DANIELA KROULÍKOVÁ LOOKING BACK AT HER SUPERFAST CLIMB UP MOUNT KILIMANJARO
09. 08. 2019
Kilimanjaro is a mountain massif in Tanzania. A volcano called Kibo with a summit called Uhuru rises to a height of 5,895 meters above sea level. It was concurrently the 3rd summit that I was going to beat within the framework of the 7 Summits challenge. We assumed (and perhaps underestimated) that it would be more of a walk.
When communicating with the expedition, we found out that there were 6 different routes. We chose the classic 6-day one nicknamed Maranga or Coca Cola.
We caught a flight to Kenya, followed by another flight directly to Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania. Upon arrival, we were warmly welcomed, then followed a quick journey to the hotel and the first day of the trek in the morning. I did a ponytail, put on my kit, had a great breakfast and shortly after eight, a nine-seat van arrived to pick us up. After opening the door there were about 12 people crowding and smiling at us from ear to ear. We were welcomed wholeheartedly.
We have almost every man needed to run a five-star hotel in the expedition - a cook, an assistant cook, a waiter, a guide, an assistant guide, a cleaner and lots of vegetables and fresh fruit. I and two Sams were going to the trek. It should be noted that it was an expedition of 15 members in total with 3 hikers. So far it looked that we would be well cared for.
Day 1
We passed through the gate, which informed us about an altitude of just over 1,000 m. Our first day of the trek began there. We packed our backpacks, put on raincoats, emptied the repellents and set off.
There were 5 hours of trekking through a rainforest ahead of us: Machame Gate to Machame Hut Camp (3,100 m above sea level) We set a relatively fast pace and learned a lot about miraculous and medicinal plants on the way. We also had to check the treetops, as there were quite playful monkeys and they were throwing sticks and leaves at us.
We asked for information about the first ascents and stories that the locals tell about Kilimanjaro. One tells of a man called Tone, who began provoking the god Ruwa and tried to get him to cast a famine on earth. When the local people found out, they forced Tone to leave the country. Because the people still felt responsible for Tone, they forced a lonely village resident who had the ability to turn stones into cattle to let Tone stay with him. However, Tone was warned never to open the stable, otherwise the cattle would escape. Tone ignored the advice and the cattle fled. As they were trying to stop the cattle together, they raised huge hills, including Mawenzi and Kibo, to keep the cattle from running away.
After 3 hours of walking with Beatles songs in the background, we arrived at a campsite that was drenched in fog. The visibility was zero. We used our dry showers and watched the guides building the toilets. I must mention that it was really a normal toilet. Nice sitting, a hanging perfumed tree and there was also a brush. A complete luxury, compared to portable bags from Argentina.
Our friend Sam, who had never been on a proper trek in his life, was already getting little headaches. We kept him awake, playing cards and drinking tea. I have to say that I have never experienced such a service on the expedition. A three-course menu and we really enjoyed it. We had nothing to complain about.
Day 2
The following day, we continued a bit higher. There were 11 km of hiking to Shira camp. After breakfast, we left the joys of the rainforest and continued along the ascending trail and walked through the valley past a steep rocky ridge. The route soon turned west to the river gorge, where the camp Shira (3,840 m above sea level) was located. Sam, the third member of our expedition was getting a little tired, so we had to adjust the pace. Nature changed every hour, it was beautiful. Camping Shira was covered in the mist again, so I used my free time and climbed on the local rock to have at least some view. Kilimanjaro was not in sight, but the view was priceless. I saw a small waterfall and birds of prey flying between the rocks.
Day 3
From Shira Camp over Lava Tower (4,600 m) to Barranco Valley (3,950 m). We had plenty of energy on day 3, so we ran up and down, doing somersaults and other crazy stuff. Sam wasn't feeling well, so we took his DSLR camera and tried to learn how to take some usable photos. The hike was supposed to take 15 km but we made it 20 by running in circles and climbing on all the hills that we encountered. When we arrived at the Lava Tower, we had a great lunch and enjoyed the view. Once again, I actively climbed a little to the heights of Lawa Tower to enjoy the view. We arrived in the Barranco Valley as a second group that day. I ran to the river to do some proper yoga; the day was just perfect for that. We also went to see the rock that awaited us the next day; it looked like a proper climb. We really looked forward to it!
