Pole! Pole! Kilimanjaro

Day 1 Moshi -> Kilimanjaro Marangu Gate -> Mandara Hut

There's a small episode before the Kili climb.

The night before, we took flight from Masai Mara to Nairobi and then a shuttle bus from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania. After a whole day travel, we arrived in Arusha Impala Hotel around 8:30PM but were surprised to know that we had to continue to Moshi for an overnight stay at Keys Hotel, which was not consistent with the original itinerary. After a void fight with the travel agent, we decided to go to Moshi. This was probably the only bad experience we had had since the beginning of the trip. We just hoped that it's not going to be downhill from there, and it's not a bad omen for the climb.

It turned out that Keys Hotel is a lousy one, even though it gets recommended on Lonely Planet. We didn't get proper hot water for shower. Steven insisted that he didn't rest well because of the extra long-hour travel and other inconvenience caused by the schedule change (stay in Moshi instead of Arusha). We talked to the tour operator, asking to postpone the climb for one day. But it seemed that to change booking and everything is very complicated so we finally agreed to go as planned but managed to get a refund (difference hotel of charge between Impala and Keys Hotel) and a guaranteed stay in Impala Hotel when we get down from the mountain.

Steven was really pissed by the agent while I was more on the ease side. Shit happens. When it comes, fix it; if you can't, just smile and live with it.

After an hour's transport from Moshi, we arrived at the Marangu Gate (1700m), where we'll start our 6-day hike. We have a big service team coming with us – a guide, an assistant guide, a waiter, a cook, and four porters. Our guide, Thadeus, is a decent but quiet guy in his forties. He has 15 years climb experience in Kilimanjaro. He speaks OK English but not very well. We later got to know that you had to work as porter and assistant guide for 5 years before you can be qualified as a guide in Kili hike. Tough job.

We completed registration at the gate in about 30 minutes and started our first day's hike around 11:30AM. It was all the way in leafy, shady rainforest and not very steep. We had lunch halfway and arrived in Mandara Hut (2700m) around 3PM. One hut room is shared by 4 people. Our roommates for the first nights were a lovely couple from Italy. We had a refreshing afternoon tea, wandered around the campsite a little bit, and saw some Colobus.

We finished our dinner around 7:30PM and went to bed 8PM. It's uncommon to stick to a 6AM-8PM schedule when you are in the mountain as there's nothing to do except chatting with random people you get to know along the hike.

At the Marangu Gate

Rainforest

Rainforest

Colobus