THE PRE-CLIMB

Welcome to AFRICA!



Touched down in Kilimanjaro International Airport in high spirits. First thing that struck us was how un-urbanised Tanzania was compared to Singapore. 


To be expected really but we were still struck by the sight of a clear blue sky layered upon the rural, pristine landscape. 


We were transported into a whole new world from the super-urbanised Singapore. The Tanzanian people came across to us as poor but contented and the our intial impression of Africa being a continent of impoverished and famished people was overturned. Checked into the delightful Outpost Lodge which frankly speaking is very good value for money. Met our guide David Basso and he brought us around Arusha, sampling traditional ugali along with roasted chicken, beef and sausages. 


We felt very self-conscious as we were the only people with yellow skin around and numerous eyes seemed to follow our every move.



Here we are flying over the land of Tanzania, almost completely flat except for the distant mountain.

We've arrived! Just to give you an idea of how vast the land is there, and how it looks. Some parts are just like a desert, all brown and dry.

We were stuck in a jam. Turns out, the people were celebrating the victory of a new political party called “CHADEMA” with the slogan “PEOPLE’S POWER” that just won the election and freed the country from a 50 years rule of the previous party “CCM”. This victory gives the people great hopes of lifting the country out of poverty.

These are the regular houses that locals live in, some kids and women temporarily took time off their daily chores just to join in the commotion and show their support for the newly elected party
 

Our pre climb meal, 1kg of beef, 1 whole chicken, 2 humongous sausages and drinks, meal for 5 cost around 13 SGD only. The drinks almost cost the same though, still damn cheap. It was such a hearty meal. We felt like real men, eating huge chunks of beef while downing beer, YEAH!

Yup, who says cleanliness is compromised in a place like this? The bottle contains soap and the kettle contains warm water to make sure none of that dirty stuff on our hands gets into our stomach. Talk about good service haha!

That’s the kitchen, yup, that’s all. The restaurants there are a bit different from ours evidently!








The guy that took this photo needs to learn some basic photography skills. The black guy is our awesome guide Nick Basso.

A group of climbers who just finished climbing mt Kilimanjaro. Consist of 2 beardy Danish(just finished uni, travelling for 4 months, are not shaving their beard until they return to their country. They actually borrowed my shaver to trim the beard above the lips because it kept going into their mouth), Asian Australian girl(just quit her job), American girl(marathon runner, got stood up by her friend so she came alone), Norway fellow(computer engineer who makes software for marine biology research).

This Russian lawyer that we met. He taught us how to say hi in Russian “Previet!” and we taught him “NI HAO”. If you notice, he’s climbing kili in soccer boots, that’s right, he’s even more ill equipped than the Porters. I remember seeing him trying to tie the 1.5 litre water bottles to his extremely small backpack with a rope because there was no space to put it inside. Not an experienced climber I presume.

The Porters prepping our van for the climb, loading the bags above and securing them with ropes and a waterproof ground sheet.

AND we are FINALLY geared up and ready!


Stay tuned for The start of the Ascent!