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| Steve, Shaina and Ray - Kilimanjaro National Park |
Kilimanjaro Day Hike
Outbound to Iringa, May 20, 2024
By: Ray M
Three of us (Steve, Shaina, Ray) got an early breakfast then left Chanya Lodge right at 7am for the drive to the trailhead (just over 20 miles, 45 min) at Marangu Gate, the park entry, which is at 6,165 ft elevation.
We started hiking at about 8 AM happy and full of energy. We were accompanied by our guide Rogath and a student volunteer guide, Nora.
We hiked up through beautiful virgin rainforest. Some of the trees had spectacular red wood against the green of the forest. Beautiful flowers added color here and there in the forest understory.
The trail had a bridge crossing over a creek – the info sign said that the Chagga tribe used to hide in caves they dug behind the waterfalls to avoid attackers (including Maasai).
Since it is a rainforest, it often rains. The trail was wet and there were lots of roots to avoid tripping on. Also, boulders and slick clay, so we hiked cautiously. As we climbed, the air became thinner and the trail more rocky and steep.
We had thoughts of turning back but Rogath cheered us on. We finally made it to Mandara Hut @ 8,924 ft elev. We would ‘just’ have to climb up another 10,417 feet to get to the top of Kibo! (Uhuru Peak), 19,341 ft. (Nope, not today!)
Mandara Hut is the first overnight stop for those hiking to the top. It is a 6-day hike up to the top of Kibo and back (I did this about 50 years ago). But our hike today was just to Mandara and back. Our trail up was 8 km (5 mi), with an elevation gain of 2,759 ft. It was listed as a 3-hour hike but it took us 4 hours. Rogath has climbed to the top (Kibo) 87 times!! So this was an easy hike for him.
Around the Mandara hut, at nearly 9000 ft elevation, the air is cool. There were huge black ravens with white collars (one landed on the metal roof of an outhouse - it sounded like a big cat had just jumped onto the roof), tree hyrax peeking at us under branches, and Colobus monkeys in the treetops.
Rogath was concerned that we had taken so long to climb up that we might not make it down to the Marangu gate by 6 PM closing time. We’d have to pay a $80/person fee for another day if we didn’t make it. So we raced down (knee-jarring stepping down boulders and over roots being constantly on guard not to break an ankle and have to be carried out). But we made it back down intact, and before park closed at 6
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