Kilimanjaro – Day 1
I left rainy Durbs yesterday and met Nicola Rowbotham at OR Tambo airport and then onto Kili with a short stop-over in Nairobi. Nicola has been on a training and nutritional program for the last 6 months and will be writing a story of the climb for Shape magazine. As we were about to land at Nairobi airport, the pilot powered up the 737 aircraft – we had to do a victory lap. Eysh. Giraffe on runway? Anything is possible in Kenya!
At Kili airport, we waited for Nadine’s flight to land coming from London and off we went to the Aishi Protea Hotel in Kili – it’s great accommodation before and after the climb.
It’s going to be a fun trip with Bongo as our local guide. I bumped into an old climbing mate of mine Sean Disney who is off to Meru.
Today we will trek through the rainforest to Machame camp at 3000m dressed in shorts for the first part of the climb – it’s overcast so poncho is in the daypack. We have cell signal all the way – great comms. Nadine has Ibowl which is a vitrual 10 pin bowling game on her phone – where you hold the phone and perform the action, then watch the ball roll towards the skittles on the screen; and other games I have to check out. We’ve also got cards for Sevens – big fines for the loser! Nicola and Nadine have both done the Otter and Whale Trail and are super excited to get going…
18h00: Just in to Machame Camp. Great lunch at 2500m – beef stew and pasta. Nadine commented that the weather is so good she couldn’t believe that we were in a rain forest. 10 minutes later thunder clouds rolled in! At 3000m, everyone doing well.
Tags: Kilimanjaro Sept 2009, Machame