Day 3: Trek Day 1
The Rongai Route
Nalemuru Gate at 6400 feet to Simba Camp at 8500 feet: 5 miles
Breakfast…had I known the drill then, up at 6, breakfast at 7, get going at 8, I may have been a bit more prepared. There's nothing like trying to squeeze your mountain life into 12kg of weight. It's unbearably difficult, especially now knowing that the actual weight limit for our overnight bags was 15kg. That's the difference between a daily supply of Green & Blacks, and one bar.
And so, chocolately challenged, we boarded the minibuses, this time, a 12kg piece of luggage each. Excitement and worry on all our faces.
The drive was long, bumpy and at times dusty, but we stopped a number of times along the way, for snacks, toilets (well, not quite toilets but they served the same purpose) and an amazing chance to mingle with hundreds of excitable local children.
It was a huge spirit lifter after 4 hours on a bus, and so with only 20 minutes left to go, that seemed to last an hour, we arrived at Nalemuru Gate.
The luggage was off-loaded, the 116 porters were signed in, and we had lunch, for the first time with some of our trek guides.
We were introduced to the potassium permanganate, a delightful purple/brown liquid that sterilises hands and cutlery, and ate cheese and avocado sandwiches and biscuits.
It was an exciting moment, with views high over Kenya to our right, and forest heading up the mountain to our left.
After a briefing from Geordie, mostly about how slowly we'd walk, we set off, stopped at the National Park signs that warn you that death is a mere moment away from you at any given moment, and we were finally going.
It felt really strange….all those months of preparation and practice walking, and now we were actually doing it.
The first part of the trek heads off into the forest. We passed a small shack where a tiny child stood bemused at our un-natural appearances, and continued deep into the forest where we saw a few black and white colobus monkeys in the trees.
The going was fairly easy, but all the time I'm wondering if I'll notice any effects from the altitude. I check my watch altimeter….it's not even 7000 feet, and I remember that most people don't notice the altitude until around 10,000.
Eventually, the forest starts to clear. It looks like it's mostly pine, and isn't at all how I'd expect Africa to look. But we carry on upwards, drinking and weeing, drinking and weeing.
I think by now, all of us are taking Diamox, and some are feeling the diuretic effects far more than others. Luckily, I'm not one of them, but I'm drinking litres and litres, and it has to go somewhere.
By about 5 o'clock, we approach our first campsite, and are greeted by the most incredible signing and dancing by all of our porters.
It brings a smile to everybody's face. It's an incredible welcome.
There's a huge pile of bags, all laid out and after retrieving our own, we all set off to grab a tent and get settled.
Our first communal meal in the tent is warmly received by all. It starts with soup, which is hot, salty and delicious.
The tent, soon to become such a large part of our mountain lives is pitch black, with a particular aroma, which I never quite got used to. Everybody sits around with head torches on, and it's quite a magical place to be.
But the most magical thing of all, was wandering outside the tent after dinner, where night falls so quickly at the Equator. The sky was ablaze with millions upon millions of stars. The thin air, and no light pollution allows you to see the most incredible view of the sky imaginable, with the Milky Way being the clearest I've ever seen it.
With that, we head off for bed, freezing cold in the night air and all quite tired.
Having got off a plane just the day before, the fact that we're now on the mountain and at first camp hasn't quite sunk in.
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