an ocean of clouds in front of our camp

Christian getting ready for the day 4 hike

When taking on the Great Barranco Wall, the trail we chose was very steep and for the first time on our hike so far we had to do some actual climbing. As I was carrying my water bottle in one of my hands, I was climbing with one hand while using a couple of fingers on the other hand while clinging on to the bottle – not recommended :p So next time around I will use an isolated camel back for sure to keep my hands free. While climbing, the view of Kibo just kept getting better. The scenery was simply amazing!

the Kibo massif

a top of the Great Barranco Wall

After reaching the top of the Great Barranco Wall we continued down into the Karanga Valley. When we reached the bottom of the valley the mist came in and clouded our vision once again. A small river/creek at the bottom of the Karanga valley was the last spot for filling our water bottles to stack up for the hike for the next two days. From this place the temperature would only grow colder and the landscape would become drier and emptier. After reaching the top on the opposite side of the Karanga Valley, the landscape changed from montane semi-desert into alpine desert. At this top we settled down for about thirty minutes to have some lunch.

walking through the misty wasteland

After lunch, we started walking the steep path to the Barafu camp. During the first forty minutes or so we were surrounded by thick mist and we had to trhow on our shell jackets not to get wet. It gradually became colder as we gained altitude and the landscape we walked through was very exposed leaving us as an easy target for the wind. When the mist finally let go of us, a clear blue sky was revealed and once again we got a view of Kibo to our left.

the view while the mist is about to let go

short break before the last leg to the Barafu Camp

We reached the Barafu camp at 4550 m.a.s.l. after hiking for about four hours through 13 km. The camp itself was on a ridge in an narrow and exposed flat area and the gale winds from that come of the mountain peaks were ever present. It was by far the coldest and highest camp so far – no wonder it’s called Barafu as Barafu means “ice” in Swahili. From the camp site we could see both peaks of both Kibo and Mawenzi.

After walking around on the camp site I got to know a couple guys from South Africa. These guys were very friendly and talkative. It turned out that they were part of a South African reality show called “Manhunt” (somewhat like 71° Nord). After a little chat they brought me along to their main tent and introduced me to the rest of the contestants, the producer and the TV-hostess and the camera crew. They were a lively bunch of great people. They offered me some of their tasty food and we had fun joking around and sharing stories. It turned out that they started out as 15 people, but were now down to 12. The were shooting for scenes for the show and the main challenge was climbing Kilimanjaro. The show was set to air sometime in February 2010.

some of the guys from the reality show "Manhunt"

some of the good people I got to know

After hanging out with the South African guys for a while I headed over to my tent to relax for a little while. Around 6 pm the sun started to set and I went out to check it out. The view from the ridge (on which our camp site was located) was perfect. This sunset, at 4550 m.a.s.l. while standing on a rocky ledge next to our campsite alone and above the clouds, was probably the best sunset I’ve ever witnessed.

sunset at the Barafu Camp

A bit later we grabbed some dinner and went back into our tents to sleep. It was difficult to get a proper sleep, but at least we had some rest before taking on the final and most challenging 1345 m push to the summit 4-5 hours later at 11.50 am.

overlooking Mt. Meru in the morning

the top of Kili in the morning sun

Today we turned east and continued to climb “pole pole” (Swahili for slowly slowly) through the increasingly rocky and barren terrain. The terrain changed a lot during todays walk and we would go through everything from valleys, open rocky desert areas and pass by old petrified lava streams. However, for most of the time we wandered through a montane semi-desert. We ascended the long rocky scree path to the Lava Tower (4630 m.a.s.l.) and sat down for a quick, but tasty lunch. I was walking along with Frankie and as we sat down to eat our lunch, heaps of small four-striped mice came running out from the nearby rocks. These lil fellas were far from shy and were running between our legs looking for crumbs and seeds. I gave them some small pieces of my lunch and a fight between about five mice broke out. These guys were everywhere and a few of them even let me pet them =)

one of the mice while having a snack

at the Lava Tower

While having our lunch the mist came in once again and it started to rain. We threw on our water proof  jackets and a rain poncho on top and started the more than 600 meter steep descent. Perhaps not surprisingly, walking downwards is a lot easier and as we kept a steady and fast pace we reached the Barranco Camp only some 45 minutes later. Although, walking downhill can be done pretty fast, I would recommend be alert and careful as it can be pretty tough for your knees and hazardous to your ankles if you’re not wearing proper hiking boots (you can easily sprain your ankle etc. if your boots doesn’t provide sufficient stability).

