Mti Mkubwa Camp

Enough with the appetizer, it’s time for the main course.

Our day begins at 8am with our driver and crew waiting in the parking lot. In a full on bus. Joining us on this climb (or shepherding us up the mountain some might say) are a guide, a junior guide, a cook, and ten, yes ten, porters. Thirteen support staff to move two people up to 19,341 feet. That sure feels like a lot since three guides led ten of us up Mount Baker but, when in Rome…

We make a stop in town to stock up on provisions and most of the crew bellies up to some plastic tables for a quick bite from a street cart. We’re tempted, but halfway up a mountain seems like a bad place to discover something might not have been cooked quite long enough, so we decide to defer until we’re safely back at the hotel and near modern plumbing.

Our base takes us two hours up to the trailhead of at 7,800 feet. Of the several routes up Kilimanjaro, we have chosen Lemosho, one of the longest at 42 miles but, supposedly, one of the most scenic as well. As the porters unload the bus and divvy up the gear, we partake of a quick box lunch (burger and fries?) before setting off.

It is a fairly short two and half miles to our first camp at Mti Mkubwa. At this elevation, we are still in the rainforest and spot a bit of wildlife along the way, mostly colobus monkeys cruising through through the trees.

By the time we arrive, our porters have already set things up and it quickly becomes clear why we need ten of them. In our little pod are two mountaineering style tents (one for Nick and I and one for the two guides), an army style cook tent, a mess tent, a tent for the porters, and the pièce de résistence, the tent with our private toilet. We were strongly advised to invest in this upgrade by friends who had climbed previously and, curious lad that he is, Nick can tell you why.

On past adventures, we’ve packed pretty much everything we needed on our back so this is definitely a new experience, not that I’m complaining one bit.

After a hearty meal we’re off to bed. It gets dark fairly early here so even though I try to get through a few chapters on my Kindle, I soon feel myself nodding off to sleep. By 8:30pm, I’m down for the count.