Day 4 of my journey on the Machame Route on Kilimanjaro takes me from Barranco camp at 3900 meters, to Barafu base camp at 4700 meters (via Karanga camp). Barafu camp is the final camp before climbers make their final trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro. Aside from summit night, day 4 was the most challenging day of my journey on the Machame route. Most of the challenge was due to the fact that I had chosen a 6 day trek. Longer treks of 7 days or longer on the Machame route will stop for an evening at Karanga camp before trekking to Barafu base camp – this allows for a lot more rest before summit night. 6 day Kilimanjaro treks condense the trek from Barranco camp to Karanga camp and then to Barafu base camp into a single day – making it an incredibly challenging day right before summit night.
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Today started with a 6am wake-up call. The goal was to try to get out of camp as soon as possible to avoid the traffic jam that would inevitably form on the “Barranco Wall.” The Barranco wall is rock wall that requires some scrambling and basic climbing skills to pass. We got out of camp around 7:30am, but the “breakfast walk” on Barranco wall had already formed. We walked pole-pole, slowly-slowly, but soon found ourselves stuck in the traffic jam that formed behind groups of hikers who had a hard time with some of the basic climbing elements of the rock wall. There was a group of middle-aged ladies who looked like they had never climbed up a kitchen table before who struggled to get over some easy (and non-exposed ledges) with obvious foot-holds and grasp points everywhere. Thankfully, Victor helped us navigate around groups that were too slow.
The top of Barranco Wall at 4200M was beautiful, the skies cleared up for crisp views of the cloud field below us as well as Kilimanjaro soaring above us. We stopped for a few minutes to take photos and enjoy the view, but we soon had to be off to make Karanga camp for lunch, before heading off to Barafu base camp.
The trek from Karanga camp had acclimatization elements in it, as we had to descend back down to 3900m to reach the camp. While this is a great strategy for a 7 day trek, for the 6 day trek that I was doing, this felt a little disheartening, given we will only be stopping at Karanga for lunch, before having to climb back up 1800m to Barafu base camp in the afternoon.
We reached Karanga camp around 11:30am. The lunch tent was already set up, and lunch was served to us quite quickly. As we started our trek towards Barafu base camp around 12:30pm, I was starting to feel twinges of regret for not booking a 7 day trek – given the summit attempt was going to happen in less than 12 hours from that point on – but I was in it to win it at that point, so pole-pole I went.
The trek from Karanga camp to Barafu took exactly 3 hours – but it sapped me of all the energy I had – and tapped out all my reserves. The day was already long, but add onto it the up and down elements that added up to approximately 2000m of climbing in one day, in addition to the extra work the body has to put in to simply walk at 4700m, I arrived at Barafu base camp beyond ready to collapse.
I wasn’t the only one struggling. Alberto and I met two German men from Dresden hiking the Lemosho route – on a longer itinerary. They were very prepared, and had hiked Mount Meru in preparation for Kilimanjaro. One of the men was doubled over as we approached Barafu base-camp, whispering “I can’t go further.” They both eventually made it to base-camp and also the summit, but it’s worthwhile to note that even the most prepared can be challenged by this trek.
This was the point where my cheery “can-do” attitude started to wander into semi-panicked “Oh my God, how am I supposed to get up at 11pm tonight to summit Kilimanjaro?” It was around this time when I mused that I would have paid another $1000 at this point of the trek just to get one more additional day on the mountain – but I knew our entire trekking team was on a schedule. I guess part of me kind of worried I might have actually gone through with paying an additional $1000 at that point if the option was available – so did not ask. Of course a lot of this angst would not had happened if I had just booked a 7 day trek to begin with – but there’s no going back now. I got into my tent, managed to pull off my sweaty hiking clothes, and then collapsed into the deepest sleep in memory.
I was awakened 2 hours later for an early dinner at 5:30pm. I dragged myself out of my tent feeling somewhat more rested. A lovely dinner of pasta with meat sauce was served but my appetite was quite diminished by the altitude. When our vitals were checked, my oxygen saturation was still excellent at 90%, but my heart rate had jumped above 100bpm for the first time during the hike – so my body was definitely going into overdrive tying to compensate for being at the higher altitude. Either that or just a combination of my body working harder and intense nerves also making my heart beat faster.
For the first time in a few days, we finally had clear weather, and a glorious sunset was on display over the cloud field at base camp. I took some photos, but I wish I had more energy (and time) to enjoy the evening, however I had to get up at 11pm later that night to do one of the hardest physical challenges I have ever attempted, so I hurried to bed and was tucked away in my sleeping bag by 7pm.
Day 4 on Kilimanjaro climbing from Barranco Camp to Barafu Base Camp was one of the most challenging physical experiences I have had in my life; yet crazily enough, I would only get 4 hours of rest before the record for the most challenging physical feat of my life is once again broken as I am to summit Kilimanjaro in only a few hours time.
