The Big Kilimanjaro Adventure

We arrived in Moshi on Thursday evening. We didn’t know how difficult it would be to book the climb. Somebody said that in high season you will have to wait 1 week to get a free vacancy. The latest possibility for us would have been to start the hike on Sunday.

It turned out to be very easy to book a tour. All over Moshi there were agents trying to sell the tours. We managed to book the 5 day hike on the arrival day, so we started the hike on Friday morning.

After we rented all the equipment that we needed, our team, led by the great guide David, drove us to the Marangu Gate. Besides our guide and assistant guide, there was a chef and some porters who carried the food, water and all the other stuff we needed. That day we just walked for 3 hours through the rain forest. Although we didn't see any animals, it was a nice atmosphere and a new experience for all of us. We arrived at the Mandara Camp at 2700 m.

On the second day we walked six hours through moorland. To our right we saw Kilimanjaro and to our left a thick layer of clouds that lay below us. In the afternoon we arrived at the Horombo Camp at 3720 m. To help us acclimatize, our guide took us an extra few hundred meters higher and then walked back with us.

In the early morning of the third day, we started walking up to the last Camp, the Kibo Camp at 4703 m. We walked for 6 hours and when we arrived in the afternoon, we went to sleep pretty soon. The reason for this was that we were going to get up at midnight to climb to the summit before sunrise.

This was the steepest and hardest part. The way up was a long hairpin turn. Thanks to the darkness, we couldn't see the top, which would be pretty demotivating. All we could see was our group and all of us kept concentrating on the legs of the man in front. We walked for around 5 hours to reach Gilmans Point. It was freezing cold (-15°C), so even the water bottles in our backpacks froze. It became increasingly hard to breath due to the low oxygen content in the air. This is what made the climb really hard!

When reaching Gilmans Point we knew the worst part is over. From Gilmans Point you still need more than an hour to reach the peak but its more or less easy walking. From Gilmans Point we could see a big fire at the bottom of the mountain. Finally we reached Uhuru Peak, the highest point of Africa at 5895 m. It’s impossible to describe what we felt. After all the hours of planning and weeks of travelling we really made it. Months ago we had this picture in our heads: the three of us on the summit of Kilimanjaro and we made it happen. Nobody got altitude sickness and had to turn back. We arrived at Uhuru Peak right before the sunrise over Kenya, which was unbelievable beautiful.

After taking some pictures and enjoying the view we headed back to Kibo Camp. The way down was much more fun because you can glide down the path of crushed rocks. After some rest at the Kibo Camp we walked further down to the Horombo Camp.

The next day we walked from Horombo Camp to the Marangu Gate. We passed the area where the fire was that we saw from the summit. It was much bigger than imagined, lots of plants had been destroyed. Back in Moshi we enjoyed a long awaited shower (starting with white towels and ending with brown towels) and the good Italian food in the restaurant next door. Climbing Kilimanjaro was the hardest thing we have done in our lives but well worth it. If someone is interested in a really good guide for Kilimanjaro, we have David’s details ;)

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Tanzania – Stella is getting older

It took us about four hours to pass the boarders to Tanzania. As soon as we arrived in Tanzania, Stella had some problems. Somehow she couldn´t drive fast anymore. Since the road to Mbeya (our first stop in Tanzania) is uphill, our average speed was 30kph. So we spent the whole day with traveling – from 6am to 6pm. The next day we searched for a mechanic, who was able to fix our car. And as it is in Africa, everyone is a mechanic and wants to help us. As we had no good experience with “street-mechanics” we decided to visit a proper garage in town. The first garage we found was not really helpful. They worked for five hours on our lovely car, exchanged spark plugs and oil; but finally Stella was driving even slower.

We couldn’t drive on like this, thus we searched for another garage. And we found one: a Swiss Garage. It was a mission center combine with a garage. The people were very helpful, fixed the car and invited us to sleep over. There was even a hot shower, it was amazing!!!

