Start: Camp 1; 2,600 meters
End: Shira 1; 3,600 meters
Hiking time: 5:12
The sun woke us before Bob could knock on our tents. We washed up with bowls of hot water before sitting down to a big breakfast of tea, hot chocolate, millet porridge, eggs, bread, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, bananas, and sausage.
Captain G told us we would have a short hike of just a couple of hours. This was a bit of a surprise as we already had a rough idea of our hiking itinerary and expected to hike for five or six hours but we didn't question it and we packed up and hit the trail.
Jimmy had the porters' radio strapped to his backpack and blasted music as we hiked. It was pretty funny to hear Dr. Dre, Shaggy, Jon Secada, Michael Bolton, and Enrique Iglesias among others but as our two hour hike turned into three, fours, five hours, we grew weary of the noise. In his four years' experience as a guide, Captain G had learned that most clients preferred to be told to expect a short hike and then to be constantly updated that it would be just one more hour or another thirty minutes. Our group wanted realistic expectations so when we took a break, Captain G gave us an honest assessment of the remaining hike and we were much happier for it.
The hike took us through rolling plains, which I hadn't expected to see in the mountains. The Shira peaks, which are hundreds of millions of years old, were reduced during a volcanic eruption and the rocks and soil from the peaks were redeposited in the shallow spots to form the plains.
We had a hearty lunch, followed by naps and the four of us cramming into one tent to hang out before a massive dinner. I know from hiking in the Himalayas last year how important it is to keep eating and drinking when you're at altitude so I've been stuffing myself full at every meal so far and hydrating like mad.
We caught our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro tonight! It was brilliantly illuminated by an almost full moon and the sight was breath taking. It's hard to believe I could be standing on top of it in a few more days…!
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