Welcome to Mandara

Monday, September 5, 2005

So finally we arrived puffing and panting at Mandara, Kilimanjaro's base camp. The climb took us only slightly over two and a half hours. It felt like longer.

I was heartened to find out that despite my struggle on the trail, Jeff and I were the eighth and ninth to arrive in our group of twenty.

The Mandara Huts are at an altitude of 2720 metres. It is a grassy area with several A-frame sleeping cabins and a little office where we once again signed our names in a registration book.

This is to keep track of the hikers on the mountain. I guess they like to know if anybody signing in for a daytrip doesn't make it off the mountain by nightfall. Pauline wondered a little cynically if they actually checked it or if it was just paperwork.

Ravenous, we bought Mars Bars at the office and then flopped down onto the grass to eat the lunches we'd carried up with us.

While we were picnicking on the grass here at Base Camp, a man bundled on a stretcher was rushed by carried by porters heading down the trail towards the bottom. It would have to be an uncomfortable ride.

I wondered if the man was suffering from altitude sickness and if he'd be okay. Apparently the average number of people who die on Kilimanjaro each year is between nine and twelve.