14th September - Karanga Camp

Well, the beard is growing nicely and since the only thing resembling a mirror is the front of my mobile I can only assume that I look like Stig of the Dump. I awoke this morning after a fitful nights sleep with a huge feeling of nausea and I knew – I was going to throw up. Naturally I tried breathing hard. Nope. Perhaps some of Clemence’s sweet tea? Nope. Perhaps a quick boot faff, followed by a dash to some rocks and then some hefty stomach exercises? Oh, yeah. That did the trick. Headache and nausea vanished to be replaced with a vague feeling of shock.

Naturally, Clemence and Freddy were concerned but once I reassured them that I felt much better (and ate a hearty breakfast) then they relaxed.

The first stage of the walk today was up a near vertical cliff. The trail wound up and up seeming to cling precariously to the rocks. In several places poles were replaced by hands and I could see why they had taken us up Lava Tower. Without that experience of rock scrambling and finding tricky handholds this ascent would have been far more daunting. As it happened I had no significant problems making the ascent. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Freddy took some steeper routes since he could see I was OK and we made the top ahead of some groups. Not that going fast is the right approach. It’s not. Slowly, slowly, pole, pole is the mantra and it makes all the difference. There is nothing to do in camp so why rush to get there? Far better to dawdle along, swigging water and taking photos.

I have to say that I have been most impressed with my little Casio Exilim digital camera. Battery life should be enough for the rest of the trip and the memory capacity means that I have no limits on the number of shots I can take. My only worry is how well it will perform once I get above 5000m when it will get really cold.

After a short break we headed on to Karanga camp and had to tackle Karanga Valley. It’s a V-shaped valley and as part of the acclimatisation it was necessary to drop down one side (very steep) and then (dear God, the horror still haunts me) ascend the other. Pace was extremely slow but that did nothing to stop me gasping for breath and just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. I had visions of finding my own personal Hell where I would spend all of eternity ascending Karanga valley. But the worst of it was watching the porters coming back down to fill the water barrels and go back up a second time!

And now I’m sitting in Karanga Camp at 4200m, feeling full after eating chicken and chips with soup and fruit salad. I’ve managed to catch up on my journal entries and now I’m off into my tent to read a book. Even with the stunning backdrop of Kilimanjaro towering above I still feel tired, cold and sleepy so that’s that.
I did manage to get my lazy, slack body out of the tent for one last stroll up the path. While I was there, I gathered up some rocks and spelled out my name, Gary, in a clearing beside the path. For anyone following in my footsteps, it’s about 150m up the path from Karanga Camp on the left hand side. I wonder how long it will remain there?