Through the rainforest

In retrospect, drinking Serengeti beer the night before with a couple of the AOL crew probably wasn't the best preparation. Had I known how hard it would really be, I'd have stuck to water.

We had a late start — the rangers' network was down (story of Tanzania) and we left around 11am. We think Bobby, our head guide, cashed in some chips with the rangers to get us through. The number of Magumu (porters) at the Machame route gate made it clear there'd be crowds on the summit, but we had no right to think about the top yet — we still had five days of walking just to get within striking distance.

The rainforest that dominated the first day wasn't that different from rainforest back home: wet, warm, seemingly endless. I can't recall ever seeing monkeys sift through park bins up at O'Reilly's though. We walked three hours before stopping for lunch. The Magumu had set up a mess tent so we could sit out of the rain and fuel up — we'd learn later how important getting food down would be, which explained the heavy emphasis the guides put on stuffing your face whenever possible.

We arrived at camp around 6pm to fully erected tents, hot water for washing, and soon a hot, calorie-dense dinner. The routine for the coming days was already clear: cover distance, eat, cover distance, eat, sleep. Even at this point the Magumu's strength and ethic were astonishing — no easy feat to carry 20kg on your head, uphill, at elevation, for five hours.