The next day we stood up at 6 to drive as fast as possible the 350 kilometers to Iringa. We were very optimistic, because Stella ran well yesterday. After a few kilometers the great depression: Stella was bitching around again. We had the same problems as before. It got even worse, after one hour driving the acceleration cable torn. We got stuck in the middle of nowhere. After a while, a truck driver stopped and offered his help. He tried to fix it, but it wasn’t possible without a new cable. The plan was that Ruven drove with the truck driver to the next town, get a cable and come back to replace it. The drive with the truck was insane. The driver fell asleep several times and sometimes almost touched the passing trucks. In the meantime Felix and Alex constructed their own acceleration-system. With Alex accelerating and Felix driving the car, they made it by themselves to the next town and met Ruven over there.

 

In the town there was a guy who replaced the cable. Afterwards we drove to Iringa and finally arrived at 8pm: 350 kilometres and 14 hours traveling.

 

 

The next they we replaced the fuel pump and did some adjustments by ourselves. Now she is running as good as it was in the beginning of our journey, like a young girl. What we learned from those days: maybe we should trust in ourselves a bit more.

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Stella`s Breakdown

I took us quite a while to pass the border to Malawi. After we got in Malawi, we spend all of our money for petrol (really expensive over here) and lunch. There was no ATM in the border town so we just left with no money and no water to reach our day goal, Senga Bay at the Lake Malawi… HOW STUPID! After a while Stella sounded not good anymore and the engine was not as powerful as it used to be. So we stopped at the road to check the engine. Quickly there was a crowd of people who were curious about the car and the white people that stopped at their village. In the end it got really hard to circle the car, because the children came so close. I kept them busy by taking pictures of them and showing the photos to them on the camera display.

 

After a while a mechanic joined the crowed and we figured out that one of the spark plugs was broken. We did not have the right equipment to put in the spark plugs, but the mechanic offered to tow us to the next town to his garage. We tied together our towing rope and a strange rubber rope from the mechanic to keep some more distance. The rubber rope made it difficult to tow but we finally made it to Salima.

 

There, the mechanic changed the spark plugs and we arrived at the campsite really late after this exhausting day.

 

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Trouble in Mozambique

After spending some time in the capital Maputo and at the beautiful beaches of Xai-Xai, Tofo and Morrungulo we arrived in Vilanculos. This small town is known for its chilled vibes and during the vacancies a lot of South Africans go there to escape the winter. We stayed at Baboa Backpackers and went for a trip to one of the tiny islands to snorkel in the coral reef.

 

We had a good day on the island and when we came back to the backpackers the news reached us that a weapon depot in Beira was robbed the same morning. The government blamed the Renamo, a revolutionary group which was founded during the state bankruptcy several years after Mozambique became independent in 1975. The Renamo fears to lose the next election in October and so they try to become the leader of the country the other way. The TV spread the information, that the Renamo has killed several policemen and are trying to block the main highway EN1 next morning at the strategically important “Save” River Bridge. That was exactly the road we had planned to take and as there are no secondary roads which are possible to drive without a 4x4. Our only option was to drive over 800 km back to Maputo and cross the border to Zimbabwe. A Portuguese journalist from Maputo told us that the government has sent 35 military trucks into the north to clear the situation as the first negotiations haven’t had any results. So we hoped that the situation would be better the next morning. Those conflicts in Africa can arise as fast as they can be settled again. Sometimes it just takes a couple of days.

 

The next morning we contacted the Swiss embassy and followed their advice to ask at a local police station if the road is safe again. They told us that it is no problem to take the EN1 because the military has made its way almost to Beira and built several provisory military bases along the road. So we decided to give it a go.

One of the soldiers at the Save bridge fulfilled the cliché perfectly; he stood at the road in his camouflage dress, wearing silver reflecting sunglasses and keeping his finger on the trigger of his machine pistol. Besides a few military bases and a trunk at one petrol station along the way one could get the impression that there was no conflict at all. So the situation sounded much more dramatically as it really was. In the evening we arrived safely in Chimoio after a 470 km drive.

