Kilimanjaro Blog – 04: From Kikelelwa Camp (3.600m) to Mawenzi Tarn Hut (4.300m)

On today’s agenda we had a short but steep trek: From Kikelelwa Camp (which we reached yesterday) to Mawenzi Tarn Hut. Mawenzi is just like Kibo another volcanic cone on Mount Kilimanjaro. Maybe just two hours according to my guide. Wait… from 3.600m to 4.300m in just two hours? Let me do the math:

700m = 2 hrs
350m = 1 hr
175m = 1/2 hrs

Every 30 minutes we are supposed to climb 175m? This seemed pretty much. As we started (this time as last group) I instantly noticed that we were going more and more pole pole. I appreciate it very much while we were going higher and higher and approaching 4.000m. After two hours we overtook a larger group. I am asking myself if we shouldn’t slow down because we don’t want to win a sprint. But my guide explained that larger groups are going slower because more people mean more breaks hence lower speed.

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After a 4 hours-trek (instead of two hours…), 4 liters of water and something about 100 pee-brakes we reached the Mawenzi Tarn Hut at 4.315m. I had no problems with the altitude whatsoever. But after another 2 – 3 hours in the camp the tide started turning. Huge headaches and no appetite. I didn’t even touch dinner because I felt the urge to vomit as soon as I would eat a bite.

As a result I didn’t sleep well during the night. While I laid in my sleeping bag I toyed with the idea of aborting the trek if I don’t start to feel better during the next day. The next day was supposed to be our acclimatization day. This means we stayed in the camp for one day. Maybe go for a short hike and returning the same day because the ground rule for acclimatization is: hike high & sleep low. This means to support your body while acclimatizing you should go on day trips and hike to higher altitudes but return the same day and sleep at lower altitudes.

The next morning I felt a little better: no more headaches. But unfortunately no appetite either. I still felt like vomiting as soon as I would eat a bite. My guide and I talked about it and he said:

“Force yourself to eat and after that vomit. It helps. As long as you don’t vomit regularly it is ok. But if you vomit regularly and don’t eat then you get weak and that’s a problem.”

Of course I listened to him and ate just a spoon full of porridge which made me vomit instantly. But as my guide promised: just after that I felt better. I was able to eat a little. We later started our acclimatization trek. Climbing up to roundabout 3.900m at the foot of Mawenzi and back down to our camp where we rested and talked for the rest of the day.

During the day I felt a lot better! I don’t know whether vomiting or our short acclimatization climb or the mix of both were the reason. But I was able to eat again and the headaches were gone. In the evening when I went to bed I was really motivated and started to think that it could be possible for me to reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro the day after tomorrow.

And while I was lying in my sleeping bag someone build his tent up right next to mine. Unfortunately he didn’t feel as good as I did now and coughed and gagged the whole evening. However I slept pretty tight and my new neighbor is hopefully resting the next day for acclimatization like I did so his body can adapt to the altitude.