The descent would normally offer fantastic views and great photo opportunities of the Western Breach and the Breach Wall, however, the mist was so thick that I only had about 5-8 meters visibility – tough luck! Although we did see an occational giant senecio kilimanjari..

giant senecio kilimanjari

The Barranco Camp itself is set on a flat area enclosed on three sides by the Breach Walls and the Kibo massif itself. When we reached the camp it was midday and pretty damn cold. The walk up the Lava Towers was not very difficult, but fairly long and perhaps the most challenging part of the trek so far.

dinner time

We left the camp at 8.15 am and started the walk from an altitude of 2980 meters. At first the walk was a bit steep while we went through a truly unique terrain mainly consisting of heath forest, erica arborea and the palm-like giant groundsel (senecio kilimanjari). After a short rest we traversed the Shira plateau and continued west. At this point the ascent became gentler as we approached the camp site and the terrain transferred into alpine moorland. We then crossed a small river gorge before reaching the highest peak of the day at 3900 meters. The last hour or so of the walk, I wandered together with Frankie (my guide) and got to know him a lot better as we talked about all kinds of things (that is mostly hot chicks, great movies and his background from the Chagga tribe). We then arrived the Shira camp II at 3840 meters. Today’s walk was very enjoyable! We covered a total distance of nine kilometers and reached the camp site after only three hours

porters moving through the heath land

the end of the heath forest & erica arborea and the start of the moorland

At the camp I met up with the Russians again and had some tea and candy hehe. These guys were what I’d call properly prepared, they even had a dedicated bag for liquor! Me and Christian then chilled out for a bit and had a tasty lunch. While finishing up our lunch, we heard some locals singing and went into the open to check it out. We followed the sound and found a bunch of porters dancing in a circle with a guy in the middle singing. Every time he finished a phrase, the dancing circle would reply in unison. It was really entertaining to witness and they kept going for another twenty minutes or so while transferring into new songs and dances. More people joined in the circle, tourists as well, and everyone was having a good time enjoying the moment. Afterwards, I got some rest until dinner, had a great meal and got back into the tent.

singing and dancing porters at the Shira II camp

The night at this place was very cold as the camp site is very open and thus highly exposed to the wind. The temperatures dropped well below zero and I had to wear my long trousers and two layers on my upper body to get warm and comfy in the sleeping bag.

an iglo tent at the Shira II camp site

windy weather at the camp site

a bit cold even inside the tent

We left the hotel in a minibus and drove for one hour before reaching the Machame gate. After registering by signing the national park trekking book at the gate office, we started walking through the lush montane forest at about 10.45 am. Half way up, we had a tasty lunch from a little carton involving a boiled egg, a chicken thigh, an orange, some peanuts and an enchilada.

white-necked Raven on a warning sign before starting the Machame route

We climbed the lower slopes of the mountain today and covered a lot of distance though the gradient was gradual all the way. Altogether we walked 18 km and reached the Machame camp at 2980 m above sea level some four and a half hour later at 3.15 pm. The camp was just beyond the rain forest and within the fascinating heath-land – an area with light colored lush web hanging down from the trees.

reached the Machame hut just before setting up camp

a glimpse of a heath forest

After walking around the camp, I was amazed to find that the porters had even brought a little toilet for us to use! Even though there were other permanent toilets next to the camp site.. However, these toilets were merely a tiny tree shed with a hole in the ground. Only a few hours after arriving the camp, at about 6 pm, a rainbow appeared just behind our camp site and we witnessed a stunning sunset. I wandered a bit around the freezing cold camp site and got to know a group of nine Russians traveling together. They invited me to gin and a good time, which (off course) was an offer I couldn’t refuse and we sat in their little overcrowded tent drinking and chatting away. It turned out that half the group were experienced mountaineers and had climbed Elbrus (the highest mountain in Europe at 5642 m above sea level) at winter in minus 55 degrees – impressive!

