12th September - Shira Camp

Day 2 complete. We ascended from the Machame campe to the Shira camp by going 800m straight up, then 200m gently down. Now that doesn’t sound like much, but trekking the best part of a vertical kilometre in 3 hours is no easy task. The trail reminded me a lot of the start of the Tongariro Crossing in NZ. Lots of lava rocks, barren tundra and a dusty trail to follow. Fortunately, our guide kept our pace low so I didn’t even start to breathe hard. However, a few times I felt a bit light-headed and had a small twinge of a pain behind the eyes. These are the main symptoms of altitude sickness, but the key to survival is to go slowly, very slowly and drink loads. I felt that I was swigging from my Camelback at every opportunity, but I still had a litre left. The guides recommend 3-4 litres every day to have the best chance of acclimatization so I’m slurping tea, oranges, melons, water you name it.



Before starting out I had to crack open the tent flat which had frozen solid in the night. All around the ground was coated in a thin layer of hoar frost lending the tropical rain forest a rather surreal look. The moment the sun rose (for it was 6am when I surfaced) the frost vanished, steam rose in great white vents from everything and the temperature soared.

Because of the risk of malaria, I been taking Malarone and one of the side effects is particularly vivid dreams. It may be psychological, but I am inclined to believe that I am getting this side effect. Once darkness falls there is absolutely nothing to do in camp – especially if you’re on your own. So from 7pm to 6am I was left to lie in darkness. Sometimes I slept, often I just dozed, but I had some odd dreams. Nothing frightening, just quite striking. For example, in one dream I became aware that I was dreaming. I was sitting on a bench on a street in St.Austell when I had to the thought “Tomorrow I’ll be climbing Kilimanjaro.” At that point, I had the realisation that I must be dreaming and I was able to take control of the dream and take flight. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long and I found myself drifting through a long series of odd scenarios with various people I knew popping up in curious contexts.

And then came the headache and nausea. Lying there praying to the Lord God Almighty to please spare me this suffering. Just a mere pain behind the eyes and that’s me begging for relief. Still, it didn’t take long before I flaked out and when I awoke the headache was gone.