Dust, dust and more dust…this is what we experienced as we made our way
from Big Tree Camp to Shira 1 Camp (11,500 feet) on our first full day of
hiking. We are climbing during the high
dry season in Tanzania, so one of the resulting conditions is the trails are
very dry and with literally hundreds of people tromping on them, there is a steady
trail of dust streaming along the Lemosho route.
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| The Shira Moorland |
Our route today took us out of the rain forest and into the giant
heather moorland zone that is a remarkably different biosphere. The trail has steepened significantly and the
day is basically going up and down hills of 300 to 500 feet while crossing
small creeks at the bottom. We were
blessed with another day of beautiful blue skies and the panoramic views from
the ridge tops were truly breathtaking (as was the climbing to get to them!).
Headache and exhaustion were my constant hiking companions today. Hill up, hill down, hill up, hill down…this
repeated course was really tough today.
I brought up the rear of the pack today and I was thankful for Alex
being back there with our guide Mexon as they were a source of encouragement to
me as I struggled with the effects of the high altitude for the first time
today. Today Alex was the second member
of our Climb team to get his moniker…Papa.
At sixty years old, he is full of wisdom and life experience that we all
enjoy hearing about as he has lived and traveled all over the world and been a
CEO and leader of various companies. One
of the things I enjoyed most of the day was being an eavesdropper in the
discussion he and Mexon had throughout the day on the plants, geology,
mineralogy and other aspects of the land we plodded through today.
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| Up and Down the Shira Ridge(s) |
Did I mention up and down hills today??? One thing we learned today as we climbed up
and over the Shira Ridge is that it is not “a ridge” – it is “series of ridges”
that must be crossed to finally get to the top of “the Ridge” and then to
finally arrive at Shira 1 Camp below. Today
we experienced a great sense of team building and camaraderie as we hiked for
about 6 hours together. Today, John also
received his Climb nickname…One Liner.
Throughout the day, John was constantly singing songs…or should I say at
least the first line of a song. It was
up to all of us to add the second and third lines of the songs that One Liner
started and proved to be a great way for us to pass time on the trail together.
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| Our First Glimpse of Kili |
Today we had our first sighting of Mt. Kilimanjaro as we arose over
Shira Ridge…and one word came to mind to all of us: Intimidating. While we were
still several miles from the mountain, the sheer magnitude of this mountain was
truly intimidating to think that in just five days we would be on top of its
snow-capped top. Kili arises as a giant
mass out of the plain of Africa and we could just begin to see that this wasn’t
going to be a simple stroll up the mountain.
At 12,000 feet, some of us were already experiencing the effects of high
altitude (headache, loss of appetite)…and we still had 7,000 more feet to
climb.
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| Sipping Tea and Feeling Small |
As we sat at camp and enjoyed a well-earned rest in our camp chairs,
puff coats and toques, another word came to my mind: Majesty. As we sat there
with our green tea cups with this colossal mountain in the distance, I gained
just a small sense of what it’s going to be like when I meet God and encounter
His Majesty. In the presence of this
mountain, I was feeling very, very small in the presence of something that was
very, very big. Awe and reverence filled
my heart…and provided just a small glimpse and preview of what it’s going to be
like when I meet my Creator face-to-face for the first time.
It was pretty cool today as we rolled into camp that all the porters
were there to greet us with the “Hakuna Matata Kilimanjaro” song. We especially enjoyed their dancing and
seeing the smiling face and unique dance of our waiter, Gaston.