rainbow behind the camp

sunset at Machame Camp

sunset at Machame Camp

A bit later, me and Christian had a delicious dinner involving cucumber soup and beef with vegetable sauce. Sitting down in the late evening was freezing cold! Much colder than what I had expected for the first day. I actually had to wear almost everything I brought along for the trek to keep warm. Then we got a briefing for the next day and a great long chat with the guides before going off to bed. At 2 am I woke up and left the tent to take a piss. The sky was crystal clear and full of stars while the moonlight illuminated parts of our camp site. The stillness was overwhelming. It was a stunning sight and all kinds of star constellations were visible on the cold night sky.

in the shuttle bus

The bus started to move and I got nauseas while my stomach upset once again. Fingers crossed. Eyes closed. I made it to the first stop some 3 hours later. I was relieved and feeling better. Everyone got out of the bus and I realized that there was a German guy in the the front of the bus next to the driver. This guy was travelling around Africa while working for SOS and was now heading for Tanzania. He’d been in Africa for nine months now and planned to stay for 1.5 years altogether.

Crossing the border to Tanzania was unproblematic, but I would definitely recommend bringing along a lot of dollars in small bills as just entering Tanzania will cost you 50 USD (if you’re not a citizen in an East African country) or 100 USD if you’re from the US. From the border we drove off to Arusha. Once in Arusha, my new German friend left the bus and we continued to some kind of shuttle bus and taxi station. We had now been driving for about eight hours on some of the bumpiest and dirt roads I’ve ever been on (with the exception of Bolivia). Most of the time we would be going in the wrong lane (that if you could say that there were lanes..) to avoid getting into the numerous holes in the ground.

After talking to the bus driver at the station, he told me to switch to another shuttle bus for the last leg towards Springland Hotel in Moshi. This bus was a lot more comfortable as we were only six people in it. During the one hour drive to the hotel, I got to know Barry Irvine and Hiten Shah two friendly guys from the UK and one happy chap from Aussie who were all also attempting Kili. I finally arrived Springland Hotel being the last person to leave the bus and feeling dead tired. The first thing I learned was that my guide had not arrived yet and I was the only person in my Kili trekking group.. It would be just me, the mountain and the locals, I guess. I tried to have some dinner, but I couldn’t eat much as I was feeling nauseas once again and my stomach was still not on my side. Then I checked in, repacked my stuff and stashed away things I wouldn’t need on the trek in a storage room. This service was fortunately free. The room I got was great. It was spacious, had a  toilet and a shower, a fan, three beds and I was the only one sleeping there.  I hit the sack and had an amazing sleep

my room at the Springland Hotel in Moshi

A guy was waiting for me at the airport and immediately called for the transport I had booked in advance and we drove off to Hotel Boulevard in which I would spend the night. Normally this drive takes only about 20 minutes as the distance is merely 20 km. However, we got into thr 4-5 o’clock rush and were stuck in traffic. Consequently, the ride took about 2 hours! We passed a lot of people walking alongside the road and several neigbourhoods in much more poor condition than what I witnessed during the favela tour in Rocinha (in Rio). Piles of garbage next to the road was a common sight. While we were driving it was raining and it was only 16 degrees outside. As we spent quite some time in the car I had the opportunity to get to know my friendly driver Jeremyeh. He had five sisters and grew up in the area around the Victoria Lake. Most people around the Victoria Lake live of fishing Tilpia. As the lake is split into sections owned by different countires Uganda and Kenya has been fighting for a long time over fishing territory in the lake.

Jeremyeh spoke both Swahili and English and told me that people in Kenya learn both languages in school. He had four children; three girls and one boy. The oldest of them was an eighteen year old girl who had just finished high school and wanted to study law. However, as there are very few universities in Nairobi, it’s very hard to get in..

