Edward just grinned loudly.
"Do you think we're crazy?" I inquired.
Edward nodded.
"Don't you or your friends have the urge to get to the top of Kilimanjaro?" I followed.
He shook his head and replied, "The mountain is very good for business. But it is very cold and there is nothing up there. Why would anyone want to climb it?"
For the past six months, I have been trying to answer that question.
Some people are born to hike or rock climb. Others are built for adventure and adrenaline. The Wife and I are neither of these people. Sure, we have done some trekking before. Years ago, we hiked the classic Inca Trail in Peru and actually enjoyed it very much (more now rather than at that time). However, it was not a seminal moment that changed our exercise habits forever. In the four years since that trip, we have done zero hikes and zero outdoor adventures. Heck, at the last moment we cancelled a light traipse to the top of Mount Sinai in Egypt last year in favor of a nice swimming pool. The bottom line is that, we are couch potatoes.
After spending the past few years visiting blisteringly-hot, religiously-conservative countries, we wanted to spend our vacation relaxing on a beautiful beach. The research was done, ping pong skills were perfected, and we were all set for a trip to Thailand. So why am I not surrounded by big-bosomed lady-boys right now?
By chance, I came across someone's blog about their experience climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Inexplicably, I found the whole concept of tackling Africa's tallest mountain quite intriguing. It would be great to see the quickly diminishing glacier at the mountain's peak before it has completely disappeared. It would be good incentive to exercise and get in better shape. Plus the whole experience would be good for the bucket list.
The more I read about the trek, the more I realized that no technical climbing experience is needed. Each year, about 30,000 people try, and about two-thirds reach the summit. It doesn't sound like most of the people are necessarily very athletic. It's just a lot of normal people, young and old, and a couple of celebrities who have made the climb. In fact, some paraplegics have even made it to the top. Eventually, I felt that The Wife and I should have a go at this trek. Surprisingly, I had no problems convincing her to change our vacation plans.
However, we knew that there could be one major problem. I have issues with altitude. Years ago on our trip to Lake Titicaca and Cusco in Peru, I had multiple episodes where I could barely stand up in the thinner air of the Andes. I was the only passenger who felt sick when we took a small puddle jumper flight to the Amazon jungle in an unpressurized airplane. In contrast, The Wife is completely unaffected by higher altitudes. It must be completely genetic. The Wife's people--the Chinese--are like cockroaches. They have multiplied across the globe thriving in every environment they have encountered. They can live anywhere and eat anything...literally (hide your pets). In contrast, my peeps--the Vietnamese--are not built to stand on mountains. In fact, as the tunnels of Cu Chi can attest to, we are about as close as you can get to being dwarfs of Tolkien lore. Kilimanjaro would be a much bigger challenge. The highest point on the Inca Trail (Dead Woman's pass) sits at 4,200 meters. We made the trek with the aid of Coca leaves. The top of Mt. Kilimanjaro is much higher at 5,800 meters. Unless we could find a good street pharmacist in Africa, we would be without any stimulants to aid us in this endeavor.
Preparation wouldn't be too hard. We dusted off much of our equipment stored in the attic from the Inca Trail hike. Kilimanjaro would be significantly colder, so we did add several more warmer clothes including down coats.
The next issue was figuring out which route we wanted to take. There are multiple ways to get to the top of Kilimanjaro, some more popular than others. Harry Stedman's guidebook on trekking Kilimanjaro was very helpful in helping us make the choice. We decided on a route that would start on the western side of the mountain, traversing the Shira plateau. This would keep us away from the possible throngs of hikers that frequent the Marangu and Machame routes. Plus, we wanted to maximize my chances of acclimating to the altitude by taking a route that would be more gradual and, in return, take a few more days. We contemplated spending the pre-summit night at arrow glacier. However, we were scared off by the multiple warnings that camping at that altitude could be dangerous.
