Day by day diary

Day 1 - 28th June 2000 - Machame Gate(1800m) to Machame Hut (3050m)

We leave our base at Springlands Hotel at about 0900. 6 people are starting up the mountain today from the hotel and 4 of us are doing the Machame route. The other four have all climbed Mt Meru in the last few days for aclimatisation whereas we have instead opted for an additional day on our route. The extra night on the mountain proves to be very valuable as we pass lots of people who seemed to be suffering more with the effects of altitude than we do, especially on summit day.

The first stop is in Moshi at Zara's office where Zainab Ansell goes over final details of preparation with us and introduced us to our guide Benjamin Archy. Zara have effortlessly accommodated our last minute decision to spend an extra night on the mountain. Paul hires a balaclava for summit day and we then leave for the mountain after good wishes for our climb from those at the office. The trip to Machame Gate (at 1800m) takes about 45minutes and includes a stop for last minute provisions. The road to the gate gets much steeper and narrower around Machame village. The settlement is surrounded by cultivated areas of banana and coffee. As we approach the end of the road and pass from tarmac to mud a drizzle begins that stays with us for most of the first day. The weather over the last few days has been generally cloudy with the mountain top not being visible since our first morning in Tanzania.

We prepare for our climb under rain shelters while the guide employees our porters for the trip and sorts out their loads. Three porters and a cook are eventually hired to help us. We sign into the park visitor's book and then start our climb. Setting off in the first group from the gate at around 1100 one of our porters keeps us to a sensible pace. It seems painfully slow at first, funeral corteges would soon overtake us, but eventually it becomes second nature. Our two friends from the hotel start just after us and soon overtake, as do three climbers from British Columbia. We opt for a slower pace with fewer stops which seems to work well as we end up quicker to our campsites by the end of the day. As the guide regularly points out there is no reason to hurry.

The scenery through the rain forest is interesting and constantly changing. Initially we walk gentle paths through large trees with a fair amount of undergrowth. After half an hour or so the path narrows and steepens considerably following a sometimes narrow rocky ridge. The vegetation becomes much denser with giant ferns everywhere. Moss and creepers hang off every available purchase. The forest is like a huge sponge with every surface soaked with water. I guess that's why they call it a rain forest !

Around lunchtime we pass into an area of larger hardwood trees and less dense undergrowth. As we continue to climb the trees get lower and lower and become interspersed with giant heather some 30ft high. After 5hrs 35minutes of walking and 1195m of ascent we arrive at our first nights camp, Machame Hut at 3050m. The campsite is still in the cloud although during the night a great gap in the cloud appears full of stars increasing our anticipation for a clear morning. Ben expects to rise above the clouds during the next days trek up to Shira Hut. We arrive before our porters but after half an hour or so our tent arrives which we set up. Tonight is the only night we set up camp as every other night it is ready waiting when we arrive. Tea and popcorn arrive quickly followed by a dinner of roast potatoes, meat, vegetables and sauce. We seem to be sharing Machame Camp with about 10 other trekkers although everybody camps some distance apart. Highlight of the day was the spectacular vegetation constantly changing as we climb through the forest. The low point was discovering Ben supports Manchester United. He obviously doesn't understand !!