Climbing Kilimanjaro: Day 2 from Machame Camp to Shira Camp

     I slept well until about 2am and then on and off until about 6am, when there was increasing sunlight and lots of noise from nearby groups.  I simply laid in my sleeping bag until 7am resting and then got up, packed up my gear and went to the dining tent for breakfast.  The meal was good and I enjoyed the millet porridge, mocha, eggs and sausage (amazing like American hot dogs).

Sunny morning in Shira Camp

    
     The day started with fairly clear skies and sun, so it was nice to simply wear a short sleeve shirt and hiking pants as we started out of camp about 8:30am.  It was planned as a short hiking day, a bit over three miles, but we had to gain over 3,000ft of elevation doing it.  The trail was muddy and steep as we continued up the mountain.

Looking back down the trail at Machame Camp

   Unfortunately for us, the clouds rolled in about an hour into the day's hike and it was like walking through a cloud, made more real by the fact that it started raining about 11am.  We saw little scenery and there were few opportunities to take pictures.  The trail eventually got a bit more gradual, but it also got muddier and the frequent rocks made it a balancing act in spots as we continued to slowly ascend.  Having trekking poles was a positive, as they helped me avoid several falls and slips.

     By now we were out of the rainforest and into the next of Kilimanjaro's multiple ecosystems - the heather, or heath zone.  Once we reached the top of the Shira Plateau, we paused for a quick snack and then descended about 20 minutes to camp and signed in at the camp hut around 1:30pm.  Shira Camp is at an elevation of about 12,500ft, but I was feeling pretty good despite being tired of the rain.

   We were starting to get a sense of the massive size of Kilimanjaro - 60 miles by 47 miles.  Shira is the westernmost of the three peaks and the lowest in elevation.  The other two are Mawenzi to the far east, and Kibo in the center.  Uhuru Peak, our destination on Day 5, is the highest point on Kibo's crater rim at 19,341ft.

Our camp at Shira with the red dining tent

     We finally got some time to eat our lunch and sat around the leaky dining tent (now saturated with two days of rain), drinking hot beverages and talking until the late afternoon.  The skies finally let up about 5pm and the G Adventures team invited us outside for our celebratory 'welcome to the mountain' event with singing and dancing. 

     It was a fun time and we learned some of the lyrics from the Kilimanjaro Song (also known as the Jambo song), which can be translated from the Swahili language:    

Hello! Hello sir!
How are you? Very well!
Guests, you are welcome!
Kilimanjaro? No trouble!

Walk slowly, slowly. No trouble!
You’ll get there safe. No trouble!
Drink plenty of water. No trouble!

Kilimanjaro! Kilimanjaro!
Kilimanjaro, such a high mountain.

Also Mawenzi, also Mawenzi!
Also Mawenzi such a high mountain.

Like a snake, like a snake!
Like a snake you wrap around me

You wrap around me, you wrap around me
Trying to eat me like a piece of meat

Trekkers and the great G Adventures Team; author in the blue shirt on the left

     After a delicious dinner, we checked our pulse and pulse ox, and got the briefing for the next day.  Day 3 was a longer day - seven hours of hiking to Barranco Camp at just over 13,000ft of elevation, but an important one for altitude acclimatization, as we'd hike up to a high of 15,200ft at Lava Tower, but then descend lower for camp.  This would help our bodies get adjusted to the thinner air as we continued up the mountain. 

     After some after-dinner talking, I made my way to the tent about 9:30pm and was asleep, warm in my bag by 10pm.