Tourist Hut with all the other tourists. 

The Tourist Toilet.

I saw some doctors.

A lot of us waited till lunch time before we could actually start the trek. It was 2 hours before we got our trekking permit. While waiting, we had lunch. I saw a group that was having their lunch prepared for them. It was not a packed lunch, like ours or a majority of the trekkers. 

Our lunch box is packed with nutrients - Chicken, samosa, yogurt, sandwich, packet drink, hard boiled egg. banana and an egg. We managed to eat the banana, chicken and samosa and the guide called us to inform that we can start our trek now. 

The Porters' Toilet and the Luggage and Rubbish Weighing Point. 

That is the Machame Gate! Before we crossed the gate, our guide says "Pole Pole", and hi-five our hands. That is a common Swahili phrase used in Mount Kilimanjaro which means "Slow Slow". Going slow is important for acclimatisation purposes. 

Let's go. The time is 12.20pm. 

The trail on the first day enters inside a forest. There are telephone signals at some part of the trail.

Our guide pointed to us a few of the endemic plants. Here is a Kilimanjari flower.

The star of the montane forest zone is the beautiful flower Impatiens kilimanjari, an endemic fleck of dazzling red and yellow in the shape of an inch-long tuba. You’ll see them by the side of the path on the southern side of the mountain. Impatiens kilimanjarii, the semi-official ’emblem’ of Kilimanjaro; also known as the ‘elephant’s trunk flower’ for obvious reasons. Source from Climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

There are properly built toilet huts. Our guide refers to going to toilet as 'sending a message - long message to poo, short message to pee'. 

We saw a huge mess tent being set up along the trail for a lunch break for another group. This is illegal, by the way. I guess catering to the trekkers' need for a proper place to eat is important. The guide can be fined by the National Park if this is found out. Probably the trekkers paid a lot of money and need to be serviced. You know, I disagree. Who comes for a trek in the nature and expects these sort of services. It is ridiculous. This is suppose to be an adventure.  

Here is a photo of our guide, Eden Mlay. He has a good knowledge of the plants and wildlife (including birds) of Kilimanjaro. I requested from Trekking Hero to assign a guide who is familiar with birds because my sister is a birdwatcher. He is pretty good at it. He said that a guide needs to undergo a course on the wildlife in Kilimanjaro but I doubt there are many birdwatchers who go on a Kilimanjaro trek.

I am going to send a short message. My sister says the place looks serene to send a short message. Our guide and assistant guide waits for us, and make a telephone call as they waited. They know the spot where there is a telephone signal.

At 6.20pm, we reached Machame Camp (2,850m), a distance of 11km. It was a slow ascend but tiring nonetheless. We saw so many camps at the site. 

I also see the trekkers who need a chair to sit. I think the ground looks comfortable and soft to sit on. 

The obligatory photo with the signboard. Next is to register ourselves.

There were more camps behind the ranger hut where we registered ourselves.

After registration, I smelled a delicious meal coming from a mess tent. The guide invited us to come in, and I looked at my guide and said - I cannot. My guide will punish me. Haha. 

Here is our tent set in a location away from everyone else. We could see a bed of clouds from our campsite.

The guide's tent which is the green one is next to ours, the blue one. The guide said, if you need me, just call me, and I will be there immediately. Our guide prioritised our safety and he wants us to inform him if we need to go somewhere. He never let us out of his sight. 

As soon as we entered inside our tent, we were greeted by a neatly arranged plate of popcorn, drinking powders (chocolate, coffee, milk and tea), margarine, ketchup, salt, peanut butter, a hot flask of water and cups. I was so touched when I saw it. We don't have a mess tent because it was just the two of us and we ate inside the tent with the guide. The guide sits by the opening of the tent. 

By 7.30pm, we had our first dish. Vegetable soup with bread. It felt so good to have a hot meal in the cold weather. We thought this was the only dish until the next one came - fried fish with potatoes, vegetable salad and vegetable sauce. It was a lot for the 3 of us. Unfortunately, we could not finish it. In fact, we could not finish all our meals each time. We felt really bad and informed the guide to minimise the portion for us. But he told us that we need to eat to get our energy. We told him that we don't usually eat so much.

On the first night, Eden scooped for us our dishes. I felt really bad on that. The next day onwards, I told my sister to do it instead. Haha.

After dinner, we wiped ourselves with wet wipes and changed into our sleeping clothes, brushed our teeth, peed next to to our tent (because it was already dark) and slept.

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My sister did a video of our 7-day Trek in Kilimanjaro. You can watch the video here (https://vimeo.com/184126352) or click on the below video but the quality is not as good as the one in the link (because the upload size is limited to less than 100MB). Hopefully it works.