Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994(18)

Kenya, Nairobi – July 28th
After breakfast we walked into the city to change our flights at South African Airlines to go home a week earlier than we had planned. We had allowed the extra week with the idea of possibly climbing Mt Kilimanjaro but after the Ruwenzori trip we decided against it as neither of us thought we would be able to do it. With a reasonable period of rest in between it would have been possible but we didn’t have the time available to do that. Pierre and Til were doing it so we hoped to hear from them about their experience in due course. So instead of going to Mt Kilimanjaro we decided to head up to Lake Naivasha for a few days. Lake Naivasha was a favourite Sunday picnic outing when we lived here so we thought it would be good to revisit some 'known territory'.

Down in the city we went to Accra Road to see about ways to get to the Lake. A matatu would have been possible but then we would be left with the difficulty of having to find some way back to the city after the visit. We found a Peugeot driver who offered to take us for Ks7000 But after we calculated it back into US$ (132) decided it was too expensive for a 100 km journey.

On the walk up to Westlands we stopped on the way to look at some handcrafts. Dominic bought some batiks and banana-leaf pictures and I bought Patricia a dress for Ks950. At Westlands we looked at more handcrafts and the prices were better there so we decided we would go back there for any remaining gift purchases. We bought a samosa each for Ks15 at the Oven Door for old times sake then bought some eatables at the Uchumi Supermarket and at a health food shop. We were shattered to find that we could have got all of our noodle-type dishes for the walk at the Health Food shop – ah c’est la vie!

Westlands was much changed and developed compared to 20 years previously. The market was still there but there were many more shops than there had been. When we lived here we bought all of our meat at the local butchery at Westlands for very reasonable prices - especially since we couldn't actually afford much in the way of meat in the UK. We also bought vegetables there from a greengrocer. The greengrocer kept a Cockatoo in a cage at the front of his shop and it was very fond of raw chillies.

After returning to the Fairview and lunching we arranged to hire a car to drive to Safariland Lodge at Naivasha and spend three nights there, returning to Nairobi on the following Monday.

Kenya, Nairobi to Naivasha – July 29th
Our hire car arrived promptly at 9:30am so we checked out of the hotel to start our journey to Naivasha – approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Nairobi (toward Uganda) in the Rift Valley. On our way out of Nairobi we detoured through Hurlingham and Kileleshwa to see the house we lived in from 1974 to 1976. The front gates, which were four-feet high steel pipe and cyclone mesh when we lived there had been replaced by high solid steel gates. The Kai-apple hedge was still there but from the little we could see through the hedge, what used to be the front garden was now full of maize.

We drove past the Lavington Shops and also the Valley shops, neither of which looked to have changed very much. Braeburn School, where Leonore went to school, had been massively developed. We made our way out past the back of St Mary’s School where Dominic and Garth were students and out onto the main road to Naivasha and Nakuru. We wanted to go down the old escarpment road so took the Narok turn off. The road down the escarpment had been recently sealed and was in good condition but the view from the top of the escarpment was quite different to twenty years previously. What used to be open plains on the valley floor with many freely roaming wild animals was now completely partitioned into farms large and small. The larger farms seemed to be growing mostly wheat – a cash crop, while the smaller farms were more mixed and growing mainly subsistence crops possibly with small surpluses for sale.

The valley road from the escarpment base to Lake Naivasha had not been in a great state twenty years previously with the edge always broken and a bit if a hazard. Now, however, it seemed that no maintenance whatsoever had been done on the road in those twenty years. It was a nightmare of continuous deep potholes reducing our speed to between 10 and 20 kph. We vowed to return to Nairobi via the main road - which was the road we had taken by bus on the way to Uganda so we knew it to be in good condition!

Arriving at the Safariland Lodge near midday we checked in and had lunch. After lunch we drove along the South Lake Road to the Crater Lake Sanctuary where we had a walk down into the crater to the contained lake. Black and white Colobus monkeys abounded in the trees and we also saw Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, Eland, and Guinea Fowl. On our drive back out of the sanctuary we also saw Baboons and Giraffe. The area around the southern end of Lake Naivasha is extensively farmed for cut flower production and for seed production - mainly for the European market.

