Shira caves camp to Baranco camp
In the morning when I woke up, it was still dark. I woke up before Robert could call "Brother, Brother what would you like, tea or coffee". It was calm and quiet. It was chilling cold. So beautiful with the stars. No moon. The light from the stars made the Kibo peak visible. Such mesmerizing beauty. Far on the other side Mt. Meru is peeping out of the clouds. An ocean of clouds is far below us. But you cannot stand this beauty for long. It was shivering cold.
In the meantime, Robert came with his ever-smiling face. "Are you not feeling cold?". He was carrying a tray having 5 cups, one hot water flask, one ginger water flask, famous Kilimanjaro coffee, Kilimanjaro tea bags, sugar, chocolate powder, milk powder and milo. Tray in one hand and carrying a folding chair by the other hand.
Recently, I started suffering from high blood pressure. It is a strict instruction from madam not to have tea or coffee. So, I preferred hot chocolate. Minutely Robert prepared the hot chocolate asking about the proportions keeping the tray on the chair.
With the shivering hands, a sip of hot chocolate made me feel like I am in heaven. Stars all around. Before I could finish the hot chocolate, the horizon started to become reddish to yellowish. Kibo now looks totally different. Its like a Maasai warrior lying down with forehead, nose, lips and chin. With the tint of reddish and yellowish background, it is looking mesmerising.
Today the actual stressful trek starts. From Shira caves camp at 12000ft to Baranco camp at 13000ft. However, we have to cross Lava Tower at 15000ft. The trek is designed very nicely. You have an acclimatization break at Lava Tower. You trek to a higher altitude and sleep at a lower altitude. That makes you acclimatize automatically.
The plan is to have breakfast at Shira caves camp, lunch at Lava tower camp and night camp at Baranco camp. Lunch is not packed. We will be served hot lunch. Means, they will prepare and serve it at Lava tower camp.
After having a great breakfast, we started our journey. The trail is through solidified molten rocks. As it is above 12000ft, so no plantation. The kitchen team washed all equipment, packed them and they crossed us on the way. Before we could reach, they fixed up dinning tent, kitchen tent and halfway cooking already done.
The trail is beautiful with fearful Kibo peak always in sight. Lava tower is a tower looking rock structure. Below it we had our kitchen tent, toilet tent and dinning tent. One thing is very good in this trail. You cannot go in open to do toilet near the camp site. While you are walking, you can go behind rocks, but not near camp sites. This keep the camp sites very neat and clean.
We waited for 2 hrs. at Lava tower. This helps in better acclimatization. Then it is total downhill. It's a beautiful landscape to Baranco camp. Its full of giant grondsels. It's a family of sunflower. It's found only in East Africa and is found at an altitude of 12000ft to 14000ft. There is another species of flower, grow only in this part of the world. The gaint lobelia. Locally they call it Kilimanjaro pineapple. In day time the leaves open and at night it closes itself.
After crossing Lava tower camp, the trail goes down and we could see the Baranco wall. The Barranco Wall was formed by volcanic activity as well as landslides in the area. The Barranco Wall, 1000ft high is referred to as a scramble. Scramble means you will be needing your four limbs to climb, but it does not require mountain climbing skills. The wall is so high that it is difficult to see the top when you look up from the bottom. Because of this, many mountaineers add this climb to their bucket list.
When we reached Baranco camp, it was cloudy. The temperature showed 5°C. It was very crowded. Here, number of routes come and join. Mt. Kilimanjaro hiking has got five routes. Machame route, Marangu route, Lemosho route, Rongai route and Umbwe route. As you know, we are in the Machame route. At Branco camp, the Machame route and Lemosho route meets. So, it's very crowded. But every organizer has their own demarked area. No infiltration.
Tents were already pitched. As per the daily schedule, Robert gave us a tumbler of hot water to wash ourselves. I prefered washing my feet and face only instead of cleaning the whole body. This gives a feeling of hard core trekker.
In the evening I asked Penina, "Did anyone fall from the Baranco wall".... Penina said "Yes" silently..........
