29thAugust Day 3, Higher and Higher and “don’t shit in our toilet”!
Altitude: Start at Shira Camp @ 3840m, ie 485mmHg of O2, 64% O2 available at Sea Level, My SPO2: 91%
Finish at Baranco Camp @ 3840m, ie 485mmHg of O2, 63% O2 available at Sea Level, My SPO2: 84%
Max Altitude Reached: 4648m with my exercising SPO2: 76%
Distance walked: 11 km
Total time: 7 hrs 30 mins with stops
We awoke early, again. I was feeling really good and the upset of yesterday was gone. It was a crisp clear morning and it reminded me of when I first moved to Scotland and getting up early with XV Para for training weekends. The morning just had that feel. I managed to get a couple of sunrise pics with the sun just catching the top of Mt. Meru as she poked through the clouds. Every day before breakfast and before dinner we were provided with a small bowl of warm water to wash. T was nice to wash face and hands but in the dust on Kili it was futile to try keeping clean. We all tried to keep clean to some degree but in the end accepted we would all smell as bad as each other and we wouldn’t actually notice the smell.
Just before we set off, we had a strange encounter with a Japanese lady. As we were standing there, rucksacks on, waiting to go, this lady marched up to Mo and said. “That is our toilet, don’t you shit in it!” Surprisingly for Mo he was lost for words. He just stood there, nodded, looked at her blankly and she marched off. None of us had any idea what that was all about? Each group of climbers had a little toilet shelter with a bucket in it for urination during the night. If you had to do a “number 2” or “drop a deuce” as the Canadians put it, you used the long drops at each camp. We had our own toilet and certainly no one had used theirs. However, we were to find out later after a confession that Richard had walked passed their toilet tent, and out of interest he had looked into it over the top. To his surprise, and that of a Japanese lady who was sitting there, it was occupied. So although we hadn’t used it, we had a peeping tom in our midst – Richard! As we walked, we passed or were passed by that Japanese lady’s group; they never said a word to us again. Oh well.
It was a beautiful walk this morning, a slow gradual slope up to a peak of 4600m. This was to expose us all to a bit more altitude before sleeping at Baranco camp at approx. 3900m. Not long in to the walk we had to stop for Marc. Unfortunately he had a bad case of D & V. That was the last thing anyone needs when climbing Kili. As we continued on we moved from the Heather & Moorland to the Alpine desert. There were no trees, minimal plant growth, just dust and rocks. We had lunch not far from the Lava Tower; a remnant from Kili’s volcanic past. I had made a plan that after feeling unwell at lunch yesterday, not to eat as much in one go. So, I had alreadyeaten half my lunch at the mid-morning break. I had the rest for lunch. I even managed to get a swap for my banana, as I don’t like them, for Elisa’s orange. A good trade in my view. Poor Marc was looking rough and couldn’t eat. Mo was doing his usual and lying down in the dirt at every opportunity. The weather was clear now and we could see the top of Kili as we walked. We could see some of the Glaciers and the ice on the sides of the peak. We stopped at the base of the Lava Tower and saw our first bit of wildlife of the walk, a 4-stripped mouse rat according to Issa.
After a brief break at the Lava Tower, our peak altitude for the day, 4668m, we set off again. A new experience, DOWNHILL! We had a leisurely walk down to our camp for the night at Baranco. As we descended we past more of Kili’s unique vegetation, Lobellia & Senecio kilimanjari. You can google them if interested as I cant get my pictures to load - I am writing this in Dar es Salaam.
Camp was another Beautiful location with Kili behind us, a cloudscape to the fore and on the side, the shear Baranco wall which we would have to climb in the morning. It was cold today at the camp, partly I think because it was sheltered and the sun was not on it for long during the day. We had a treat in this camp, a tiled toilet block. Still squat long drops but much cleaner than the previous. Only issue was not slip on the wet/ soiled tiles.
During dinner I took some stunning pics of the Milky Way above Kili. I kept nipping out during the meal to take another long exposure. Early to bed with the thought of the Baranco Wall to wake us up in the morning.