On our way back to the lodge we stopped in at Elsamere which continues the Lion conservation work begun by Joy Adamson. The Elsamere Lodge contains a museum which is interesting and we watched a short film of Joy Adamson’s life. Tea and scones were included in the Ks200 entry fee. They continue to run conservation projects and at that time they had five active projects running.

Leaving Elsamere we drove to Hell’s Gate Park gate to see if it would be possible for us to walk in the park. It was possible and there was a safe place to park the car at the Ranger Station. This was in marked contrast to our experiences of around 19 years ago when we went to Hell’s Gate for a picnic with the Holdsworth family and some other friends of theirs (see sidebar below).

On arrival back at Safariland Lodge we found that a group of tourists, mostly northern Europeans, had arrived for an overnight stop. At dinner they attacked the buffet as if they hadn’t eaten in a month echoing remembered experiences of twenty years previously. Night time was quite cool near the lake and we had to wear slacks and warm jacket to go across to the main building for dinner.

Sidebar

After our picnic lunch most of us including the kids had gone off for a walk around the top of the gorge. Patricia stayed back with one of the women who had a small infant. While the woman with infant was just having a local stroll away from the cars, Patricia was attacked by a couple of Masai who wanted what was in the vehicles. She got bashed on the head with a Simi and the thugs broke into the vehicles taking what they could, and also some clothing which contained the keys for one the Holdsworth’s VW Combi people-mover. It was a very traumatic experience for Patricia as, apart from being bashed, she had feared for her life. One vehicle was intact and they eventually took as many as they could to the Safariland Lodge and also reported the incident to the police. Bill Holdsworth and I took a long time to defeat the steering lock on the VW van and hotwire it so that it could be driven. It was dark and cold when eventually we were able to start back to Nairobi. It was made even colder by the VW windscreen having been broken by the thugs.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (17)

Uganda, Kampala to Kenya, Nairobi – July 27th

We had an early 5am start in order to leave for Entebbe Airport at 6am. Mukasa - our taxi driver from the previous evening arrived promptly and we reached Entebbe at around 6:40am. The check in was very slow but eventually we were on the plane which took off at 8:10am. The onboard light refreshments were quite interesting – a bread bun, croissant with butter and marmalade, and two sugar (lady finger) bananas.

On arrival at Nairobi we checked with the Fairview Hotel by phone to find that our reservation was all OK, the only downside being in a room with a shared bathroom. The allocated room was in an old cottage within the hotel grounds and was pleasantly cool. We were able to watch a sunbird busy in a Bird-Of-Paradise flower just outside the window.

Sunbird - outside bedroom window at Fairview Hotel

After getting our baggage settled in, including what we had stored there while on our Uganda adventure, we walked into the city to get some traveller’s cheques changed. I had to replace the clip on my sun-glasses as they had suffered in the mountains. I also had to get some more books as I had run out of reading material. After getting back to the Fairview I called home to let Patricia know that we were back in Nairobi safe and not too much the worse for wear. Lunch was a nice turkey sandwich and some samosas.

After lunch we rang Marjorie and Frank to invite them out for dinner but they declined as they were in the middle of a panic return to England to sort out some problems with misuse of their house. Marjorie was also to have a minor operation for skin cancer on Friday.

That evening we went to dinner at the Minar Indian Restaurant at Westlands. It was very good with main courses of Chicken Tikka, Mutton Kebab, Garlic Mushrooms, Aloo Mattar, Naan and rice for Ks1395 including drinks.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (16)

Uganda, Kasese to Kampala – July 26th

Early in the morning I had to shoot out of bed with another bout of diarrhoea – probably a result of all the fruit juice the previous day. I decided to knock it over with Flagyl and Lomotil (aka Loctite) as we would be travelling to Uganda by bus. After breakfast we went down to the bus stop and met Mr Singi - a very pleasant Mzee who was a fount of information about the attractions of Western Uganda. We found a bus leaving for Kampala ‘soon’ so headed back to the Hotel to check out and take that bus. We got on the bus at 9:20am and didn’t leave Kasese until 10am. Before leaving the town the bus did a cruise around the streets touting for passengers – what a service!