In Kenya it is very common to eat grilled meat and one of the best kinds available is giraffe meat – gotta try that! While cruising through the streets we listened to a Swahili radio station playing Benga music. According to Jeremyeh, Benga is the most popular music in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It usually involves all kinds of drums and a gitar. It was getting dark. In Kenya the sun sets at about 6pm everyday, but since it was so rainy, there was no sunset to be seen today..

Jeremyeh - my driver

Kenya is one hour ahead of South Africa, and I just realised this while sitting in the car, thus having to adjust my watch once again that day – this stuff will get you get confused, easily. When arriving the hotel, at about 9pm, I was not feeling so good. I figured it might be due to all the plane rides and my busy schedule. Still I kept feeling more naucious and my stomach hurt quite a bit. After a quick and small dinner, I went straight to bed. At 1am I woke up having great pains in my stomach. The rest of the night I kept walking back and forth from the bed to the toilet, so I didn’t get much sleep that night. Some time during the night I took a couple of imodium, idoform, and one of the pills I had left from my last colon infection, hoping that this would make me feel better..

the dining hall at Hotel Boulevard

the good people in the Bamboo reception

I got a nice and big plane from São Paulo to Johannesburg (South Africa). When I found my seat it turned out to be next to a gigantic African woman who were filling both her seat and half of mine! Good luck chuck! As I tried to squeese into the seat, she was chewing away at a huge sandwitch. Fortunately, she decided to move to three available seats in the mid section of the plane (on the same row) before we took off. She quickly dozed off while laying across all three seats snoring full blast. To my relief each seat had an entertainment system with heaps of movies, TV-shows and music at your disposal. I switched on “The Hangover” and had a great time laughing my ass off

gigantic seat mate

After an episode of Simpsons I had some sporadic sleep and woke up to breakfast at 6am. We arrived Johannesburg (still in Africa;) at 7.25am local time after adjusting my watch 4 hours ahead from Rio/São Paulo time. At the airport I found this great store with heaps of unique items from Africa. I bought an egg with paintings of an ancient map of the African continent on it and some drawings of local people.

(pic)

Overlooking the Rocinha favela

01.December:
Got up early and walked to a travel agency in Rua Dias da Rocha, Copacabana. After talking to the friendly staff in the reception (at the Bamboo) I realized that taking a plane to São Paulo would be almost as cheap, much more comfortable and first and foremost; extremely much faster than taking a bus! This also meant that I could get a good long sleep before starting my long journey to Nairobi in Kenya (Africa). I got the plane ticket for 164.40 reals (543 NOK), even though it was available for only 124 reals (409 NOK) with tax included on the Internet. However, it turned out that only Brazilian people could buy plane tickets on the Internet as a certain social security number was required when purchasing.

The bus ticket, on the other hand, was 80 reals (264 NOK)  in addition to a 60 reals (198 NOK) for taxi from the bus station to the international airport in São Paulo. Thus, as mentioned, it added up to almost the same as the plane ticket.

A bit later in the afternoon I decided to visit a favela during daytime (I was in a favela on Saturday night). I left the hostel at 2 pm to get a feel of the largest favela in Brazil – Rocinha.

Ironically Rocinha literally means small ranch in Portuguese. The first houses in Rocinha came about in the 1920´s and ever since it has been rapidly expanding. It now houses a staggering amount of 200 000 people and is actually classified as a Favela Bairro, or Favela Neighborhood. Up until the 80´s the government had some sort of control of the favela. Now three major gangs control all the favelas in Rio and they are constantly fighting for territory. Only yesterday (30.November) there was a big gang war in a favela in the Ipanema district..

When the gang wars break out it’s literally like a war zone and it’s not uncommon with shootings involving automatic rifles and hand grenades! People with automatic hand weapons can often be seen even during the daytime. Consequently, it´s advised not to take pictures of these guys or anyone who have dyed their hair blond as these individuals are either drug lords or gang members.

