One of the drugs we were recommended to take to help us avoid altitude sickness was Diamox. This helps the body adapt to the higher altitudes by accumulating the carbon dioxide and allowing the body to expel it with your urine. What this means is that you must urinate every 2-hours! As I remarked earlier, this doesn’t allow for a very restful sleep. The first couple of nights had me wrestling with the ‘mummy’ type sleeping bag and subsequently the two tent zippers, to struggle out to relieve myself. Invariably, I was never alone in those late night sojourns. Whilst I was standing outside at Shira camp during one of these “Diamox sessions”, I happened to look up. The sky was vividly lit by millions of stars. I had never before seen such a brilliance in the sky. The Southern Cross was also very evident (as we were south of the equator). I turned and looked towards Kibo (the actual name of the mountain. Kilimanjaro is a region, Kibo is the main peak.) I stared in awe at our goal for about 15-minutes when suddenly a light appeared on the rim. Then another. The two lights bobbed along the edge of the crater rim in what is known as the Western Breach. Just then, a dark form appeared beside me: it was Eliakim. He also looked up and followed the two lights. He spoke, “These are two climbers going through the Western Breach. It is closed since two Americans were killed there a couple of years ago in a rock slide. You can get special permission to use this access but it is very dangerous.” Together we silently watched the two head-lamped climbers walk along the rim for about 20-minutes until their lights went out. My heart raced knowing that I would soon be heading to their destination at Uhuru Peak on the top of Kibo. I had trouble falling back asleep after that.
We awoke to brilliant sunshine, a magnificent view of Kibo and a dusty wind! Ramona had us all up and doing morning stretches with a bit of yoga thrown in, much to the amusement of the porters. With bandanas and buffs covering our mouths, we took our morning day number 3 group photo and headed off across the plain. Shira was once the third peak of Kilimanjaro (Mawenzi is the other) but because of constant wind and erosion, is now nothing more than a very flat plain. I was told that lions will still hunt game in this area but we saw no signs of this. (What was I doing out walking alone last night!) During this day we would often look back and see another tall mountain very much to the west of Kilimanjaro, yet currently closer to us: Mount Maru. It is 15,000 feet high and also disappeared in the afternoon cloud cover. Martin frequently remarked that this was “a f***ing big mountain” and we could hardly believe that Kibo was taller. As we ascended Kibo and looked behinds us at Mt. Maru, it began to appear rather diminutive, putting it all into perspective.
Once we had crossed the plain we entered into the Moir valley (at least, this is what I called it). This valley yielded incredible vistas that went on forever. There was very little scrub here and we hiked up to the edge of the valley walls towards the Moir hut at 13,600 feet on my altimeter. The less plant life we encountered, the less oxygen. Jo Ann had been having breathing problems and was going much more slowly than the main group. Eliakim was staying with her and had taking to carrying her day pack. After lunch Ramona and I elected to join the ‘tail-enders’ and try to lend encouragement to Jo Ann. We had a good time, singing a few songs, chatting endlessly, laughing at Ramona dancing along to her iPod. Unfortunately, we could see that Jo Ann was struggling for lack of breath and privately we began to worry. To her credit, Jo Ann would never complain, just “hunker down” and press on. Eliakim was very up beat, though – insisting that there was no problem and Jo Ann would recover and easily join us at the top of Kili. Always with a joke or two, Eliakim was always telling Jo Ann she could be his second wife. I kept informing him that Dan, Jo Ann’s husband, is a big guy who could snap him in two with one hand! Of course, this would only bring another hearty laugh to Eliakim and he would sing more words of encouragement to Jo Ann. In all, in spite of the insanity of walking through cold, wet clouds, it was a good day.
Let me say a few words about walking through clouds. We all see them every day and think about how lovely and soft they are. How wonderful it must be to be in amongst them. Hah! They’re cold, damp and when you breathe whilst enveloped by their gloomy mist, their icy fingers freeze the insides of your lungs! For me, at least, it was a horrible feeling to be in the clouds! Whenever we had to walk through them, I habitually pulled my buff up from my neck and wore it as a mask in an attempt to pre-heat the cold, humid air before it went into my lungs. It certainly affected me more than the others as I was the only one who complained about it whenever given the opportunity. It was also strange to look out over the clouds and see a jet plane flying below you!
When we arrived at Moir Hut we were given a special treat. All of the Tusker crew that arrived before us had gathered on a huge rock. As soon as our tail end group came into sight, they arose into song. It was an inspiring Swahili tribal song that told of warriors returning from a successful battle. Each of our names was included in the song. The chorus leader – a porter nicknamed “Mr. Nice” – lead the group with a war dance wielding a home-made spear! It was totally fantastic. In spite of being absolutely exhausted from our 10-hour hike, we were encouraged to join in the dance with the group. Dropping our day packs, join we did! Jo Ann was led to the front by Eliakim and even she, totally drained of energy, couldn’t help but join in the dancing – swinging her hips in time to the African rhythms. Then, one of the oddest things happened. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a TV camera man appear! We’re talking a full sized, TV camera on the shoulder of an Asian gentlemen. There was only one other group at the camp site and he obviously was part of it. This cameraman was determined to completely cover this spontaneous song and dance routine in the middle of nowhere, Africa. Afterward, I spoke with him. He was from NHK, the Japanese national television service doing a documentary on Kilimanjaro. Apparently, we’re now going to be featured on a TV special in Japan! We exchanged email addresses and I’ve since made contact. I’m hoping a DVD arrives in my mail box any day now.
The Moir Hut camp area is rarely used now and that is why there were only two groups staying here that night. Kevin, Stephen, Amélie and I went off to explore the old, now dilapidated hut. It was located just a little ways above us but we all had to really press ourselves to climb that little slope. What are we going to do tomorrow when we’re supposed to reach 15,000 feet at Lava Tower? We all three just stared at each other when the question was voiced.
I went to sleep that night with many questions on my mind. I was really, really tired when we climbed up to explore the hut. I began to worry about Jo Ann. Was she going to make it? I had done several training hikes with her and saw her fitness improve dramatically, but she was really struggling with the altitude and lack of oxygen. She was already having altitude related headaches and had to take several Panadol tablets. Tomorrow we would be climbing even higher. How would she fair?
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