Tanzania Part III – Kilimanjaro Part I

Kilimanjaro from our hotel room

My first view of Kilimanjaro came on the morning after our arrival to Moshi.  Stepping outside our hotel room, the mountain and its snow-capped peaks rose high in the clear sky above everything around it.  Before I get to hike (the second part of which will be in another post) here is some good to know background info.

The Mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,985 meters high, is the tallest mountain in Africa.  It is located in Tanzania near the border with Kenya.  According to our info packet the name, Kilimanjaro, has various interpretations from “Mountain of Greatness,” “Mountain of Whiteness,” to one interpretation which means “impossible journey.” 

Hasmin, Mel, and Me at the Machame Gate

The Machame 6-Day Route:  According to our information packet is considered to be the most beautiful route up Kilimanjaro and is also nicknamed the “Whiskey Route” (note this did not influence my decision to take this route).  One of the great things about the Machame route is that it takes you through all types of climates and ecospheres.

The Equipment:  The first thing we had to do was rent necessary equipment for the trek which included hiking boots, a sleeping bag, hiking poles, rain pants, rain jacket, balaclava (face mask thing), and more.  Basically we had to rent everything they had.  Finally once we’d packed everything into two bags (one of which would be carried by porters) we were off.

Our tireless guide Juma...napping

The Guide: Our guide was a 5’5” 90lb Tanzanian named Juma who had just returned from a 6-month hiatus from the mountain.  What he lacked in size he made for in experience as he had climbed the mountain hundreds of times.  His interaction with us usually revolved around him saying in his soft, barely-above-a-whisper voice “pole pole” (pronounced pole-A) which means “slowly” in Swahili.  Although he was our guide he probably spent more than 80% of the trip hiking well behind us.  He was also prone to mid-hike naps.

One of the porters using the head balancing technique

The Porters: There is nothing more impressive than struggling with all your might to literally pull yourself (pack and all) up through a vertical wall of jagged rocks to half a ledge and to repeat this process for 20 minutes and then to watch a porter do this while balancing huge bags, tents, sacks of food, and various equipment on their heads or the backs of their shoulders sometimes scaling the wall while having no free hands.  On Kilimanjaro the standard is generally 3-4 porter for every climber.  They rush ahead through each part of the trip so that camp and food are ready upon our arrival and are also responsible for getting water and other things throughout the trip.  Any comfort we enjoyed on the trip was a direct result of their tireless efforts.

Camp Day 1

The Camps:  The end of each day finished at a large campsite shared by all the climbers.  Porters would arrive early and set up our tents and just had to find the right color tents.  There were generally pit latrine toilets located at each of these places which were generally in pretty poor conditions (certainly by US standards), but no worse than what I expected or have seen in many parts of Malawi.

The Nights:  December is summer in this part of Africa, but night time on Kilimanjaro is definitely winter.  Every night the temperature dropped below freezing with it falling to below -20 degrees Celsius further up the mountain.  Unfortunately, the sleeping bag I rented was woefully inadequate and each night I’d go to sleep wearing more and more layers of clothing.  Sleep also proved to be a problem because of a constant need to urinate since everyone is strongly encouraged to drink large amounts of water to help combat altitude sickness.  Unfortunately this meant waking many times to brave the elements in order to release my H2O build up.  The upside to this was getting time to see the incredible array of stars, more than I’ve ever seen sparkling in clusters up above.   In the long run though, lack of sleep would cost me late in the trip as I managed only 2-3 hours of sleep a night.

Machame Route Day 1: Sometimes muddy, but easy to follow

Hasmin and I in front of a giant tree

Day 1-The Rainforest:  The first day took us through a rainforest in thick, humid air with everything damp and giant trees providing cover from the sun and much of the rain.  The path was well-kept and easy to follow and for the most part not too steep, just a steady incline.  It really was a very pretty walk through the jungle.  At one point we passed a group of porters resting.  Mel immediately offered to help them carry their weight and somehow I ended up with the giant sack on my shoulders.  After struggling through maybe 400 meters I stopped and set it down sweating.  Then Mel tagged in and promptly went almost a km uphill carrying the weight embarrassing both me and the porter.  Soon we arrived at the first camp and signed in.

