The Mamas & The Papas
When we last left you, we had just returned from our climb up Mt Longido. This is a summary of what happened on that trip and then an update of what we've been doing since then.
We left the school outside Arusha last Saturday about 7AM. Drove north and east – almost to the Kenya border – for about 2.5 hours with the school driver and our school staff member. Arrived in the small town of Longido in plenty of time to hike up about half way and then set up our camp for the night. Only we couldn't find the guide we'd reserved. (Most of the info to follow is confusing because we were confused by the whole process. For us, it's similar to being about 4 years old – we're curious about what is happening and ask a lot of questions. But, like a 4 year old, we don't understand any of the answers.) So we waited.
And we waited. Then waited some more. And watched the Masai in traditional garb interact in this small town. Untouched by modern stressful tools like cell phones. No rude ringing of a cell phone while talking to friends. Just quiet, uninterrupted conversations. Oops, is that a cell phone ringing? Yep. Where is it? Oh it's under the robes of the Masai warrior standing next to us. The one with the great sandals made out of truck tires. And the bottom of his elongated ear lobes hooked over the top of his ears. That traditional guy.
Let's wait here for awhile. Nah, this is a better spot to wait since the sun's moved over this far. OK, here's our guide. Nope. Just another guy with a suggestion on how we should climb the mountain. This mountain is 2690 meters – approx. 9000 feet. So it's not famous or – obviously – climbed very frequently by tourists.
Finally Christian and Enoch – our school staff – decided to hire a guy who said he knew the way. So they did. And then the original guide showed up (I think.) Since it was so late – 1PM or so – they decided to drive to the other side of the mountain, make our camp there and then hike up to the summit the next day. This would be easier since the standard route was very steep and would be exposed to the sun this late in the day.
This seemed like a good option to us because it was a shorter way to climb. And we wouldn't have to carry all of our gear up to the top. We thought.
We headed off on a dirt road which turned into a cattle path within about a mile of the highway. And then followed a dry wash most of the rest of the way - when it wasn't climbing steeply over rocky ledges. Before going too far, however, we had to stop at a Masai gated community. (They use thorn bushes to fence out the wild animals. Same as we do.) To do…what? I wasn't sure.
We were a big hit with the families living within the compound. Mostly with the kids. Mostly 'cuz we scared the bejeebers out of them. They would walk up close to me, then I would take a step toward them, and off they'd run yelling. I guess I'm just a scary guy.
Back in the car for another 40 minutes on the cattle path. And lots of jostling. Although, because we now had 6 adults and 8 kids in a vehicle designed for about 8, you really couldn't jostle too much. Finally, our camp site. OK, this is great. Car camping with a little hike the next day. We can handle that. And then the driver told us he would see us the next afternoon on the other side of the mountain. And Barb said to me, "It's going to take all of my courage to leave this vehicle." The driver took a group photo before he left, and, as the shutter clicked, Barb said, "And that's the last time they were seen alive."
And we left the vehicle. And the vehicle left us.
We set up the dome tents in the middle of a field next to a Masai Boma house. (Which looks a lot like a dome tent only it's made out of sticks and grass. And it's not imported from China.) The kids had never seen a tent before let alone slept in one. So that was fun watching them learn how to put a tent up.
And then they unloaded all of the stuff they'd brought to make their camping experience more comfortable. They took out the blanket they had to sleep under and …that's it. Doesn't take long to set up a base camp when all you have is the clothes on your back and one blanket. (Oh, yeah, they also had a deck of cards. At least it was a full sized deck of cards – not the lighter weight model designed specifically for backpacking.)
It was a little embarrassing for us because we had so much stuff ; I had two blankets – one to sleep under and one to sleep on top of – and Barb had a blanket and an air mattress. And two extra jackets, a hat, gloves, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunscreen, sunglasses, bug juice, flashlight, and a clean pair of socks. I had about the same. And the kids had a deck of cards.
Just before dinner, two Masai guards showed up. The ones we'd stopped in the gated community to find. They were here to guard us from the animals during the night. With what? A stick and a spear.