The journey back to Kampala was pretty much the same as the journey out only in reverse. Again we saw Impala, Buffalo, Baboons, and Uganda Kob in Queen Elizabeth Park. We came across an amusing sign just outside the town of Mbarara. It was a normal black-and-white painted Zebra crossing with a sign proudly proclaiming ‘Donated by the Lions Club of Mbarara’. We could just imagine a pride of lazy, hungry lions waiting in the long grass by the side of the road for the Zebras to cross. Maybe we were still light-headed from lack of food!

Bus stop scene - Kasese to Kampala

Along the way there were several stops at which refreshments could be bought either through the bus window or from some of them who came aboard while the bus was stopped. These were colourful sights with lots of activity going on.

"Meals on Wheels!" - Kasese to Kampala

During the bus ride to Kampala I took the time to look at the architecture of houses seen along the way. One incongruous design was a mud-walled hut with a corrugated iron roof and the ridge of the corrugated roof capped with clay tiles.

Summing up the domestic architectures encountered, there appeared to be a progression from the simplest/cheapest to the more technologically intensive and thus more expensive designs. The simplest was undoubtedly the traditional round, mud-walled, thatch-roofed hut. Next in sophistication, if that's the appropriate word, was a hut built to a rectangular pattern with the walls constructed of mud formed on an armature of saplings. The roof was again of thatch.

Next again up the ladder of sophistication was a rectangular hut made of mud bricks. This may have a thatched roof, or one of corrugated iron. The corrugated iron roof probably denoted a slightly more sophisticated sub-classification of this style.

A variation on the previously described style was the use of baked mud bricks but with otherwise the same construction. And then last of all were huts constructed of fired clay bricks and possibly concrete floor and corrugated iron roofing.

The method of baking or firing mud bricks was similar to the making of charcoal:
* Build a stack of mud-bricks – hollow in the centre
* Build a fire in the middle
* Seal the outside and leave it to cook and cool.

There was some very nice-looking basketry for sale along the roadside but no opportunity to stop and check it out. We eventually arrived in Kampala around 5pm into the midst of traffic chaos. When we were eventually able to get off the bus we got into a taxi to the Sheraton Hotel but they had no rooms available so it was on to the Fairway where we were able to get a room for US$89. Then we had to check out flight availability from Entebbe to Nairobi as we didn’t want to spend another 15 hours on a bum-numbing bus ride. We managed to get a booking for 8am the following day but had to go straight to the Uganda Airline office to pay the US$110 each for the tickets.

The TV in the hotel room seemed to have only one channel which varied between CNN and CTV. There were some amusing cartoons on CTV including "Duck Tales, Zoo Olympics". Dominic phoned the Fairview in Nairobi to reserve a room for our return but they couldn’t confirm it. We were to call again from Nairobi Airport on arrival. This was probably a standard practice due to the uncertainties of travel in Africa.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (15)

General Impressions of the Ruwenzoris and Our Trek

The Ruwenzori Range is, without doubt, a very beautiful area with a unique and vast array of flora. Most of the time, the peaks are shrouded in cloud and this deepens the mystery surrounding the ranges. When the cloud does rise briefly there are tantalising glimpses of the peaks.

While we heard many different bird calls we were not often favoured with views of them but, had we had the time to linger would no doubt have seen more. We saw no signs of animals and from what our porters told us this was a legacy of the Tanzanian invasion several years earlier.

The Lonely Planet Guide, and the other route descriptions we had read were too brief to really do justice to the trek, or to really give us any idea of how hard it was. Three days of the trek are at altitudes at or above 4000 metres which was very tiring. We were unprepared for there being so many bogs although this is probably affected by recent weather. Both Dominic and I had experienced the vertical bogs of Mt Kenya but that was all over in a couple of hours whereas some of the bogs on this trek went on all day and sapped all of our strength in struggling across them. There is no doubt that high altitude trekking of this type is very hard and not to be taken too lightly.

To cope with the bogs a pair of old discardable sneakers would have been useful and would have allowed us to have dryer and warmer feet in the evenings.

It was very worth while making the side trip up to Elena Hut, even though we didn’t go up to Margherita Peak. The views were spectacular when the cloud lifted.

Food wise – we should have taken much more care over food selection, especially as we didn’t have to carry it. It was very demoralising to reach camp exhausted and then have to prepare a meal.