Mel putting us all to shame

Me shortly before collapsing

The view the morning of day 2.

Day 2- Trees to Rocks: The second day began with a breathtaking view of the peak, seemingly directly over us, which would become a daily gift as the cloud cover often present at dusk was gone at dawn.  With the sun out it was warm and Hasmin, Mel, and I set off up a relatively steep incline, surrounded by hundreds of other climbers and porters.  This was the start of high season on the mountain and it meant that unfortunately we had to share the journey with many others that crowded the narrow path.  We were out of the rainforest now and as we moved further and further up the trees grew increasingly sparse.  At one point, after a brief restroom break (restroom in this case and almost every case on trek meant a spot behind a boulder or trees a couple yards from the path), we climbed atop a couple boulders at the ledge of a steep drop to get a better view of the surrounding mountainside.  As we all looked on we spotted clouds gathering maybe a half kilometer below.  We watched, amazed at the speed it began rising toward us, like a gravity defying avalanche rushing upwards in our direction.  Within minutes the clouds had reached us and we were shrouded in a dense fog.

Pre-fog we had a great view of the surrounding landscape

With the fog our camp looked like the setting for a horror film

We returned to the path, having let most of the other hikers pass us, and enjoyed the space as we marched onward and upward.  There was a light rain coming down us for the rest of the hike, but we reached camp around 3pm and then went off to find a cave in the area that Juma had told us about.  With the help of the porter we found it and then returned just in time to get cover from a huge downpour that flooded our tents with our bags inside them.  When the rains stopped the porters moved the tents to drier ground and we tried to dry clothing that had gotten soaked in the rain.  As the sun slowly showed its face I spent the time looking out over the expanse below as the clouds slowly departed unveiling minute-by-minute a breathtaking view of surrounding peaks and the world below.  Tomorrow Lava Peak awaited.

Hanging out in a cave.

Hanging out in a waterfall.

As the clouds retreated we were left with spectacular views

Tanzania Part II – Dar Es Salaam the “Rest Stop" of Vacation

Classic Dar

My first impression of Dar Es Salaam (which means Haven of Peace), the capital of Tanzania, came at 3:30am as Mel and I groggily exited our bus somewhere in the city.  There were cab drivers waiting outside the bus and as soon as I walked off they pounced on me yelling “Cab! Taxi! Hotel!”  Being the fantastic planners that we are we hadn’t booked any reservations for lodging and needed a moment to gather our thoughts.  Unfortunately, it was late and we were not in a particularly nice looking part of the city (though later I saw that probably a majority of the city isn’t particularly nice looking).  We half ran away from the onslaught of potential rides and found a dry part of sidewalk under a light and looked at the travel information we’d brought on Dar and identified 3 cheap hotels that were supposed to be near each other.  We found a cab driver that knew the places and off we went.  I was nearly blind with exhaustion.  Even though I’d done nothing but sit on a bus for basically the past 33 hours all of my senses were off kilter and I knew nothing about this new country and city, especially the language, Swahili.  The first place we stopped at was full.  We went to another place around the corner and after knocking for a bit, a sleeping desk clerk woke up and unlocked the doors to give us the same response, “no space.”  Mel and I looked at each other, we didn’t even have enough Tanzanian Schilling on us to pay the cab driver to take us anywhere else if the next place didn’t work out.  We went down a back alleyway to the Safari Inn.  Another sleeping desk clerk raised himself from a couch and came.  Desperate I made a small lie, telling him we’d called earlier about a room.  He couldn’t find a record of the message (because there was none), but said he had space.  Without even looking at the price we gratefully accepted and thankfully found a place to rest.

Obligatory Pepsi Promo, Tanzanian Tag Line "Dare For More" -  I like it.

