Ilboru Safari Lodge – 16th February 2012
My thoughts exactly!
Right now it feels as though I have spent an age travelling to get here but here I am sitting in the shade by the pool drinking what I’m sure will be the first of many Kilimanjaro beers for this trip!
A VERY welcome sight!
On the whole the journey has been good, the flight from Heathrow to Nairobi was one of the quietest I’ve ever been on and was little more than half full and having located the International Transfer Desk at Nairobi Airport I had received a new baggage claim slip confirming my bag had been transferred to the Kilimanjaro flight.
It was on the short flight to Kilimanjaro that the realisation of what I am attempting to achieve finally hit home!
Cruising at about 15,000 above a solid blanket of cloud after about 30 minutes the plane banked to the right as it began its descent approach and suddenly rising out of the clouds, covered in snow and looking somewhat ethereal was the Kibo massif and the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Well it seemed like a good idea at the time....
After several years of dreaming, after all the training and preparation, it’s hard to describe how I felt in that moment when I first glimpsed the mountain I had come to climb but I’m pretty sure the predominant thought was along the lines of “**** it’s BIG!”.
You can probably guess what’s coming but having landed and cleared immigration at Kilimanjaro I spent the next 20 mins waiting fruitlessly at the baggage carousel for my bag to appear!
Here's the airport, now where's my bag?
Of course I can’t help but feel a little smug that I made the effort to wear/carry my essential kit (even if I did feel a bit of a tit walking around Nairobi airport in a fleece) but it does make me wonder if there was actually any point in packing the bag in the first place.
The chap who met me from the African Walking Company was great, he looked me up and down and seemed relieved to see that I at least had my boots before taking the baggage claim form and reassuring me that they would take care of everything.
Most of the drive to the Ilboru was on a good tarmac road but as we got near we turned off and spent the next 10 mins bumping and bouncing our way up a dirt track or “African Road” as described my my driver!
"So which one of these is the hotel?"
Trying not to hit my head any more than was absolutely necessary it was hard not to let my concern show as we passed by a myriad of huts and shacks and I began to wonder just how basic my accommodations were going to be.
However soon we turned into a gated driveway and the reassurance of a building resembling what I would recognise as a hotel!
More than a little bit relieved!
It seems my initial fears couldn’t have been further from the truth, set in beautiful gardens each room is clean and spacious and for the next 16 hours it looks as though my toughest decisions will be what to eat and which of the double four poster beds I’ll be sleeping in tonight!
And SLEEP.
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