Kilimanjaro & Meru - Page 7

Shira Camp 2 (3850 m) - Barranco Camp (3960 m)

After breakfast, we set off today on the challenging route to Barranco Camp. First up to the Lava Tower at 4600 m, then back down to 3960 m. During the ascent, the scenery changed to a stone desert with a few scattered grasses. The porter shot past us again and had already set up the food tent at the Lava Tower when we, pole, pole arrived. From here you could reach the summit via the Western Breach Wall, first climbed by Reinhold Messner. Too dangerous, Richard said, because of the boulders that break off here when the sun shines. Recently there had been a few more deaths.

Our cook outdid himself again here and after an hour's break we carefully walked down the steep scree path. Just don't twist your feet, that was our motto all along the stony path. Then it was over. Later it became flatter again, the first strange plant growth were introduced to us by Richard: senecias and lobelia. As the porters passed us once more, the vegetation became a senecia forest. From above, we could see here and there the small dots of colour from the tents in the valley. But the path still stretched all the way to the camp. Richard showed us the almost vertical wall on the left, which we had to climb tomorrow right after breakfast. Hence the name: Breakfast Wall.

The sun had rather disappeared today, bordered on the left and right by mountain slopes. Apart from a few ravens, pigeons and mice, there was no more wildlife. There was a telephone pole next to the camp, but a call from Manu didn't work out yet. Later, further up, it would work out. After the demanding tour today, we disappeared into the tent early.

Barranco Camp (3960 m) - Karanga Camp (4035 m)

Our next camp was only a few metres higher, but we still had to climb a few metres today. It was all up and down. At the beginning the Breakfast Wall. We moved upwards with our hands and feet, it was narrow here. We often had to wait or let porters pass. Once we reached the top relatively quickly, we had wonderful views of the closed cloud cover and Kibo. With the medical students we made the jump in front of the clouds and had a short rest. In wonderful temperatures, we continued up and down through the grass and bush landscape over wide plains and at the end through a deep valley up to the camp.

This is also the last water point before the summit, which means that the porters have to climb up and down several times and then also carry the water to the base camp the next day. You don't notice much of their performance, except that during the day they're like with rubber bones, fully packed, racing past you. Sports enthusiasts that we are, we asked Richard why most long-distance runners only ever come from Kenya or Ethiopia and not from Tanzania. There are no sponsors like in these countries, he said. Probably one too sports funding from the state itself, we thought, because if you have to pay about $700 a year in school fees, as here, why would you want to invest money in sport? It's a pity about the talents here.

The pandemic really hit here, many could not pay their school fees during that time or had to sell things for it. Right now everyone is happy that tourists are coming again. After lunch and a short break, Richard took us for a short acclimatisation walk a few 100 m higher. But then it was closing time and we pushed our camping chairs into the sun. The view to Mt. Meru was once again marvellous and in the evening we enjoyed a wonderful sunset.