The next day we had a couple of errands to run to be ready for Kilimanjaro.  Hasmin, the third member of our Kili group would be arriving from Lesoto at around 7pm at the airport.  The first thing we did was take out money and then we wandered around the area of our hotel and found a booking office for buses to Moshi, where we’d be staying for Kilimanjaro.  Soon we were covered in sweat.  That is one thing you realize immediately about Dar, a port city, this time of the year; it is humid, like Houston, Texas humid.  The air was thick and it was raining off and on the entire time we were there.  Then we found an internet cafe and saw the email from the Kilimanjaro Tour Company finally telling us the packing list and itinerary and we'd be staying (needless to say the email would've been more helpful 5 days before).  We decided to walk around to try and see the water, but instead we just walked in the completely wrong direction for about an hour.

One of the flooded neighborhoods that we saw

On the walk we did see some of the devastating effects of the recent flooding with entire neighborhoods under water and a river that had clearly overflown its banks as fallen trees and more flooding showed.  Later on the walk a man approached followed by a couple kids holding a clear, plastic juice bottle which inside housed a black snack.  “Black mamba” the man said as he thrust the package in our direction.  Mel screamed and jumped back while I tried to get a closer look.  I don’t think I’ll ever know whether it was actually a Black Mamba, but if anyone can tell from the photo please comment or let me know.  Eventually we realized our folly and turned around.  When we finally reached the water we got information on the ferry times and prices to Zanzibar since we planned to taking one after our Kilimanjaro trek (this of course would not end up working out).  It was after this that I probably experienced my first real “vacation.”  We had looked up movie times for a movie theatre earlier and since there are no movie theatres or malls or really anything in Lilongwe we were both pretty excited about this.

Black Mamba? You decide.

We got a cab to the mall, but Dar also has very bad traffic and we missed the showing of Sherlock Holmes we’d been shooting for.  Luckily we were in an air-conditioned oasis of retail stores and restaurants.  After walking around we both agreed what we needed was a good old-fashioned unhealthy fast food fix.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that the first bite of that hamburger was maybe the best bite of food I’ve ever had in my life.  The exhaustion from the travel, the home-sickness, the diet of stale peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and street vendor food washed away in a beautiful wave of mayo/ketchup soaked cheese burger.  It was heaven.  I washed the bite down with a sensational gulp of fountain Pepsi, that’s right Pepsi because Tanzania is apparently a huge Pepsi country since it’s EVERYWHERE.  After this I also got a doughnut.  My stomach was full of food that tasted like America.  It was glorious.

Jumbo Burger - I <3 U

The proper way to eat a doughnut.

After the movie we met Hasmin at the hotel and after relaxing for a bit we all went out to see what was going on, on a week night which was basically nothing around our area.  There was a local Casino so we just went there and sat at the bar watching a soccer match and swapping Africa stories.

Overflowing river from the rain, it would lead to a big delay in our travel plans to Moshi

The next morning we woke up early to go to Ubungu bus station on the far side of town.  It was raining hard and had been all night.  We could already see some streets were flooding in our area and as we drove to the bus station we much more.  At the station we learned that part of a bridge that is used by many of the buses on their way out of Dar had collapsed and so there were heavy delays.  Our bus hadn’t yet arrived because of the backups and we were instructed to wait on a curb, exposed to the torrential downpours.  Two of the entrances to the bus station had already flooded and so there were tons of congestion.  Eventually though it arrived and we were on our way out of Dar on to the next part of the adventure, Kilimanjaro.

Tanzania Vacation Part I – Best / Most Ridiculous Travel Moments

Travelling often required "flexibility" and dealing with unforseen circumstances...hence Mel in a trunk

Below was our holiday transportation from December 18^th – January 3^rd.

