Kilimanjaro series (Part: 3)

Trekking starts from Machame gate.

The trek organizer came for briefing.

Briefing: They will do medical checkups daily. At the start of the day and then at the end of the day. If you are found inappropriate, you will not be allowed to continue further. They checked the luggage of each one of us. They are very strict in this area. All equipment, dresses should be as per requirements.

The next morning, bus came to pick up us from the hotel. We are 5 of us. There were 15 porters and 3 guides. One of the guides was a lady. The bus took us to a shop where trekking items could be hired. It's very costly to hire. It's near the purchasing price.

We reached Machame gate at about 12pm. It took nearly 1hr from the hotel to Machame gate. It was an electrifying atmosphere. Different groups from all over the world has gathered. Everyone was giggling, shouting, laughing, some were tensed.

This is the place we get our pass to enter the Kilimanjaro national Forest. For six days its 970$ for each of us. They gave us hot lunch. Hot lunch means freshly made by our chef. We had a chef and a waiter to serve us food. It is hilariously luxurious. Lunch was awesome.

This part of the world is in the Southern Hemisphere. It's wintertime now. It was getting cloudy, cold and windy. It was a very tensed time. Don't know what is going to be faced. Whether I will be able to succeed. How difficult is it going to be?

With all good wishes, the trek started through the mesmerizing rain forest. It was full of flowers. This Kilimanjaro trek is going to be a bit different. First day is going to be through the dense jungle. It starts at an altitude of 5900' at Machame gate to an altitude of 9300' at Machame camp and a distance of 11 kms

We reached our first camp site, Machame camp, in the evening. It was quite cold. Temp was arround 15°C. While trekking in the rain forest, Mereyki, one of our guides, spotted a Colobus monkey. It has a white fluffy tail. Before taking a photo, it showed its shyness and moved away.

Among the five of us Jayanth is from Bangalore. A very good and sporting guy. He had a local sim card for $20. He informed that Chandrayan 3 has landed on moon. What a proud moment. First in the world. Congratulations ISRO! We have also landed on our first camping site on the mountain of the moon. It gave us a feeling that we will definitely conquer our dream. We congratulated ourselves.

The camp site was very beautiful. Every group has got different tents. We had 3 trekkers tent, one dinning tent, one toilet tent, one kitchen tent, one tent for the guides and one tent for the porters. The toilet tent was very special. It was very modern. It has a flush in it. It's very clean. In fact, the group who doesn't have the toilet tent can use the public toilets. They are not that bad, but they are waterless and dry toilets. Every morning they are cleaned by the government.

I have heard about the dusty Kilimanjaro trek. Though Machane camp is inside the jungle, it is very dusty. However, the main thing is that the dust don't fly, it remains below your waist level.

Wow, what a dinner! "Iam Robert, your waiter", a smart guy with full attire introduced himself and served us food. The spread of dishes, wow, you cannot expect at such an altitude.

After dinner, time for medical checkup. Team leader, Amani, came with a chart with different heading. Appetite, nausea, vomiting, breathlessness, headache, any medicines taken, how much will you mark yourself between 0 to 10 and lastly the oximeter readings.

By the by, Amani our trek leader is a Masai. Very friendly and energetic young chap.