Backpack back track

On my first Kilimanjaro climb, I carried the suggested day pack which included a lot of things.... The thing is if you don't have the backpack you may need something.  If you do have it you might overfill it...

The suggested day pack inclusions should be as follows:

Hydration Pack
Rain Jacket
Rain Pants
Camera
Snacks
Extra Water Bottle
Medication
Hat
Sunblock
Vaseline

I had a smaller day pack and it was heavy.  So next time I will rather carry a hydration pack and a moon bag.

In the rain forest, I will wear very thin gym clothes that can dry quickly if it rains.  Then I don't have to carry a rain jacket or rain pants on day one. I would rather pay an extra porter who must walk close to me in case I need to take out a full set of clothes.  I will share the porter with my travel buddies so that he can carry a full-size backpack with our extra stuff.

You really don't want to carry a lot of extra stuff.  The walk is tough enough as it is.

I will also not carry a lot of extra snacks... I will make sure I eat a fatty protein breakfast.  I will request a boiled egg to last me until lunch.  I will however still down a bottle of Rehadrat Sport before I start each day.

The moon bag (or fanny pack as some people refer to it) should be big enough for my phone (which doubles as a camera) vaseline, sun block, buff and thin gloves.

I used my hiking poles all the time so there is no need to store them or hook them to a backpack.  On my new hydration pack, there are enough bungee cords to fasten poles if need be...

One is not allowed to take any disposable plastic water bottles up the mountain but find a soft plastic one.  Or maybe a silicone one.

I didn’t think I could do it

A short list of things I never thought I would be able to do

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro

When my friends and I were sitting around one evening with too much wine in hand somebody mentioned that we should do something exciting.  We should climb Mount Kilimanjaro.  Of course, I said yes!  I had too much wine at that point.  I didn’t really think that I would ever do something that extreme.  But in the back of my mind I knew that if I said I would do something, I would.  Even if I had to almost die!  This big decision came about a year and a half before the actual time.  I had a lot of time to mentally and physically prepare.  I did it and I didn’t ever think I could.

Using the bushes as a toilet

I remember as a child we travelled to the coast each school break we had.  One year during the winter break it snowed on the road.  Snow in South Africa is rare so you can just imagine the excitement.  A truck skid of the road and caused a 7-hour delay on the highway.  In the 1980’s there was no real roadside convenience…  So if you had to pee you had to use the road.  I had never used nature as a toilet.  And I wasn’t planning on it.  I remember that my sister took the plunge but I just held on.  On Kilimanjaro there are toilets.  At the camps yes.  On the path no.  So here I went on this journey, never used the bush as a toilet and facing a week of outside loo breaks.  I did it!  It was easier to use the bush than using the camp facilities.  It was cleaner too.  Today I am I cured of my fear of using the bush as a toilet and can thank Kili for it!

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Charging on top of the world

I am the type of person who is really attached to my phone.  My phone is my world.  Camera, messaging, coolness and Facebook.  Naturally, I was worried that I could not use my phone on top of the world.  But a lot of people say that there is very good signal on the roof of Africa!

When I started this whole journey may aim was to let everybody know what was going on.  I planned it all out.  I would post on Facebook as much as possible - or as long as my battery would last.  I bought a solar panel to charge my phone and camera.  I even got a chargeable battery in case there was not enough light to charge directly from the solar panel.

When arriving in Moshi I took a stroll to the nearest cell phone (mobile) shop.  I purchased a pay-as-you-go sim card which was valid for a month.  It had unlimited data and an amount for calls and text pre-loaded.  I think it cost around R100 or something.

My plan was to write an update each day and post on Facebook and send updates via WhatsApp.  It turned out that sending stuff home via WhatsApp and asking them to post on Facebook was much quicker.  So tip number one I would say is to consider the posting carefully :)

Once we started our journey up the mountain I felt like I had to document each moment.  Subsequently, I probably missed out on a few things...  In most of the pics, I am standing with the stupid cell phone in my hand!!

Tip number 2 would be to put my phone on aeroplane mode and only switch the aeroplane mode off once in camp.  It saves on battery life while making it possible to take pics and make notes.

Once we got to the summit the only thing that still worked was my phone.  Probably because it was close to my body.  The GoPro died just after the summit - so I could at least make a short video clip with that.

The solar panel worked very well.  It was compact and light weight.  Just a pity that more people used it than I did.  My suggestion is to ban all cell phones in your group and just have 1 person doing the documentation.

Bottom line, signal is ok.  Not great but ok.  It's very easy to get a local sim card.  Data is cheap.  If you wanted to you could make a call on the roof of Africa.  Leave your expensive stuff at home - they are bound to get damaged.  My poor chargeable battery got knocked around by somebody or something.

The professional cameras are hard to charge.  They have specific batteries.  Small digital cameras charge easier.  I would say leave all of that (unless you are a professional photographer and you have a few extra external batteries) and use your smartphone.  It will take great pictures and you can keep it close to your body, making it last up to the summit.  According to the experts, it is the cold that makes the battery die.

When I go again in 2016, I will definitely not be posting each and every day.  I will make notes in the evening before bed and I will rather focus on taking more awesome pictures.

www.africanreignsafaris.com