Kili Day 2 - Shira Camp Site
Trip Start
May 19, 2011
1
3
8
Trip End
Jun 19, 2011
Where I stayed
Shira Camp Site
Shira Hut, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Monday, June 13, 2011
The campsite started warming up within minutes of the sun showing its' face. And so our layers of clothing peeled off and day two began. The itinerary says that today is the easiest hike on the mountain. Looking up it also appears that the rain forest has cleared up and we will have more of a panoramic view than we did the day before. Today's hike is all uphill.. We're aiming for Shira camp which is 3840m AMSL, so a climb of 840m coming up.
My headache has completely totally cleared up and I'm feeling on top of the world! Literally... A few minutes after breakfast, we head off... It's amazing to see how quickly the vegetation changes as we climb. We've now come out of the dense rain forest, the trees and bushes are growing lower, the ferns are now fewer and far in between, and the plants are looking more tough and robust. Everywhere I look there are pink, white and yellow paper flowers, but slowly as we climb, even these start diminishing. Moss hangs from all the dead tree branches and heather. When the clouds and mist comes over, it's quite an eerie landscape but still leaves you with a sense of wonder.
We've also noticed that all the way up the mountain there are some large (SERIOUSLY LARGE) crows following the trail. Either they're convinced they'll get to maul on a couple of bodies along the way, or they know they'll be lucky and be fed scraps and leftovers. I'm hoping for the latter. They don't exactly look like the pied crows back in South Africa... they almost look like parrot versions of crows, and about twice the size. I guess they make them tougher up here in east Africa.
Due to the excessive water consumption, I once again kept an eye out for convenient locations for for toilet breaks. I'm guessing this is going to be standard practice for the entire duration of the hike. In fact, it's not all that bad... We were soon to learn what bad was in terms of toilet facilities. While one doesn't exactly expect A-grade ablutions atop the mountain, you do expect that a long drop will provide the necessary functions. There are however a few problems with the high-altitude long drops on Kilimanjaro 1] There are no seats, thus you need to "hover" and aim quite carefully 2] The hole is not much bigger than a standard key hole which means that if you're a girl, aiming doesn't come easy for a wee and if you're someone with diarrhea then again, a pin hole sized hole isn't sufficient... so it comes down to one simple fact. It's NOT always going to go down but may be presented to the next user and the next and the next and so forth, urgh!! 3] Then there's the smell!! OMG!! The smell!!! You need the breath holding abilities of a free diver, or you need a pretty dense buff to cover any sense of smell while in there... All things weighed up... a bush or rock ultimately seems like the most sanitary and comfortable toilet break facility available, so I wasn't complaining at all.
We stopped for a lunch break midway up and were pleasantly surprised with some toasted sandwiches, muffins, eggs and again our cucumber soup... The altitude had not yet affected any of our appetites as yet, so we dug right in. We arrived at the Shira camp site at 14:00, 5 hours later which left us much time to explore and relax. We all took turns in walking around at one point or another. There is a well demarcated helipad... it seemed a bit extreme for this altitude but I guess there's a good reason for it. Apparently a chopper lift from camp down costs about $6400 USD. Definitely going to make a point of NOT needing it. On our way back to camp, Nicki and I found what looked like a VIP toilet, and we were not disappointed. This particular long drop had a porcelain throne!!! Whoop whoop!!! What a luxury to be able to sit in comfort and pee... It's the small things...
I was quite surprised with the amount of rubbish that I saw on the mountain, as I'd imagine anyone that would take up hiking Kilimanjaro would be adventure and nature lovers and for that simple reason would know better than to dump their rubbish on the side of the trail. Tom explained that often it's not the hikers but the new porters who've not yet learned not to throw their wrappers and rubbish on the ground. I guess what is common sense to many of us isn't like that to others if you've grown up with different habits. Apparently however, people are sent up on a weekly or fortnightly basis to clean up much of the mountain. Quite sad that it has to be that way but I assume one would have this problem about anywhere in the world. No place is immune.
We had another fantastic supper served up; carrot soup, rice, vegetable sauce and banana fritters. I'm thinking the boys may have wanted a little more, but Nicki and I weren't about to hand over all of our own just yet.
The evening turned out to be absolutely freezing once the sun set!! The boys, both sleeping in a -5 degree sleeping bag, wore just about all their attire before going to sleep. Nicki and I took our time with our wet wipe wash (you need to have some sort of a wash when you've been hiking all day, and wet wipes were our saving grace on that one), and feeling fresh, climbed into our comfortable warm "beds". No worries of frostbite or cold on our minds...