1. Muhamed Bus: Lilongwe – Dar Es Salaam, 33 hours

2. Dar Express Bus: Dar Es Salaam – Moshi, 12 hours

3. Nomadic Adventures: Moshi – Kilimanjaro, 1 hour

4. Nomadic Adventures: Kilimanjaro – Moshi, 1 hour

5. Kilimanjaro Express Bus: Moshi – Dar Es Salaam, 9 hours

6. Private Plane Service: Dar Es Salaam – Zanzibar, 20 minutes

7. Taxi: Stone Town, Zanzibar – Nungwi, Zanzibar, 90 minutes

8. Taxi: Nungwi – Stone Town, 90 minutes

9. Springlands Ferry: Stone Town – Dar Es Salaam, 2 hours

10. New Force Bus: Dar Es Salaam – Kiyela, 13 hours

11. Taxi: Kiyela – Malawi/Tanzania Border, 30 minutes

12. Random Hired Car: Border – Kuronga, 1 hour

13. Minibus: Kuronga – Mzuzu, 5  ½ hours

14. Bus: Mzuzu – Lilongwe, 6 hours

As you can see from the itinerary above, I had quite an active vacation in terms of transportation, but I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t plan anything and just keep moving from place to place, learning as you go.  It was frustrating, exciting, eye-opening, fun, uncomfortable, and almost always longer than it should have been.  In the end though I’m glad I went through it.  Below are some of the highlights from the various modes of transport.

Hasmin and I approaching the plane, but will we be let on?

1.       Booking a plane from Dar to Zanzibar – So we missed the last ferry to Zanzibar by 5 minutes.  Desperate to get to our next destination we bought plane tickets on a private plane from a legitimately insane Tanzanian travel agent named Ali who demanded our money upfront, drove us in the most fast and wreckless way possible to the airport, and spent most of the ride screaming at a combination of me and other motorists.  Bonus points: The car ran out of gas and died on a dirt road 10 minutes from the airport, but somehow it started again and we made it.

Success! Zanzibar here we come!

2.       We actually get to board the plane- While sitting in the airport, 70% sure we’d all just been completely robbed by a crazy person it was a giant relief when an airport official (aka guy in orange vest) ushered us out of the waiting area to the tarmac heading toward a small 16-seater propeller plane.  Safety be damned, it was just good to know we hadn’t been robbed.  Bonus Points:  I was laughed at when I asked if I needed a boarding pass.

3.       Preachers on Buses- The first 30 minutes of our bus trip from Lilongwe to Dar was filled with passionate gospel from a preacher reciting the bible word for word (in Chichewa of course).  Bonus points: he decided that the aisle directly next to my seat was the perfect podium and I was rewarded with an almost steady stream of spit from his fiery pulpit.

Our Chariot for the 33 hour trip from Lilongwe to Dar, complete with free preacher service

4.       Chickens on Buses- As anyone that’s travelled on public transportation in Africa knows, no trip is complete without live poultry which we had on our return trip from Dar to the Tanzanian border town of Kieyla.

5.       Almost getting left behind at rest stop- Because we don’t speak Swahili, when the bus driver said 10 minute break, we didn’t understand him.  As Mel and Amanda were in line to buy food the bus pulled away with Hasmin and me literally running after it.  Bonus points – Hasmin jumped onto the bus while it was still moving and then just as I caught up it stopped while the driver yelled at us and kept honking until a sprinting Mel and Amanda also caught up.

6.       Air Time in the Back of the Bus- We were so grateful for getting the last 3 seats on the bus from Moshi  to Dar that we didn’t think about the implication of being in the last row…without seatbelts.  As soon as we started hitting the bumps we realized why.  At one point while I found myself flung 3 feet into the air above my seat with my arms up to keep from crashing into the ceiling I thought maybe I shouldn’t have eaten right before boarding.  Falling luggage and pieces from the roof of the bus were a nice touch.  Bonus points:  The little Tanzanian girl that came and hung out with us in the back of the bus was first adorable and then violent as both Mel and I got slapped in the face multiple times to the child’s clear delight.

Sure she looks adorable, but she slaps like a teenager

7.       Being Blatantly Lied to and Taken Advantage of- While searching for a way back to Lilongwe we were told we could pay 40,000 TZ ($30USD) for a bus to the border and then we would immediately board another bus to get to Lilongwe.  We arrived at 6am to find that we’d been transferred to another, cheaper bus without getting any of our money back.  Then we did not make it to the border until after it had closed with absolutely no evidence of a transfer bus.  As we frantically called Frank, the guy that had lied to us, he was nowhere to be found.