One of the hardest problems was finding a trekking company. There are way too many of them listed on the internet and the TripAdvisor forums. We looked at some of the higher end companies such as Nature Discovery (via Thomson safaris) and Tusker Trails, but the prices and schedules weren't right for us. And we avoided some of the less expensive, mass-marketed operations such as Zara that gets mixed reviews. Eventually, we settled on the African Walking Company (AWC). They have a good reputation from previous reviews and they seemed to meet all the ethical standards (safety, porter treatment, park preservation, etc.) that everybody seems to care about nowadays. While we would have preferred to join a group, our tight schedule only allowed for a private trek with just the two of us...and 15 other guides and porters. The price was right, the schedule was right, but most importantly, a private toilet would accompany us up the mountain.
Oddly enough, we couldn't book directly with the AWC. We had to book it via an outside agent. Peak Planet does the booking in the U.S., but we were not impressed with their after-climb safari options. We used African Travel Resource (ATR), a U.K.-based company to book the climb and a five-day safari afterwards. Their extremely informative website alone is worth looking at for great photographs and in-depth reviews of safari camps. Unlike most other companies, ATR lists the prices of each camp upfront. This helped us pick out the specific safari camps that worked for our interests and our budget. A couple of correspondences to a helpful agent over the internet, and our itinerary was set.
The cost for airfare, an eight day trek, and a five day luxury safari is pretty darn exorbitant, especially considering that we would mainly be living in tents without any HVAC. However, it would be a once-in-a lifetime experience. That is, unless we fail to reach the summit and have to try again...
*****
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Our vacation started off rather poorly. Our three flights including layovers to Atlanta, to Amsterdam, and then to Kilimanjaro airport took 24 hours. The Delta airbus 330 was old, uncomfortable, and worn out. The controls for the in-flight screens were mostly unresponsive. In contrast, the KLM airbus was brand new. The captain announced that it its maiden voyage was yesterday.
Once we arrived in Tanzania at 8:40 PM, we had to wait in line at immigration/customs for 30 minutes. We were annoyed because we had gotten our entry visas in advance. The line for those folks getting it on arrival was way faster than ours. After finally getting through the line, we found to our dismay that my checked-in luggage never made the flight from Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-Kilimanjaro leg is somewhat notorious for sucking up suitcases. It's like a big F.U. to the weary trekkers who are already jet-lagged and nervous about doing their upcoming hike--albeit now without all of their gear. We had planned for this possibility. We wore our hiking boots on the airplane, and we had packed at least one change of warm clothes and our large coats in our carry-on. In return, I had to stow some of my expensive electronic and camera equipment in the checked luggage, something I would normally never do. Unfortunately, I was still without some essentials that just wouldn't fit in the carry-on including my Camelbak backpack, sleeping bag liner, thermal underwear, etc. It would be a horrible experience if my luggage did not arrive within the next day.
We finally arrived at our hotel, the Onsea House well after 10 PM. This quaint boutique lodging owned and operated by some expat Belgians is a highly recommended respite 10 km outside of Arusha.
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| The bedroom of bungalow 6 |
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| On our first night, this area was the bane of my existence. |
Jet-lagged, exhausted, and stressed about our lost luggage, all I wanted to do was take a nice shower and hit the sack. But to add insult to injury, halfway through my shower, the curiously slow cold stream of water stopped completely. I stood there covered in shampoo, soap, and water freezing from the cold air wafting through the windows. A quick call to their hustling staff soon revealed that someone had just forgotten to turn the water valve on to our room. Eventually we got well-pressured hot water, but it took 15 minutes of standing there pissed off.
*****
Sunday, March 3, 2013
With daylight the following morning, we were finally able to see the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Our preconceived notion of sub-Saharan Africa--dirty, dusty and miserably hot--was completely wrong. The 70 degree Fahrenheit weather with no humidity, the rolling green hills, and the attentive service at the Onsea House was like paradise.
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| There is no shortage of lush green hills around Arusha. |
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| Bungalow room |
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| Dining area |
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| Pool area |
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| View of Mt. Meru from the Onsea House |
We could have lounged around there all day long, but we had a much more important mission. We had to hunt for trinkets.
