Day 1 01/09/2012

Day 1

Everybody woke up at the hotel at around 7am. We left at 10am and arrived at Machame gate around 1 hour later. Everybody was in great spirits and really excited to get the trek started after being in Africa for 3 days already. The weather was gloomy and there was light rain but this didn't dampen our moods. While we were waiting at the gate and everybody was sorting themselves out, we saw loads of monkeys in the trees. I've never seen a monkey outside a zoo so that was pretty damn cool. But one of our guides informed us that it was unlikely to see any animals on our climb to the summit because the route we were taking was a popular one, so the animals have moved on to quieter places on the mountain.

 After only about an hour and a half of walking we stopped for our first lunch on the mountain. We had these mini bananas, cucumber soup for lunch  (surprisingly yummy) followed by a bell pepper sandwich. Nobody could be fussy with food on this trip and it's surprising what you eat when you haven't got the choice... And food that maybe wouldn't taste great at home tastes amazing on the mountain!

 We carried on walking for about 4/5 hours until we reached the camp. At first I was in high spirits but as the hours went by my mood got lower. I had been bitten 2 nights before 28 times and the bites were really hurting; they had started weeping which was gross, and they itched and they hurt like bruises. As we started getting higher, we could feel our breathing getting heavier already, and the walk just started to get a bit boring.

Near the end a lot of people felt like what my t-shirt said... "are we there yet?!".

 On the plus side, the weather was great and the scenery beautiful. Sometimes we could see the summit through the trees which was very exciting, but I knew there was still going to be a lot of walking until we got there.
 After around 6 and a half hours of walking, we eventually got to camp. Although I was hot when we were walking, as soon as I stood still I felt the cold wind. We must have arrived to camp at around half 6. I wasn't in the happiest of moods this night. After unpacking my stuff into my tent, I kind of just had this feeling of "why am I even doing this?". I haven't been camping since I was around 12 and the thought of packing and unpacking everyday for the next 6 days didn't amuse me. At dinner, we were in a massive tent, with a long table with candles on. The night sky was beautiful, filled with twinkling stars, yet I just could not get in a good mood. I just wanted to speak to my mum, but with no phone I felt lonely. After dinner, at around half 8, I went straight to bed. I wanted to get the week over and done with as soon as possible.

Machame camp.

 Height at the end of the day : 3000A.M.S.L