Our chief guide Freddie had asked us to be fed, watered and ready to leave by 7.30am this morning. It was to be the first of many time related disappointments for poor old Frederick! We got up to finish packing, nice and early but the whole packing issue really was proving very complicated. Its difficult to balance making sure our own day packs are light enough, with the guilt of knowing someone else will have to carry our main, somewhat heavier, rucksacks!! Of course the whole procedure was made even more stressful due to the fact that Conor had decided to play a newly altered game of Hide & Seek, known as Hide, Seek & Lose, with his money, sunglasses, room key etc. etc. To be fair it was always going to be difficult for him to find his money as I had thrown it in the rubbish bin late last night. Oooppsie!!
We boarded the bus at 7.45, only 15min late, and headed off. Conor wasn't feeling the best at this point, which added to everyone elses nerves. Sympathy pains you could call them, although there wasn't a hell of a lot of actual sympathy going around. After 2 hrs we were at the Macheme gate, just to register mind, we had another 3 hrs along dirt tracks to negotiate before we got to the start of the Rongai Trail.. Den Den Dah...
Once we arrived at the Rongai trail we were shepherded off to a little sheltered area for lunch, while the porters divided up all the gear for hauling up the mountain. It was a perfect example of ignorance is bliss, because this way we had no idea who was actually responsible for dragging who's bag up a mountain!! So after a quick 3 course lunch we threw on the day sacks and began our hike!! We were led by the assistant guide Joseph, who it turned out could run a marathon in 2hrs 24min, he insisted the pace was POLÉ POLÉ (slowly slowly). Insisted seems a bit strong, his slowly slowly was just about at our 'we might just survive today' speed. Ive argued long and hard in my own head (quite easy to achieve with multiple personalities) as to whether to give detailed descriptions of the walks or just a brief run down. Brief won the battle for a number of reasons.
- Contrary to popular belief I do not harbour an innate disposition to bore people to death.
- The conversations, although works of comedic genius when they happened, were often short due to a poor oxygen to muscle ratio.
- To be honest most of the details are now a blur, except for meal times.... Oh dear god meal times!!
So briefly, the walk took about 3.5 hrs and went from a dusty trail to a dusty trail through forest. We got passed out by 3 Australians who left after us, as well as all our porters who were carrying more than their own body weights on top of their heads. But we held fast to our slowly slowly mantra, even in the face of such blatant goading.. We arrived at Simba camp at 6pm where our tents and bags were all set up and ready for use. We were given a bowl of hot water to wash, and after there was tea and popcorn awaiting us in the mess tent!! Oh camping can be so cruel! A 3 course dinner was served up to us, soup, spag boll, and fruit desert. Yum Yum. We were in bed by 9pm and not a smell of altitude sickness between us. But before I give off the the impression we were staying in a 5 star resort, I'll just mention 'LONG DROP TOILET' a great leveller if every there was one. Especially at 3am in the freezing cold....
Day 1. Rongai (1996m) to Simba Camp (2626m). 6.7km 3.5 hrs!
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