Our guide, Denisi, was very good and kept Dominic and I company and guidance all the way on each stage even though we were much slower than Pierre and Till. I think he took pity on Mzee! The Bakonzo porters, and the Zairean porter we had were all very good and willing to help. The oldest Bakonzo porter, Jerome – another Mzee, was very fit and wiry. All of the porters ran up and down these mountains as if they were level ground. I’d have liked to see some of them in the Sydney to Melbourne super marathon. I think they would have knocked the socks of some of the competition – including Cliff Young.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (14)

Our departure from Guy Yeoman Hut for Nyabitaba Hut at 9:30am was with very mixed feelings. This was the second to last leg of the trek and we were already completely knackered. Dominic was in pain from his dislocated/broken finger and neither of us was keeping up enough food intake to cope with the daily stresses. Nevertheless, waking up in the mornings and looking out at the wondrous views was enough to invigorate us for another day’s effort.

Pretending to fly at the top of one
of the steep descents - Guy Yeoman Hut
to Nyabitaba Hut

This day’s route again went through many bogs and also down some very steep rock faces. We had many slips but only gathered a few scratches and minor cuts. My trekking pole saved me from a couple of potentially nasty falls and ended up with a permanent bow in the middle which it has to this day.

Denisi helping Dominic down one of the steeper
parts of the gorge - Guy Yeoman Hut to Nyabitaba Hut

After the steep descents it was again through more bog. Eventually we reached the Nyabitaba Ridge and then there was only 30 minutes of walking to reach the hut. Along part of the ridge section was a small stream and the stream bed provided the easiest walking. It certainly made no difference to our moisture quotient! The total stage time was around seven hours and we were very tired by now. Before we could rest however there was the now-daily ritual of washing boots, gaiters, and socks.

Till made some minestrone soup which was very good and most welcome. Afterwards I played a bit of harmonica which seemed to be appreciated by all, including the four Austrians – or perhaps they appreciated it more when I stopped? Whatever. But then early to bed again to get some rest for the final day of the trek.

Final Leg - Nyabitaba Hut to Nyakalengija

Till and Pierre had said the previous evening that they wanted to be up early on this final day. I nearly died laughing as they had not shown any inclination to get up early before this. The one exception was their ‘summit’ day at Elena Hut. In the event they showed no inclination to start moving when I announced 7am.

Dominic and I packed up quickly and then started down to Nyakalengija at around 8:20am. It was a warm and sunny morning to walk down and the steep descent was very hard on our thighs which we used to control our speed. But joy of joys - there were NO bogs. We were, of course, overtaken by the others and the porters but we didn’t care.

After the main descent even the few short uphill stretches caused us to tire out but we reached the Park Gate after two hours having seen many colourful butterflies on the way. It took us another hour from the Park Gate to Nyakalengija where we met up again with Pierre and Till. As we arrived another two parties of four were preparing to go up. I had a very welcome ‘Coke’ while the others signed out and then it was into the pick-up truck around 12noon to go back to Kasese.

Pierre and Till were heading straight back to Kampala so we saw them onto the bus and made arrangements to keep in touch. Dominic and I planned to head off to Kampala the following day so we checked into the SAAD Hotel again for the night. We headed straight into the dining room and downed a litre of fruit juice each and then some sweet tea. We arranged for our washing to be done for Us3000 each which was very good value as our clothes were in a revolting state.

We had a back room this time and it overlooked a sort of courtyard in the hotel. here was a huge over-lander tourist truck parked just below us and it looked in pretty knocked around condition. Talking to some of the people from the touring party we heard tails of horror roads through the Congo causing very slow travelling.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and it was good to be able to eat properly again. We had both lost quite a bit of weight over the week but that wasn't really a concern as we both had a bit to spare before that anyway!

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (13)

At Elena Hut it was very cold overnight and snowed lightly in the morning. We enjoyed staying inside our warm sleeping bags when Pierre and Till went off with Denisi at 7am to head up to Margherita Peak at 5109 metres ASL. When I went outside at 8:30am for a toilet break I could see the three of them high up on the glacier.

Dominic was still feeling bad but we packed up and waited for the porters who arrived at 11:45am. Eventually we left for Kitandera Hut at 12:45pm. The route down was very steep and we found it quite tiring at that altitude. Once again our trekking poles proved their worth in helping to stabilise our descent. On reaching the lower ground it was, surprise surprise! once more through bog before we reached Kitandera Hut at about 4:30pm.

