Day 6 - Trek Day 4
Saturday, September 12
Moir Camp —> Pofu Camp 7 miles
13,640 —> 13,200 DOWN 440 ft!
7:45am —> 4:15pm 8½ hours (including lunch)
Sunrise over camp with Kili in the distance
5:30 Coffee call - 6:15 Breakfast - 7:45 Twende! (Swahili: Let’s Go!)
We woke to another stunning view of Kili as the sun was rising today.
Before we began hiking we gathered in a circle to pray to begin the day - the guides and porters were eager to participate. After we prayed in English, Bona our guide prayed in Swahili. Then we were off! The day began cold, but as we got walking up and in the sun, we quickly warmed. While we ended the day at a lower elevation than we began (down 440 ft.), throughout the day we also climbed 1,400 ft. There is always some up!
At the top of our first long up, we looked back and could see Mt. Meru in the distance (where we had been for two days before the trek began) and our camp on the valley floor. After a while the clouds rolled in and we lost our view of Kili as well as our surroundings. We could pretty much always see the path stretching out before us when we got to the top of a rise or ridge, but there was not much view to be had. The terrain was rocky with scrubby shrubs everywhere.
It seemed like a long time hiking until lunch….and then it started raining! So rain pants and poncho’s on! The good thing about hiking in the clouds and rains is that it keeps the dust down!
What a welcome sight when we came upon the dining tent set up on the top of a ridge (and all 3 toilet tents)! We arrived and the lunch staff took our packs from us and put them on a dry tarp and quickly covered them and ushered us into the dining tent.
Lunch: Spinach soup, rice with veggies, fried chicken, sweet cookie/biscuit, tea and coffee
Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we finished lunch, but it was cold and cloudy for the rest of the afternoon. And as per the last two days, our porters came to meet us and took our packs for the last 30 minutes into camp.
Pofu Camp is very small and the tents are close together - tied together even rather than staked into the ground. There are rocks everywhere as well. It is quite a maze to walk around!
Pofu Camp
We were greeted with hot wash cloths soaked in mint water! How refreshing! Then afternoon tea, organizing, journaling, and resting before dinner at 7:00: Zucchini soup, pasta, beef with vegetables, eggplant in marinara sauce, brownies!
After dinner Bona, Juma, and 2 of our chefs sang us a goodnight song name by name around the table in Swahili. It was very sweet.
AllTrails:
The official “caboose”! (L-R: Royce Ann, Kate, Kelli, Gail)