For dinner, we had a one pot meal of rice, baked beans and hot dogs. It really was quite delicious. And then at 6:30 it was dark and we're in the tents, lying on the ground. The hard ground. But the blanket folded up beneath me has its sleep number set for maximum comfort. And the kids had…nothing. But all we had to do is to wait a mere 11 hours. Then we can get off the ground. And hike.
About 2AM and then at 3AM we heard a lot of barking. To say it woke us up would be an exaggeration. Who was sleeping? What with the comfort adjustments I was making on my Sleep Number Blanket, who had time to sleep?
"Those are the dogs we saw with the Masai earlier. Probably just barking at an animal," Mr. Familiar With Animals of East Africa said.
The sun rose and so did our butts. "Hey, where are your dogs?" I asked the Masai. "Those were not dogs. You heard baboons barking to chase away the leopard that was hunting them. We can't leave our dogs out at night or the animals would eat them. That's why we have the gated communities."
We had hot instant milk for breakfast and started hiking. I didn't think we had enough bottled water so wanted to boil some more from a little stream. But we had been told the kids didn't drink much water so 12 liters of water should be enough for 11 of us for 6 hours of hiking in the mountains. And why carry extra water when it will only slow you down?
Our guide – Lead Guide One – told us it would take 4 hours to get to the top. Lead Guide Two didn't say much. By the way, why was Guide Two even going with us? We had been told the night before he wasn't going to hike to the top. He was going home a shorter way. But then something changed for some reason. Won't ever know.
I started off with the pack that contained two tents, stove and blankets and luxury items – such as camera, sunglasses, warm clothes, pans and some water. But, after a few minutes, one of the bigger boys – 14 to 15 years old – took the pack because I was moving so slowly. But isn't that what we were told – "Move poully, poully, slow, slow." Well, yes, slow is good but fast is better. Hey, it was fine with me to hike with a light day pack. And feel like I was one of the boys.
At first, we hiked across open grasslands. As we gained altitude, we entered a forest. After about two hours, we started to find a lot of elephant dung in the trees. "Isn't it a good idea to make some noise so we don't surprise any elephants?" I (AKA Mr. Familiar With Animals of East Africa) asked. "No. Better to travel quietly and surprise them." Who knew?
There was an obvious trail until there wasn't. "Aren't we off the trail and onto a trail made by elephants just crashing through the brush?" Mr FWAOEA asked. "No, this trail has been made by Cape Buffalo crashing through the brush." Oh, well that's different then.
Four and a half hours later, we scrambled up some rocks and reached the summit. Views were great – we could see all the way to Africa. Now we had time to eat something. Which was a piece of bread for almost everyone. Luckily we had some water to wash it…no, that's gone.
Well Guide Number One said we'd take a shortcut down and would be back to the town and the vehicle in 1 ½ hours. Easy, all downhill. Piece of cake.
We started down and walked past several deep pits in the dirt where the elephants and other animals roll around to scratch themselves. Or something. Mr FWOEA wasn't sure but the guides were. They were sure these were depressions in the dirt. Probably caused by something.
It was steep going down. Sliding, slipping, running, falling. Did I say slipping? And falling? But who can't handle that for an hour and a half?
And now an hour and a half is up. Let's stop for a rest. "15 minutes more to the bottom."
Mr. Familiar With Mountain Hiking says, "Looks like more than that. 20-30 minutes at least." Another hour later, we stop for a 2nd rest. "15 more minutes now, for sure."
Three hours from leaving the summit, we arrive at the truck. Our six hour hike expanded to more than 9 hours. But at least now that we're in town we can get something to eat for everyone. That was the plan; a late lunch in the town. Then back to the school. It's past 4PM and we got up at 5:30, had some milk, then some bread at the summit. So it's a good time to eat.
"If the children eat now, they will vomit." OK, I'm familiar with animals and mountain hiking but I've never heard that one. But apparently Mr. Familiar With Childhood Vomiting has been hiking with us. Who knew?
We raced back to the school. I think it's fair to call it racing when you drive off the paved road onto the dirt shoulder so you can get past cars and potholes. (Barb told me later her eyes were closed many times on the drive back) The good news is we drove so fast no children could vomit. And knocked an hour off our drive time the previous day. Which had taken 2 ½ hours.
The title refers to the fact that over here, we are called Mama & Papa. I hope this is a sign of respect – probably just age.
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