Up at 6, pack, breakfast at 7 and off at 8.  Breakfasts always started with porridge, which did not look appetizing but tasted good with a bit of sugar added.  This was followed by eggs, sausage, toast and hot water for tea, coffee or chocolate.  I recommend taking a few packets of hot chocolate for breakfast and dinner to supplement what is offered.  You also might want to take 3-4 packets of oatmeal in case you don’t like porridge.

 

We were to climb from Machame Camp 3000m (9840ft) through the Heather and Moorland zones up to the Alpine Desert of Shira Camp at 3840m (12595ft).  This is higher than I had ever been before, previous high was 12300ft.  I had also slept at 11800ft.  I had read that most people started experiencing Altitude Mountain Sickness (AMS) at this point.  I didn’t take any chances and had started taking Diamox on the first day of the climb to help acclimatize.  I did not experience any tingling sensations that is typical.  Several people had headaches in our group, Charlotte’s was rough and she took painkillers.  I think this is also where she started hearing crickets in her head, which persisted through the summit.  The sign says 4 hours for this hike and I would guess that it took us 5 hours with lunch.  Did I mention that this group liked to eat lunch in about 5-10 minutes and then get immediately back to hiking.  I usually eat casually and like to have 10 minutes for the food to settle, so lunch was not a relaxing experience for me.

 

Shira in the afternoon was beautiful with views of Shira Cathedral, the Shira Plateau and Mt Meru.  Kilimanjaro was hiding behind a cloud.  Shira is one of the 3 volcanoes that make up Kilimanjaro.  Its caldera was filled in by lava flows from Kilimanjaro.  

 

Marek went on a side hike to help acclimatize.  Charlotte took a nap.  A ranger came around with the book for us to sign.  When the sun was shining it was very hot, 70F.   When the sun went behind a cloud the temperature would drop to the 40s immediately.  After dinner we were told not to go to bed immediately so we wouldn’t wake at 4am.  Charlotte ignored this advice and went right to sleep while I stayed up for a couple hours reading (the only reading I did the entire trip).  The next morning I was not fully rested and learned my lesson, take rest when you can get it.  The night was very cold at Shira, perhaps 5-10F.  But in the morning the sky had cleared and I got this picture of Kilimanjaro behind my icy tent.  You can see the summit on the right hand side and the Western Breach right down the middle.  Please note that the slope up from the tent is not flat, it rises at about 20-25 degrees incline.  Below shows a section of more exposed trail up to Shira Camp.