Yes I am dividing the trip up by day, not because my descriptions will be long, but because I have so many fun pictures I might as well show them off here. This hike was so beautiful that you couldn't help but take lots of pictures because everywhere you looked was beautiful. On that note...on to day 1!
Before getting on the bus to head to the start, there are a few things you need to do: Breakfast at the buffet, have your hiking and porter bags packed and ready to go, store your other bag in the storage room, and check-out (they write everything you buy down by the current room you are in so you check out every time you leave the hotel). All of this needed to be done by 8:30, which wasn't too bad. The hotel is semi crazy in the morning because all of the tours are leaving at the same time and it seemed like there were a lot of them. People are grabbing bags and throwing them on the roof of the bus and you are just praying your bag ended up on the right bus (or it will be an interesting week).
It is a one hour drive from the hotel to the Machame gate. It was pretty much the same route we did from the airport, but this time we were able to see the surroundings and the incredible mountain we were about to climb. Once at the gate, we were given box lunches to carry in our bags and told to wait while our guides got the permits to climb. We enjoyed some pictures at the gate and seeing what was in the boxed lunches (little did we know that we would have this same lunch every day during the safari). The box contained a small piece of fried chicken, banana, dry cornbread, a roll, a sleeve of cookies, juice, and an orange.
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| Corinne was ready to go! |
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| Plenty of smiles to start the trip |
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| Tent-mates |
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| Loved that we saw the mountain the entire drive |
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| Yep...it is really big |
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| I was so ready! |
Finally it was go time! We met our guides right before starting and then started uphill. Day one is completely through the rain forest and is a steady uphill climb. It was beautiful and so green. It was also hot and most of us were in shorts and a tshirt or tank top. Since we were in the rain forest, of course it rained on us. It was a heavy rain, but luckily it didn't last long and was done before lunch. We all loaded into our rain pants and rain jackets and stayed mostly dry. In all honesty, I was glad it rained. It would have been sad to hike through a rain forest without some rain.
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| And we are off! |
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| Just stunning |
Following our lunch break, we had another 2.5 hours of climbing to reach Machame campsite at 9,103 feet. We climbed around 3,600 ft that day. It was an enjoyable day and everyone did well. We got to camp and found the porters had everything set up so we claimed our tents and relaxed a bit. There was tea time everyday that included tea or coffee and popcorn. It is amazing how good popcorn is during a hike. Amanda threatened to eat it all if we didn't get there soon. Following tea time, dinner started around 7:30 with vegetable soup and bread. The meal that day consisted of potatoes, cabbage, and fish. I passed on the fish but enjoyed the rest of the food. I find it amazing they can prepare such delicious meals on the mountain.
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| End of day one at Machame Camp |
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| Group shot |
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| Stunning views from camp |
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| Our campsite |
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| Tea time (and the all important popcorn) |
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| It was nice and warm all day, but it did get chilly at night. |
The day was so much fun. It was a good warm up day and we were already laughing a lot. There was a lot of discussion on bodily functions (or lack of them) throughout the day and that would continue for the entire trip. There are not many secrets on a mountain when you are together all the time. It was the perfect start to the trip and we realized that it would only get harder. Oh and it was warm all day...last time we were comfortable in tank tops for a few days.
