It is morning, we are all packed and ready to go. Each one of us had been given a duffle bag, which we could fill with whatever we wanted and it would be carried up the mountain by a porter. The whole idea of having a porter to carry my stuff up the mountain, is kind of a personal defeat for Teemu and I already. I mean, come on, are we not big enough to carry our own underwear up the mountain? I should think so, but then it strikes me that we have had this conversation a couple of times and we already did the manly thing on the Machu Picchu in Peru a few years back. It was not at all impossible to carry our own stuff up, but it did take some fun out of the process. I did not want to admit it, but Hyunju's concept of "it helps the local economy" kind of is an easy to buy argument at this point. Also, we would not be carrying tents and food anyway, so if I had to piggyback my underwear along with the food, ok then.

Here we are, but nobody is coming to pick us up. I repeat the sentence given from the trekking company owner a few weeks earlier, "This is Africa, everything takes a little longer". They will come, just not right now.

We wait anxiously and almost 2 hours pass before our ride arrives. I guess, when venturing out on a 8 day trip, a 2 hours delay is not a big deal? Or is it a sign, that everything will be like this?
The vehicle is an old Chinese looking Toyota copy of a bus, kind of big for the 6 of us, I guess they are used to having bigger hiking groups.
Teemu and I take our time and get a few pictures before entering the bus. To my surprise the bus is full. I mean, full full. All the porters for our trip are here, our guides, the driver and the 6 of us. Altogether that makes it about 30 people, having 20 porters and 3 guides, give or take a few, not sure.
At this point, we still don't know who is who, except for the guy Mwinyi, which we met the day before as he checked our gear. I guess it does not matter and off we go. Some people are really excited, other people fight to stay awake, while others don't care too much about the whole thing and are sleeping! Different people, different experiences I guess
The bus struggles from the very first second, as the hotel where we are staying is at the end of a dirt road, which to say the least, could use some ironing. Huge holes and deep tires tracks already, but the skilled driver makes it out of there after a few minutes of cursing in Swahili. We are officially on our way. 3 hours driving we are told, African hours that is.
After a while, I flip up my Windows phone, which has been outfitted with a local Tanzanian SIM card and a 1 month unlimited data plan. I try to connect to the Internet, but only get very intermittent signal. The idea was that I could share the Internet to the other people, once I got service, but the phone did not want to share anything. Ok, that's the last drop, no more Windows Phone, ever. I put the SIM card in my Samsung phone, but what do you know, it was SIM locked. Ok, back in the Windows Phone and I went on the Internet and found a place where I could buy and unlock code. By the time of our departure though, 18 hours later, I had still not received and code, but it should be arriving soon. Maybe...
After an hours driving, the bus makes a pitstop. I guess this is the last spot to use a real toilet for a few days? Well, actually the guys are going to do some shopping for the trip, meat, rice, veggies and whatever they need. One of the guide buys some BBQ'ed beef, they put it in a small plastic bag to carry, different but practical. Without any expectations, I take a piece of meat, but I am pleasantly surprised about the taste, wow it is good. This can only be an indicator of how the next few days will be on the hike, great!
We get in the bus and we drive another hour or so, before we hit the official entrance to the National Park. Here the porters are weighing their bags to see if they have too much or not, if more porters are needed. Looks like the weighing is very precise, as the park rangers are taking out one orange at the time to see if the weight gets within acceptable limits.
Meanwhile we are having lunch and everyone are showing signs of a very good appetite. We have been given a lunch box, consisting of some kind of dumplings, veggies and spicy pork maybe, 1/4 of a chicken and a few more items. It is not too bad and everyone is munching happily and excited. Little did we know, the lunch box would be our friend, although a weird friend.
Stuffed and loaded with plenty of water, we get back on the bus, which is now going to take us to the actual beginning of the trail. It proves to be another hour of driving, but this time on a very soft one way dirt road. After passing a couple of trucks, that were laying down new material on the dirt road, yes, new dirt, the bus almost got stuck in a few soft corners. The driver ordered all porters out of the bus to walk instead. That changed things a bit and we were rolling again.
