Day 2 of my journey on Kilimanjaro’s Machame Route takes to Shira Camp situated at 3800M above sea-level. The hike is a very short one today: just 5km, however we ascend nearly 800 meters in this short hike from 3050m at Machame Camp to 3800m at Shira Camp.
My alarm went off at 6:30am, and I groggily went about packing my things. Around the same time, there was a polite “excuse me, your hot water is ready” from outside the tent, and was handed a small wash basin of hot water to wash up. I also hand my empty water containers to the attendant who fill them up for me during breakfast so they’re ready when I start hiking. I use a 2L camelback and a 750ML bike bottle. I make a point to try to drink 3 liters of water each day to keep hydrated – between carrying nearly 3L of water and also the unlimited coffee and tea at all meals, there are plenty of hydration opportunities to go around.
At 7am, breakfast was served. Our bags were packed by 8am – we needed to pack our bag for the porters and prepare our daypacks – and our hiking crew took care of packing up the tent and tearing down camp. It’s a beautiful morning at Shira Camp – crystal clear skies with clear views of Mount Meru.
By 8:15am, we were off. Today’s hike is one of the easier days in my opinion, as we only cover 5km, although we do ascend around 800m. For some, this day is not so easy as we see hikers already vomiting by the side of the trail due to the elevation.
Victor informed us that Shira Camp is typically a spot where hikers who are experiencing altitude distress can choose to take 1-2 rest days to see if their bodies eventually adjust to the altitude.
It seemed unlikely that someone who was already vomiting at 3000 meters would be able to adjust enough to the altitude to make it to nearly 6000 meters in a few days time, but for some it is possible.
While hiking, it is important to drink much more frequently than you usually do. You’ll notice that at altitude you’ll have to urinate much more frequently – as the body – especially the kidneys are working overtime to help your body run at high altitude. For women, I would highly recommend bringing a She-wee so that the very frequent pee breaks are not too disruptive to your trekking.
Today’s hike features slightly more challenging terrain than the day before, with more rocky uphill sections that are more technical – but I will still classify the trail as easy at this point save for the altitude issue. The pace is still pole-pole, which I am enjoying, as I barely break a sweat going at this pace, and can enjoy the scenery and take photos more easily.
Just before we reach Shira Camp, we catch up “Theo” – a giant teddy bear taking a ride up Kilimanjaro on the back of a British man named James who is raising money for the Children’s Hospital Charity. Quite a few hikers are hiking Kilimanjaro to raise money for various charities. There are quite a few companies that facilitate this – so worthwhile looking into if it is something you’re interested in.
“Theo” has been cleverly fastened onto a hiking backpack. James had hollowed out “Theos” mid-section and fitted his hiking backpack inside the giant stuffed bear. Nevertheless, the “Theo/Backpack” combination – along with all of James’ daypack belonging still weighs around 20KG – which is more weight than the porters carry. My daypack, by contrast, weighed around 6KG fully-loaded. Dimensions-wise, Theo is bigger than me. We had met James and “Theo” the giant teddy bear, the day before at Machame gate, and I was both skeptical and impressed that a regular tourist-trekker was going to carry this 20KG bear-backpack all the way up Kilimanjaro. I wondered if James was going to be able to actually carry this 20KG bear-pack all the way up Kilimanjaro – but today – he looked stronger than those of us barely carrying anything at all. Theo’s hiking party are doing the 7 day Machame Route. Alberto and I look forward to Theo’s progress, as we will roughly be on the same schedule for the first few days.
We reach Shira Camp by 1pm. The camp is shrouded in fog, and it feels quite chilly. Our tents are already set-up and we hurry inside, and are given our lovely basins of hot water to wash up before lunch.
Lunch is a kind of fried pasta with egg pancake that neither I nor Alberto have seen before, but it’s filling and I enjoyed the salad it was served with. As with all our meals there’s a large thermos of hot water for us to make our choice of tea, hot chocolate, and/or coffee, and the hot drinks are wonderful as we sit in our cozy tent watching the fog swirl around the camp.
The washrooms at Shira Camp are much cleaner than the disaster toilets at Machame camp. There are several concrete and tile outhouses that are kept remarkably clean at Shira camp, so I had no worry of falling into the pit toilet of doom like I did at Machame camp.
The Shira ranger hut at the campsite has a charging station but be aware that it costs $5USD to charge your device.
There’s a trail that leads from Shira camp to an old cave dwelling (about a 5 minute walk from camp), and a further trail that leads to a viewpoint about a 15 minute walk from camp. Most guides will take you there around 4-4:30pm for a short acclimatization hike before evening falls.
The fog let up a bit for us to see the surroundings just as we got to the viewpoint, and then quickly enveloped the area again by time we returned to camp. Alberto and I went back to our respective tents to rest given there was nothing to see with the fog covering everything.
Around 30 minutes before sunset I could hear the sounds of a group amassing nearby in the camp, and they were shouting, cheering and singing. It seemed to be a large group of guides, porters and staff gathering together. Unable to resist the sound of their joyous energy, I wiggled myself out of my warm tent cocoon and was certainly glad I did.
The fog had dissipated and golden pink-red glow of the sun’s last rays were illuminating the cloud field that our camp was set above. Along with the circle of trekkers, guides, porters and other staff all gathered together singing and dancing, it made for a beautiful tribute to the end of another incredible day on the mountain.
Vitals for day 2: Heartrate – 88 / Oxygen saturation 90
