It was sad to say good-bye, sad to see the tears in my wife’s face, from sheer sleep exhaustion and realising that one part of team Mattravers was going away for 13 nights. I had to stay strong, we had discussed moving the date but this was attempting to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on night of the total lunar solar eclipse.
Sadness as I walked to the car, after I started Tracey’s car I was in a different mindset. This was work, this was what all the preparation and planning had been for. My bag for the B&B at the airport repacked ten times over.
I stopped at the local garage to get some supplies for the morning. Came out and the car had a flat battery having not been used much. The AA quoted me an hour. My mates Stuart and Kevin were there with my jump leads in Kev’s van in five minutes and I was away.
B&B, 6am flight to Amsterdam, flight to Kilimanjaro, then drive to the hotel in Arusha. When I got there, it was 10pm and all was quiet. I was tired, a full day of travelling and not a lot of sleep. Some last minute packing and I was finished, just the alarm to set for 630.
Breakfast and met the rest of the group, three Americans Kat and Carole who were friends and Carol’s mum, Sarah. Tansher, an interesting Indian guy who had studied at St Andrews and Sarah, a Bahranian woman who lived in Dubai. Odd mix, but before we know it we were off to the Machame gate. The excitement was building, but we had a decent amount of hanging around and lunch then finally headed off about 1pm, almost the last ones left, but we were off.
We left Machame Gate, the park gate, and walked through the rain forest on a winding trail up a ridge, through the rain forest. It was a walk, on a man-made trail but we still saw things we had not seen before. We hiked for six hours, climbing about 3,000ft and it was dark when we made it to Machame camp. Not ideal but the excitement was there. It was good unpacking and cleaning ourselves up in the dark, knowing and practicing when we still felt good. The bowl of hot water brought to my tent for a wash was most welcomed, as was the popcorn and tea.
The temperature dropped at night, already able to see your breath when I sent to bed at 9.30pm. I could not sleep due to people talking until midnight, coupled with the excitement and being in a tent.
I chose not to take diamox (to help reduce the effects of altitude) as it was a diuretic, I was feeling great and needed sleep.
More on day 2 next week, or come to the Skittle Alley of The Camelot pub, Chapel road, South Cadbury, BA227EX Wednesday 25th November, 19:30.
https://www.justgiving.com/Tony-Mattravers/