We hired a car and driver (the aforementioned Edward) for $50 to drive us around Arusha for the next few hours. Our first stop was the Mt. Meru (Maasai) Curio and Crafts Market. They had no shortage of "local" hand-carved statues, bracelets, and polyester "Maasai" blankets likely made in some sweatshop in China. Most of the stuff was of suspect quality. Some guy even tried to sell me an ostrich egg that he had hidden away in a brown paper sack. I regretfully told him that I already had one.
We were more interested in the Tinga-Tinga paintings, a distinct form of artwork popular in East Africa. We bartered hard getting them for 40-60% of the initially quoted price. I'm sure that the items' real worth is a mere 10-20% of the price. But at the end of the day, both the shopkeepers and us were satisfied with the transactions. What we were not thrilled about is how badly the shopkeepers manhandled the paintings once they remove them from the frames. They would roll them up and wrap them in newspapers as expected. But they would then secure them so tightly in tape that the canvasses would be bent and creased. [note: we would later find that the packaging job was so botched that the canvasses actually tore in several places.]
Our next stop was to the Arusha Hotel to visit the Swala Gem Traders. Tanzanite was first discovered in 1967 and introduced to Tiffany & Co. and the rest of the world by John Saul, a Kenyan geologist. The only place in the world where this precious blue stone is found is in the hills around Arusha and Mt. Kilimanjaro. There is no shortage of tanzanite dealers in Arusha. The biggest concern is finding a reputable one who won't rip you off. It's apparently not uncommon for tourists to spend hundreds of dollars on a piece of shiny blue glass from some shady dealer. The selection at Swala was top-notch. They had plenty of other stones besides Tanzanite as other precious gems are also mined in Tanzania and Kenya. Some of their gems were already set into jewelry pieces, but most were sold loose. The Wife had previously done a thorough job researching the expected prices for these gemstones. In the end we picked out a pair of earrings and some nice loose stones. We negotiated a discount between 10-20% (it depends on how much is bought and whether paying with cash or credit). Compared to prices in the U.S, we got a good deal. Did we get the cheapest prices out there? Absolutely not. However, we did get the peace of mind knowing that we weren't being sold junk. After all, Swala Gems is owned and operated by the sons of John Saul. They have his reputation and legacy to uphold.
After finishing our errands including paying $25 for a pre-paid sims card, we headed back to the Onsea House to meet with Ngaya, our representative from the African Walking Company. He gave us a thoroughly detailed orientation on the history of the mountain, our trekking guides and porters, and the route we would be taking.
"Any other questions?" Ngaya asked.
"I've heard that people actually die doing this trek. Is that true?" I joked.
"Sadly, there have been two deaths so far this year. A very accomplished Irishman was hit by lightning. Very sad for the country since he has brought many climbers up this mountain over the years. Another man, I think, had a heart attack. I met him--I think he was Korean. But he was older. Probably in his late 30's--" said Ngaya.
"Hey, wait a minute! I'm 37! And I'm Asian. Is that a joke?!" I interrupted.
Ngaya looked at me quizzically, not joking.
Somehow I got the feeling that this trek would not be a simple walk in the park.
We looked forward to dinner that night as it would be the last fancy meal we would eat in more than a week. Plus, the Onsea House is known for having the best dining experience in Arusha.
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| The weather in Arusha is perfect for al fresco dining. |
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| The sunset can be enjoyed during dinner service. |
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| Meatball with sweet chili sauce |
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| Bread in tomato salsa |
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| Pizzette |
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| Pea soup with coriander chutney |
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| Tanzania-style calamari with nuts, chili's, and garlic |
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| Eggplant lasagna with a balsamic vinegar reduction |
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Prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin with roasted potatoes, cauliflower,
and broccoli with a gorgonzola sauce and stuffed tomato
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| Lobster with mashed potatoes with spinach and a white butter sauce |
South African wines were paired with the starters and the entrees. The food and ambiance did not disappoint. We were certainly happy that we had spent the extra money to stay at the Onsea House.
The relaxation and enjoyment from dinner was short-lived. New guests had arrived to the hotel from that night's KLM flight. And there was still no word that my luggage had made the flight. I barely slept that night worried how badly our trek would be without the rest of our equipment.
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