Day 4
The journey to Barafu Camp (4,700 m). The landscape consisted of a desert only. We planned to walk 9 km walk in the expected time of 6-8 hours. We felt absolutely great after an excellent breakfast, coffee and H2 dietary supplements. With our belies stuffed, we observed the wall that we were going to climb in a moment. The steep ridge rose to a height of 4,250 meters and so far, it looked like the most technical part of the expedition. We continued across the valley to Barafu Camp, where we had a perfect view of the summit. I have a habit of stuffing my belly properly at breakfast. I started to feel sick when climbing the rock, so I had a short resting party on a small cliff. I met a woman-porter who was carrying several kilos on her head and she also had huge backpack on her back. She was the first female porter I had ever met while climbing mountains. I complimented her, took a selfie and listened to her life story. She had 3 children at home and her husband looked after them. Porter is a relatively well-paid job, allowing her to take care of her kids.
The sun was shining and our noses soon got burnt. We sat on the side of the mountain and enjoyed the view and the fruits that the waitresses had brought us. At the registration, we passed 2 guides who complimented to us on how fast we were going. Great work, team! After a hearty dinner, we played cards, drank tea and hurried to bed to be ready for the last - ascent day. Our headlamps were ready, I just could not decide between mittens and thin gloves, but finally I decided that warmth is better than cold and frostbite. We packed everything and we were already lying in our sleeping bags at 8 o'clock. I could not wait for the following day.
Day 5
From Barafu Camp to the summit and back to Mweka Camp. The time schedule was between 10:00 PM - 2:00 AM when the expeditions usually start. Since the trip had been quite good for us so far, funny and without spending any extreme energy, we decided to leave the camp last and try to reach the summit among the first. We set the alarm clock for 1:00 in the morning, had breakfast and watched the long lines of fairy lights in the dark. When we imagined how many people we would have to overtake, the plan from the previous night seemed almost unrealistic. We calmly prepared and waited until there was not a single light in the camp site, made sure we were the last and set off. About 100 people set off for the summit that day. We kept walking up with our headlamps on, singing the song Hakuna Matata, the lyrics of which we had managed to learn in 5 days.
Soon, Sam, our friend, got pretty sick. He had to stop every 15 minutes, and we realized that we had set too fast a pace for him. He held up great and preferred not to say anything, which finally caused him to vomit and caused him a severe headache. Unfortunately, we had to wait for him too often and because of that we got cold, so we decided to leave him with the main guide and we went ahead. A lot of people were furious that we were "jumping the queue" which I did not fully understand. A lot of people caused difficulties on purpose, they didn't want to let us go and mumbled something under their breath. We certainly did not have the mood or energy to stick behind the snakes of twenty to thirty people, who had a significantly different pace from us. On the other hand, it took a lot of energy to make our own path.
We were fine so far; it was very cold, so in the end I was happy for my mittens and the boys started worrying about their fingers. Well, who would listen to a woman in the mountains ...?
We got to the first point, which was already very close to the summit - 200 elevation meters. When we saw a resting point, we didn't stop, we just ate an energy bar and hurried on. Soon we were walking between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers to Stella Point on the edge of the crater. I wished I had one Stella to drink! The way to the summit from Stella point is considered the most mentally and physically demanding. A lot of people watch the sunrise from Stella Point, faster climbers watch it from the very top. We no longer saw any lights in front of us, it looked like we were really at the forefront. To tell the truth, the point was really challenging, we stopped and tried to catch our breath a few times, our knees buckled a few times, but we continued without a sound. The summit was just a stone's throw away. On the other hand, everything looks pretty close in the mountains.
After about half an hour we were standing on the summit, the sun was nowhere to be seen and we were enjoying our private moment of standing on the highest point of all Africa at a particular moment. We waited for the rising sun, whose rays peered nervously through the clouds and formed brightly coloured orange, blue and purple stripes. Such views are completely priceless! We could tick off another peak and we had reached the summit first despite the fact that we had set off last, so we were proud of ourselves. The third summit out of seven in less than 1 year! After a warm tea at the top, we were planning to descend to Mweka camp and stop at Barag for lunch. At Mweka Camp, we would spend the last night on the mountain and our trek would be over. Then, after the night at Mweka Kemp, we would go to Arushi / Moshi. The way back was 23 km in total.
We decided to skip the last night's sleep and go straight to Arushi. The path changed from glacier to stone, desert, forest, rainforest and muddy path. We set off at 2 in the morning and arrived back at the gate at 8 in the evening, so the day was very difficult. Tired and using our cell phones as torches we finally passed the gate where Kilimanjaro Trek begins after a few hours and got into the caravan that took us to the hotel. Another peak reached; we managed a 6 km ascent and 23 km descent in one day!