Once in the area, you enter the actual Rocinha Favela Bairro by getting on a motorcycle with one of the locals. Then you better hold on tight to those metal bars on the back of the bike because these guys cruise up those narrow, heavy trafficked and bumpy streets in a way that will make you wanna write your will at the spot! However, this was my favorite part of the trip;) Passing trucks, other motorcycles and people in the streets, sometime in the wrong lane, with only an inch clearing as we rushed up the crooked road was exhilarating! On each side of the road, the shops and sheds were getting more and more shady as we approached the top. Even the people seen all along the street seemed to be struggling through a harder life as we reached higher ground.

At the very top the city hall and the local hospital was located next to the street. From here on it was time to enter the real core of the favela.

We went through the gallery of a street artist, which was in his house. His work was pretty good, but naturally I couldn’t take any photos in there. After they learned that I was from Norway, I was told that members of the B-gang from Oslo had been there and they had requested a massive paintings of them in the favela holding automatic rifles while being surrounded by corpses and a pile of blood. They had paid about 5000 reals (16 500 NOK) for this piece!

The streets of the Rocinha was truly narrow and crooked while the houses ranged from small home-stores and home-bars made of brick to sheds made of pieces of scrap metal. The only English words the locals knew were; hello, money and photo. Still very few of them were begging as they were being encouraged to make music, handicrafts or paintings for money instead. While walking through the streets this was exemplified by three kids playing catchy samba music by pounding on empty plastic cartons.

favela houses

kids playing samba music

A bit later a rather large three story building rose in front of the path. This turned out to be the children’s school and a nursing home for babies.

the childrens' school

one of the babies at the baby care center

From the roof a great view of the whole favela appeared. From this lookout it was possible to clearly see the stark contrast between the rich and the poor as the wealthiest area of Rio was located at the end of the favela. The houses in the rich section often wore a price tag of 5 million dollars. Seeing these two different worlds located side by side made quite an impact.

the contrast

As an endnote I would say that visiting Rocinha (or a favela in general) is something I would only recommend to someone who haven’t experienced this kind of poverty and way of living earlier. If you have been through countries such as Bolivia or Peru, or slums in the Caribbean or in the far east,  I would only recommend spending a day in the Rocinha favela if you have nothing that could easily be justified doing instead..

That being said; If you do decide to go, it will be an interesting experience that will remind you of just how damn lucky really are..

Once enjoying that delicious chicken burger with salad and cheese (no. 6) while sipping some exotic fruit juice, the rest of the party crew from our dorm came by and joined us.

the peeps from my dorm at Big Bi

I then cruised off alone as I ditched the rather expensive soccer tour being arranged through the hostel and did it on my own instead. In the end I got the whole experience for 25.60 reals (85 NOK), instead of 65 reals (215 NOK) which was what the hostel charged – so I would definitely recommend doing the trip on your own!

I got on the metro for 2.80 reals (9 NOK) and grabbed line 1 at zona norte. Before even boarding the metro, I got to know this nice and helpful guy from the south of Brazil who was visiting his brother in law. It turned out that these guys were also heading for the game and we were chatting away having a great time all the way to the stadium. On the way we got off at Estácio (at this place you don’t have to worry about which zone you’re in) and swapped over to line 2 and got off at Maracanã station. I said goodbye to my new Brazilian friend at the end of the bridge at Maracanã and started looking for Imran & Sadiq.

The area around the stadium was getting really crowded as thousands of people were just pouring into the area in front of the stadium. All around you people were sending off firecrackers into the air while some were singing and dancing next to you. All of a sudden I spotted Imran in the crowd! He and Sadiq had brought along two German girls from their hostel and we all went to get some tickets.

The tickets were normally sold for 15 reals (50 NOK), but since the ticket line was about 400m long we bought our tickets from one of the many black market sharks for 20 reals (66 NOK) – a fair price for not having to wait in that endless line. We got seats in the second floor in the green section. However, when we entered the stadium we realized that noone used the seats. Everyone were standing even 30 minutes before kick off. We got a great spot with an excellent view of the field just behind Vitoria´s goal among the most hardcore Fluminense supporters (the home supporters) – gotta love it! We quickly got some beers and watched as each section in the second floor were being filled up.

me, Imran & Sadiq pre-game

The atmosphere was electric. Fluminense started really hard already from the start and only after about 8 minutes, they got first goal. The crowd went insane! Within the next minute they got another spectacular goal to which a massive party broke out in the stands. Fireworks, glitter and balloons were going off into the sky while everyone were jumping and singing in pure ecstasy. You could feel the concrete moving – happiness was all around you

some of the atmosphere in the stands

Two minutes later a huge blast from some kind of bomb went off and we could feel the great pressure wave hitting us. The closest 4000 people turned around, but we were unable to figure out if anybody got hurt.

