Machame camp to Shira cave camp.
In the night, the temperature dipped to 6°C. Though it was chilling, the sky with full of stars, constellations and the milkyway made me kept outside. What a view! We will never see in cities. Tomorrow it will not be a long day, but we will be entering the 12000ft barrier. No way, had to go inside the tent. It was a good sleep inside a cozy sleeping bag. It made me more homely when I found that the sleeping bag is made in India.
Morning started with a bed tea call. They served us tea, coffee or hot chocolate. I prefer hot chocolate. Though I wake up quite early before sunrise, yet it felt very cold. I kept myself squeezed in the sleeping bed till someone called me.
Amani was very particular. 6'O clock bed tea. 7'O clock breakfast. At breakfast time luggages should be packed and the day pack should be with you at the dinning tent.
"Today the trek is as smooth as cutting a cake with a knife" said Penina, the smart and jolly lady guide. Lunch will be after reaching Shira cave camp. Its a 6hrs walk of 5 km. Altitude gain to 12500' from 9300'. We will be crossing the 10000' barrier
We reached Shira cave camp well in time. But alas, one porter got sick and only half of the item has come. Kitchen items and our bags have not come. We reached around 13:00hrs. It was lunch time. Very hungry and it's getting cold whenever there is cloud covering the sun. What we wore is for day walking. Our tents arrived with us. Tent was fixed but it's tremendous hot inside. If you sleep in this hot tent, after coming to this altitude, definitely you will fall into acclimatization problem.
Amani and all the other staffs felt very sorry and regretted the inconvenience. In fact, he and few other porters hurried back after waiting for some time. After nearly two hrs they returned back with the left over baggage.
One of the porters fell I'll. He was returned back. Thanks God! He could walk back. Amani brought his luggage. Here there is a good thing about porters. They are not allowed to carry more than 15kgs load. They are checked at every camps. And there are only humans. No animals like mule or yak is used. Good employment. But I heard that they are not properly paid by their bosses. Infact, they are not paid at all. They rely only on the tips of the customer. I myself is against tipping. I feel that I am donating to a beggar. It's only my view, may not match with others. I booked this trip to Kilimanjaro with India Hikes only because it was mentioned in their itinerary that you need not pay any tips. We have already deducted it from the package cost. However, it's a common culture in Tanzania to tip $200 to $300 after the trip.
Lunch was completed late. There is a common guideline in the mountains. Hike high, sleep low. This is good for acclimatization. So, in the evening we went to see the Shira caves and the view point few hundred feet higher than our camp site. What a beautiful site of Kibo. Kilimanjaro is composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the highest; Mawenzi and Shira. Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again. Seeing the mammoth Kibo, it was frightening how to climb Uhuru peak. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim.
Tomorrow starts the actual serious trek. Due to untimely meals and unscheduled day, we all were weak health wise. My tent mate Jayanth had a slight headache. I really feel sorry for him. My snoring disturbed his sleep, and he has no complaints.
Had a good sleep in the starry night.
The night was very windy. Seemed it will uproot our tents. Slowly I went into dreams. Dreams of conquereing the unexpected... Sweet dreams, may the dreams bring success.
