- DAY ONE -

When good friends walk beside us
On Trails that we must keep,
Our burdens are not so heavy,
and the hills are not so steep.
– Anonymous.

Jimmy Galbraith starts each day of the trek with a thought for the day – a quote from his reading or a poem – some corny, some profound and some profoundly corny.

	At Shira Caves Camp we got our first, brief glimpse of the mountain we were climbing.

The first one sounds good, but we soon find that good friends don’t actually make Kilimanjaro any less steep.

Our march up Kilimanjaro was to follow the Machame Route, known as the most scenic and one of the most difficult routes to the top. The trek begins at the village of Machame just outside the Machame Gate of Kilimanjaro National Park.

No vehicles are allowed inside the park, so walking begins at the gates. Our first day’s trek is to take us up from about 5,000 feet above sea level at the gate to the Machame Hut, our first camp, at roughly 9,000 feet. The march covers seven kilometers, 4.5 miles, over rough, hilly terrain that passes through the rainforest region at the base of the mountain.

Our van drops us at the gate, and as we step out it begins to rain – gently at first, then harder. We begin to unpack rain gear from our packs.

“Did you pack your gear in waterproof bags?” Eligius, our guide, asks.

Not being an experienced camper, I hadn’t done so, but the others apparently had. Don’t worry, Eligius said, we’ll cover your gear in plastic and keep it dry. However, most of my stuff gets wet that first day and remained so through the trek up the mountain.

At the gate, I was lucky. One of many porters there asked if I had gaiters. I didn’t. He said he would rent me a pair for $10. I bargained him down to $8 a pair, and Jimmy and I both rented them. Turned out to be about the best $8 I spent in Africa. The gaiters helped keep my feet dry all the way up the mountain.

I wore a tee shirt and trousers underneath a plastic poncho. As we walked, my clothes under the poncho became soaked through by sweat. About the only thing the poncho did was to keep my pack dry.

The trail was steep, muddy, crossed by thick tree roots that served as stair steps and sometimes served as roadblocks.

As we hiked through the rain, we fell into our natural order of march. Galbraith and I charged ahead, determined not to let a little thing like one of the world’s Seven Summits slow us down.

Brent, Tom and Richard came behind, walking steadily uphill. I think they got it better than we did – they were looking about, watching the rainforest world go by. Richard spotted some colobus monkeys in the forest canopy and showed them to us.

Harry Wallfisch is our dawdler. Harry was in great shape for the trip, but his natural pace is slow, and he trailed the group that first day, just as he had in our dry runs at Sam Houston State Park back in Texas.

Eligius, our guide, glided along effortlessly, watching us, sizing us up. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the trail, of the mountain and of the Swahili language. He taught us many phrases, but the one we heard most often was: “Pole pole sanna.” It meant, “Go slowly, very slowly.”

Near the end of that first day, Jimmy, Brent and I were resting near each other. Several porters passed us as we sat, and Jimmy offered them encouragement.

“You’re almost there,” he said. “Just 45 minutes to go.”

“Forty-five minutes for you,” one of the men said with a sneer, “but twenty minutes for us. You go pole pole.”

Jimmy, Brent and I looked at each other and rose as one. We scooted up the mountain, catching and passing the porter. I don’t know when he got to camp, but we beat him by a wide margin.

As trekkers approach the Machame Hut campground at about 9,000 feet, the terrain changes to a less dense forest with more open, grassy meadows. The air became thinner and colder. Our soaked clothes, heated by exertion, steamed in the cool, mountain air.

We all made it to that first campground in good shape. We were tired, wet and chilly. But after a hot snack – tea time, in the British tradition – a hot supper and a good night’s sleep, we were ready to move on the next day.

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