Some 20 minutes later, we are here. The real beginning of the trip, the actual Kilimanjaro climb. Just as Teemu got up from the seat, I felt something fall out of his pocket, his camera! It would suck to lose the camera at this point, especially if he didn't have another one. We prepared our backpacks and hiking poles, I remember that I saw an extra pair of hiking poles in the bus and walked back to pull them out. Nobody seemed to be missing them afterall and eventually they just ended up back on the bus.
Now it was time for a group picture before starting in front of the Londorossi Gate. This was the real deal, the Kilimanjaro trek was about to start. We still didn't really know the names of anyone, but we were going to be on the mountain for 8 days with these fellows, so there was time enough.
Packed and ready we set off, and immediately there are hills steep enough to make me huff and puff. Oh crap, why am I already loosing my breath now, this is going to be one week of pure torture I think by myself. I search for my camera to take a picture of my face, but wait, the camera is nowhere to be found. Did I put it in the backpack somewhere? I had it on the bus just a few minutes ago.
I search all my pockets and everywhere in the backpack, but no, it is gone. I remember I had the camera just a few seconds before we took the group picture, before going to the bus for those extra hiking poles. I had put it on top of my backpack, maybe it had fallen down. We walk back down and search for it for a few minutes, but that thing is gone.
It is very difficult to explain how stupid I felt that moment. But it is gone for sure. Luckily it was not an expensive camera, but it was water/dust/freeze proof, it was made especially for this trip, and now it was gone. Oh well, no pictures taking yet, so nothing lost.
Not having to concentrate on taking pictures, I get plenty of time to get acquainted with our guides. The younger guy is called John, he is doing this part time only to earn money for his school. The older guy is called Jumba-Jumba, I cannot imagine that is his real name, but every porter on the trail, whether from our group or other companies, they call him that and he responds "Yo Yo Yo" to everyone. Interesting
The first day of hiking started at 7800 feet, took us through jungle and rain forest for around 6km, ending at 9500 feet some 4 hours later. Yes, very slow indeed, but that is the key to success here, go slowly, or as they say in Swahili, "Pole Pole".
When we arrived at the camp, it turned out that we were not the only ones taking the Lemosho route. All the porters have managed to pass us on the trail up there, but that was on purpose so they had time to set up my tent and prepare other necessities for my stay at the Forest Camp. Before we left on this mission, there was one thing that I put on the list that I was sure I would appreciate a lot: A toilet.
This is a mountain, a national park, with no sewer system, no roads to come and empty septic tanks. One person taking a shit in the nature, well, hardly nobody is going to notice that? 100 persons every day taking a shit around the same campsite, well, I think you get my point. The idea of me carrying my own poop around for 8 days, kind of did not sound very appealing. There was an option to pay for a toilet on this trip, that was my kind of luxury. I have to admit though, that sitting there on the first night, it wasn't really so joyful, but I guess we were still not needy enough to fully appreciate the wonders of a toilet...
Dinner was served and they had set up a tent that would serve as our dinning hall. There was hot water for tea and coffee, with some biscuits, while we were sharing today's exciting walk through the jungle. We were piecing together a lot of information with bits and pieces from everyone, trying to put together the bigger picture. Who was who, what did they look like and what did they do. Instead I think we just got more confused and we were saved by dinner being served.
It was a "3 course dinner", maybe not so impressive by rich people standards, but taking into account that someone had to carry all this food with them, while we only carried all our electronic gadgets and some water, the meals were really appreciated. Soup, rice and meat sauce and some fruits for dessert.
Surprisingly enough, the temperature dropped pretty fast after the sun set and after dinner, most people went directly to bed. After all, we still had a jet lag and had only been in Tanzania for 2-3 days, and since there were no bars in the vicinity anyways, we might as well call it a night, get some good rest and wake up next morning full of energy and with an urge to climb even more hills.