A Day of Rest
We spend the day in camp, getting a briefing from Ben and Noel where they show us our route on a topographical map of Kili. At breakfast, Ernest takes our egg orders as we pile Mango preserves and peanut butter onto toasts, and enjoy bacon and tiny bananas (mdizi) and pineapple. Lunch is soup, pizza with mushrooms and a fantastic salad with avocado, cucumber and onion. After lunch, we hike to a nearby waterfall, following Cobra, an officer of the national park who carries a rifle. We climb upward to the falls and hear the Colobus monkeys barking in the trees. We see Hornbill birds. When the wind moves through the tree tops, it sounds like an overflowing river, a rich rustling.
A plane crashed on this mountain in the 60s, and someone has used metal panels from the plane to build a 3-sided toilet in the forest near the waterfalls. When we return to camp, they've placed seven chairs by a fire, lined up with a view of Mt. Mehru. Gregory, the chef, has built a barbecue and is cooking thick pork chops, lamb kabobs and chicken. We are starved and eat much of the fruit salad and mozzarella salad. What a magnificent meal, made even better with a Kilimanjaro beer. "It's Kili Time!," as the bottle says. To make it up the mountain, we must eat well and drink six quarts of water each day (which they keep filtered and ready for us in large amounts). That's all we need to do. The staff takes care of everything else.
As a group, we've discussed how we feel segregated from the staff. They keep to their own tents and only come to the mess tent to serve us. Ben and Noel, however, eat every meal with us. While there are only seven us in the group, we'll require about 70 porters and cooks to go up the mountain. We're each struck by the absurdity of it and console our consciences by saying we provide much-need employment. But it's humbling to have 70 men at our service. Humbling, indeed.
A plane crashed on this mountain in the 60s, and someone has used metal panels from the plane to build a 3-sided toilet in the forest near the waterfalls. When we return to camp, they've placed seven chairs by a fire, lined up with a view of Mt. Mehru. Gregory, the chef, has built a barbecue and is cooking thick pork chops, lamb kabobs and chicken. We are starved and eat much of the fruit salad and mozzarella salad. What a magnificent meal, made even better with a Kilimanjaro beer. "It's Kili Time!," as the bottle says. To make it up the mountain, we must eat well and drink six quarts of water each day (which they keep filtered and ready for us in large amounts). That's all we need to do. The staff takes care of everything else.
As a group, we've discussed how we feel segregated from the staff. They keep to their own tents and only come to the mess tent to serve us. Ben and Noel, however, eat every meal with us. While there are only seven us in the group, we'll require about 70 porters and cooks to go up the mountain. We're each struck by the absurdity of it and console our consciences by saying we provide much-need employment. But it's humbling to have 70 men at our service. Humbling, indeed.
posted by Cindi at 9:10 PM
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