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First impression of Mozambique

Hi friends, followers and chräbi’s,

We finally arrived in Maputo (Mozabique), which is much warmer than the freezing cold Joburg. Unfortunately we still need to wear sweatshirts because of the Malaria-Mosquitos. Since we crossed the borders of South Africa, we experienced another Africa than we were used to. As soon as we reached the boarders of Mozambique, 20 people were surrounding our car and tried to sell something or help and guide us through the entry process (without “charging anything” of course ;)).

After a short time driving through Mozambique, the first traffic policeman stopped us. We were aware of what they want: money. A lot of people told us their stories about the police in Moz. First they claimed Ruven’s driving licence is not an international one. This was actually true, since he has only his Swiss driving licence with him. Then we convinced the policeman that the driving licence is internationally valid and after 10 minutes arguing the policeman gave up – we did not had to pay any bribe.

Maybe all this happened because of our a little bit conspicuous car, but after all we can say that Mozambique matches our perception of an Africa country more than South Africa. Now we are staying in a nice backpackers called Fatima’s Place and looking forward to enjoy the nightlife of Maputo.

Love,

Alex, Felix & Ruven

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Von Kapstadt nach Johannesburg

Nachdem wir Cape Town im strömenden Regen verlassen haben, erstreckte sich vor uns die unendlich wirkende N1. Wir hatten uns in Absprache mit unserem Mechaniker darauf geeinigt nicht schneller als 80 km/h zu fahren, was uns anfangs einige Nerven kostete, denn der Bleifuß wollte sich nicht so mir nichts dir nichts abstellen lassen. Wir fuhren durch skandinavisch anmutende Landschaften, Laub- und Nadelbäume säumten unseren Weg hinauf auf die von uns schon so oft bewunderte Bergkulisse in Sichtweite von Kapstadt. Zu unserer Verwunderung waren einige der höchsten Gipfel sogar in Schnee gehüllt. Gewaltige Wassermassen donnerten überall an den Hängen der steinigen Berghänge hinunter und der anhaltende Regen sollte sich schon bald seinen Weg durch die miserable Dichtung des Käfers bahnen. Trotz der schlechten Bedingungen haben wir am ersten Tag unserer Reise etwa 800 km zurückgelegt und die Nacht in einem Backpackers im beschaulichen Colesberg verbracht.

Als wir den zweiten Tag in Angriff nahmen, befanden wir uns buchstäblich auf einem riesigen Hochplateau auf etwa 1500 m und das sollte sich auch den ganzen Tag nicht mehr ändern. Nach einer Weile hielten wir kurz um die GoPro auf dem Dach zu installieren, denn wir wollten die großartige Morgenstimmung einfangen. Etwa 5 Minuten später stellten wir fest, dass dies unser Glück war, denn eine Hand voll Trucks hatten sich schon vor einer Felspassage gestaut. Ein Mercedes hatte versucht einen der unzähligen Trucks zu überholen, als dieser sich dem Elchtest zu trotz einfach auf die Seite legte und die komplette Straße versperrte. Die ersten Trucks bahnten sich schon ihren Weg auf dem Grasbewachsenen schrägen Seitenstreifen vorbei, als der Fahrer des Trucks seine Tür senkrecht in den Himmel öffnete und ungläubig ausstieg. An einem Fluss machten wir eine kurze Pause und kochten uns das erste Essen in der Wildnis. Die Nacht verbrachten wir alleine auf einem riesigen Campingplatz in Kroonstad in unserem Zelt. Eine Kaltfront mit Minustemperaturen ließ uns trotz Schichtenprinzip und dicken Schlafsäcken die ganze Nacht frieren.

Am nächsten Morgen mussten wir das erste Mal feststellen, dass Afrika sich auch von seiner kalten Seite zeigen kann. Sowohl Stella als auch unser Zelt mit Eiskristallen bedeckt und alle nassen Sachen vom Vortag waren gefroren. Am dritten Tag unserer Reise erreichten wir schließlich unser großes Etappenziel: Johannesburg. Nach einem kurzen Check beim Mechaniker haben wir uns mit unserer Freundin Danai aus Kapstadt getroffen, die hier zur Schule gegangen ist. Sie ist mit uns quer durch Joburg gefahren und hat uns verschiedene interessante Ecken gezeigt. Abends wurden wir von ihrer wundervollen Familie zum Essen in ihrem exquisiten Haus eingeladen. Es wurde über viele Themen geredet und die Müdigkeit der letzten Nacht war wie weggeflogen. Morgen wollen wir hier im Backpackers ausschlafen und dann Richtung Krügerpark aufbrechen. 