Twenty five minutes into the second half, Fluminense scored their third goal – Vitoria were getting crushed! A bit later a riot broke out in the middle of the field and people on the side line rushed in! This lasted for a good 7-8 minutes before it all cleared up and the game could continue.. A couple of minutes before full time Vitoria got a red card and merely moments later we were celebrating Fluminense´s fourth goal!

After the game, the halls in the stadium were filled with singing and dancing fans waving flags while some of them were shooting up firecrackers inside! It was nuts! The atmosphere was incredible and the crowd´s mood through the roof.

fans celebrating the victory from a pillar in the hallway

At the subway I took farewell with my two Canadian friends and we all agreed that this was definitely not going to be the last time met up to have a legendary time together!

The bar arrangement was quite peculiar as you would register all your drinks to a number on a tree plate (the tree plate acted as your bar tab) that someone in the bar crew gave you. Only flaw with their system was that they never registered the number nor the plate to your name or credit card.. meaning that by the end of the night it was just a matter of walking away from the astronomical bar tab with your wooden plate safely placed in your pocket Free drinks – isje feil!

At about 1am, and heaps of drinks later, we went off to Lapa – an old bohemian neighborhood. More recently, Rio has been an important center for the revival of traditional samba music, especially around Lapa. What met us when arriving Lapa, was a crazy street party with thousands of people that can only be compared to a massive nightly music festival! Some of the streets were completely packed with people. We were standing in awe on this square next to a huge wall with aqueduct arches. We joined the massive and intense street party while moving along the arches. In almost each arch there was a group of people playing samba music and loads of people dancing, yelling and bouncing around, having a good time. I had never, ever seen anything like this and Berenice told me that these kind of parties was common on Fridays in Lapa – What an incredible party district!

While moving along with the crowd, we suddenly stumbled upon the infamous Escadaria Selarón (the Selarón’s Stairs) in sort of a back alley. This incredibly colorful staircase in the Lapa neighborhood has appeared in numerous music videos as i.e. Snoop dogg ft. Pharrel – Beautiful, U2 - Walk On. The staircase is the work of the Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón as a tribute to the Brazilian people. He is constantly changing it so that it is an ever evolving piece of art. Originally, tiles for the work were scavenged from various construction sites and piles of urban waste found on the Rio streets. However, today most of the tiles are donated by visitors from all around the world. Altogether there are 250 stairs measuring 125 metres long, which are covered in over 2000 tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world!

Escadaria Selarón

Escadaria Selarón - Snoop Dogg ft. Pharrel - Beautiful

We then continued down to one of the many bars and night clubs and went inside on of them. This one played old school techno mixed with samba music – a bit strange combination, but it didn’t matter we were ready to party. We stayed there for an hour or two. During this time Chris & Mary left because a raving made mad threatened to beat up Chris while he was in the toilet and kept pounding on his bathroom stall door! The rest of us continued partying in the crowded streets of Lapa till 6 in the morning. Partying in the streets were actually a lot better and more fun than inside any nightclub. There were music everywhere and everyone seemed to having the time of their life! I just wish I had brought my camera to capture any of this, but I was too afraid to loose it to bring it along. Imran brought his camera, but it got broken at the start of the night, so unfortunately we have no footage of this night.

Then we headed off to a pizza restaurant to grab a snack. When we arrived at the restaurant it was packed! Packed 6.15am! Everyone at the restaurant was drunk and singing, while waiters went from table to to table taking order like everything was perfectly normal and it was in the middle of the day. Business as usual. This was all just very weird. We had our food and got back at the hostel at about 7am – What a great night!