8.       Buying Fuel on the Black Market- Nothing says you’re back in Malawi like pulling over to the side of the road and having two men run up to your car with a funnel made from a 2 liter plastic bottle and a gerry can of diluted petrol.  When we got into the car we hired for 2,000 MK ($10USD) to take us from the border to the Malawian town of Kuronga I quickly saw the tank was on empty and asked how we’d make the 1 hour journey with no gas.  The driver just turned around and said “in 1 km black market.”

Typical scene outside bus at every stop, vendors selling all sort of things

9.       Window Shopping-If you’re ever hungry on long African bus travel trips you don’t need to leave your seat.  At each stop there are eager vendors banging on your window pushing their products in your direction.

10.   Being the Center of Attention- Every time a group of 4 white people exits a bus in Africa you can rest assured they’re going to get immediate attention from anyone trying to sell anything.  Tactics include yelling, pulling, hand holding, poking, and lots of grabbing.

11.   Flooding in Dar- Our bus from Dar to Moshi was delayed over 2 hours due to intense rains and flooding in Dar.  Since we waited almost the entire time outside in the downpour us and all our luggage was soaked by the time we boarded.

12.   Seeing Water Buffalo, Zebras, Giraffes, and Waterbucks – The bus ride from Dar to the border town of Kiyela brought us through open savannahs spotted with trees and surprisingly abundant and visible wildlife that was a great and gratifying moment in traveling by bus.

Holiday VCT Tournaments

GRS Coach Linda Mvula (in yellow shirt) with her winning team

Our interventions for the first term of the school year ended in the first week of December and schools let out for holiday break on December 9^th so it was time for Grassroot Soccer Malawi to hold our school’s out celebratory Voluntary Counseling and Testing soccer tournaments.  We held two, a day apart in different areas of Lilongwe.  The first, in Area 25 in northern Lilongwe, was a great example of issues faced every day here, but how our team just moves past obstacles to get the job done.

Action rages on at the Area 25 Tournament

Poster with Coach's Responsibilities for the day

The first obstacle was simple – all of the printers at the clinic were down and we couldn’t print the roster of roles for coaches at the tournament or the schedule for the day’s events.  We just old-school pen and papered it and decided to write the roles on large posters at the event which ended up working better anyway and is now something we’ll do every tournament.  Then, on the way to the event a giant rainstorm came out of nowhere.  Godfrey was on his motorbike followed by Cossam and myself in the car and we had to pull over because it was raining too hard to see anything.  We got to the venue 20 minutes late, but the grounds were too wet to start setting up and the DJ hadn’t shown up because they needed special transport because of the rain.  The clouds dissipated though and we were left with sunshine and our coaches worked on overdrive to get the tournament ready by the start time of noon.  Then a local chief came up to me and told me there had been miscommunication as they all thought the event started at 8am and had shown up here with many people from the area only to find no one there.  I apologized for whatever caused the mixup but assured him there’d be an event with games and music beginning at 1pm.  As things tend to do, thanks to the great work of the GRS team, everything sort of fell into place.  The quality of soccer was fantastic, the coaches were energetic, and the two site coordinators for the area, Mary and Gloria, were awesome in running the tournament.  After a slow start 4 local village chiefs showed up to give their support, we tested over 100 community members, The winning team from Dzenza school played liked a barefooted Barcelona on the dirt pitch.  It was a fantastic tournament.

Everyone gathered around to watch the award ceremony 

Kawale Test 4 ur team banner

Two days later we were at it again, this time in Kawale, a heavily populated area just south of our office at the Baylor clinic.  This time the DJ was already there when we arrived playing music, and the fields were quickly set up and the testing and counseling rooms all made available.  Unfortunately, less than an hour in the DJ lost power and they had forgotten their generator.  Having loud/live music is essential at these tournaments to get people from in the community to come and enjoy the atmosphere.  Without the music and sound system we can’t announce to the community the testing services available and the key HIV/AIDS sensitization messages that are so important.  Our own MC used our megaphones to try and make up for it and they were passionate in their announcing, adding to the atmosphere.  Luckily the DJ had gotten their generator in time for the final and we managed to get many community members to come watch, get counseled, and test in the last half hour as we tested over 70 community members.  It was an exhausting but rewarding last couple of days, The next day I’d be leaving by bus for my holiday trip to Tanzania.