( gefrohrene Badehose von Felix)

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Jetzt gehts los!

Am Donnerstag hatten wir unsere große Abschiedsfeier bei Felix. Eigentlich wollten wir dann gestern Nachmittag aufbrechen aber die letzten Besorgungen und die südafrikanische Langsamkeit hat uns einen Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. Deshalb haben wir den gestrigen Tag noch zum Organisieren genutzt und brechen heute in aller Frühe auf. 

Stella ist bis zum Rand gepackt und die Vorfreude riesig.  Unser erster Stopp wird in der Mitte vom nirgendwo sein, auf dem Weg nach Joburg. Dann können wir direkt unsere neues 4-Personenzelt testen.

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Noch 1 Woche!

Nur noch 7 Tage bis zur Abreise! Die Vorbereitungen laufen auf Hochtouren. Die letzten Camping-Artikel werden gekauft und Stella wird von den verschiedensten Mechanikern durchgecheckt und abgesegnet. Wir haben noch einige sehr wertvolle Tipps bekommen, sodass wir schon viele Probleme selbst beheben können. 

Nachdem wir ein super Roof Rack erstanden haben (mit dem wir hoffentlich alles transportiert bekommen), wurde uns leider vorgestern Nacht das Radio aus dem Auto geklaut. Samt USB-Stick mit der allerfeinsten Musik für den Trip. Da muss jetzt natürlich noch Ersatz her! 

Fototechnisch haben wir auch investiert und sind mit einer videofähigen DSLR und einem guten Stativ perfekt vorbereitet Ostafrika in (bewegten) Bildern festzuhalten. 

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Raus aus der Stadt, ab ins kalte Wasser!

Die Windsaison ist eigentlich vorbei in Kapstadt, doch der ein oder andere Windhauch kommt trotzdem durch und lässt unsere Herzen höher schlagen. Hier die Bilder aus Witsands:

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Vorbereitungen in Kapstadt

Der Tag der Abreise rückt nun immer näher. In 17 Tagen wird unser Abenteuer beginnen und es gibt immer noch eine ganze Menge zu tun. Das Projekt Käfer ist nun fast abgeschlossen. Wir benötigen noch ein paar Ersatzteile aber zum größten Teil ist alles am rechten Ort. Kurz bevor wir losfahren werden wir noch einmal den Luftfilter wechseln und die Benzinpumpe austauschen um auf Nummer sicher zu gehen. Die Route ist geplant und wir werden voraussichtlich Anfang Juli in Moshi am Kilimandscharo ankommen, sollte es keine großen Komplikationen geben. Seit 4 Tagen haben wir nun auch unsren Dachgepäckträger, sodass wir unseren Ersatzreifen und die beiden Reservekanister problemlos auf dem Dach verstauen können. Leider ist noch immer ungeklärt was wir mit unserem Käfer nach der Reise machen. Ihn nach Kenia zu importieren und dort zu verkaufen ist sehr kostspielig und lohnt sich nicht wirklich. Die anderen Möglichkeiten sind, mit dem Käfer wieder zurückzufahren, ihn Verschiffen zu lassen, oder jemanden zu finden der daran Interessiert ist den Käfer wieder zurück nach Kapstadt zu fahren. Trotzdem sind wir guter Dinge, dass wir schnellst möglich eine Lösung für unser Problem finden werden. In 5 Tagen wollen wir eine zur Probe packen und sehen ob wir die Möglichkeit haben unser Kitematerial mitzunehmen. Es bleibt spannend denn die Zeit wird knapp und es gibt immer noch eine Reihe ungelöster Problem, wir sind trotzdem guter Dinge, dass sich am Ende alles fügen wird!

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