Mt Baker from Elena Hut

Kitandera Hut was in poor condition although weatherproof. Dominic was still feeling bad so he got straight into his sleeping bag to rest. The four Austrian guys were there and I begged some sugar from them to sweeten a cup of tea I made for Dominic to try to warm him up and get a small amount of nutrient inside him. Pierre and Till arrived at 5pm with Denisi who had fallen on the glacier and gashed his hand on his ice-axe. They had made the summit of Margherita and were glad to have done so. One of the ‘joys’ of Kitandera hut was that it was equipped with a gas burner so preparing a meal was fairly easy. Dominic didn’t have any because his stomach was playing up a bit.

Kitandera Lake (postcard)

Despite being much better acclimatised than we were, the porters do suffer from the effects of altitude and one of them came to me to get some aspirin for a headache. We were to have another heavy day the following day so we were early to bed to get some necessary rest.

Next day we left Kitandera Hut at about 9:45am heading for Guy Yeoman Hut. The first part of the walk was a very steep climb up to the plateau between Mt Baker and Mt Luigi Di Savoia. By this stage we were suffering from exhaustion due to lack of appetite caused by the altitude and that we were using up a lot of energy every day. The plateau led us on through the Freshfield Pass where the climb up and through the pass was very cold. As we carried on across more level ground Dominic slipped on a rock and, putting out his hand to save himself dislocated his right pinky. It may have been broken also but he refused to have it strapped as he wouldn’t have had enough manoeuvrability so we just carried on, with Dominic obviously in pain.

Snow on the plateau near Freshfield Pass

After the pass we started to descend through more of the ubiquitous bog. Our attitude to the bog was now starkly in contrast to how we had felt a few days before. Coming up through the Bigo Bog we had tried desperately to keep our boots dry. Now we just didn’t care so it was just a matter of taking the shortest possible route and ploughing on.

After five hours of negotiating the bog, often with mud up to the knees, Guy Yeoman Hut was a welcome sight but still two hours away and still through lots more bog.

On arrival at the Hut our first stop was down at the river to wash mud off boots and gaiters so that we could settle down knowing that we were prepared for tomorrow. Now that we had reached the safety of the hut Dominic allowed me to strap his fingers and then we got into our sleeping bags for a while to warm up. Dinner was more packet soup but Dominic again couldn’t eat any.

On these days around the middle of the trek, apart from breakfast and the evening soup, our main nutritional intake was sports drink made up from the powdered form we were carrying. We had also taken along some ‘Uncle Toby’s’ breakfast bars but found that they were too tough to eat when our appetites were down. It was all we could do to chew off one mouthful and then try to chew it up sufficiently to swallow. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time too! Early to bed after dinner was a very welcome idea.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (12)

We left Bujuku Hut at a little after 10am, setting out for Elena Hut which is at 4540 metres ASL. The trail is boggy to start with. We are above Lake Bujuku but the area is a natural catchment at the head of the Bujuku river valley so gets a lot of seeping meltwater from the glaciers in the mountains above. After negotiating the boggy lower terrain it is steeply up over rocky ground and around cliffs. The ascent includes a ‘via ferrata’ style ladder which must be quite interesting for those who don’t like heights. We had time for a rest in the misty atmosphere at top of the ladder before carrying on to Elena Hut at 2:30pm.

Denisi, Dominic and Me at the top of the ladder
up from Bujuku Hut to Elena Hut

On arrival at the hut we found quite a number of people still there including an American Peace Corp lady who was waiting for her party to return from Margherita Peak. They had left for the ascent at yam and were expected back at around 2pm but they didn’t return until about 5:30pm. There was also a group of four Austrian climbers who were about to set off for Kitandera Hut. It was quite crowded with all those people present as Elena Hut is quite small. It has no sleeping platforms – you basically just slept on the floor which we were quite happy to do. There was no room for porters here so they usually go back down to Bujuku Hut for the night and come up again the following day.

While waiting the American lady was playing cards with two porters to pass the time.
When the Peace Corp party eventually arrived they still had to go on to Kitandera Hut – another three hours walking. Some of them would have stayed but it would have cost them another US$50 each for the night so eventually they headed off.

Elena Hut is near the bottom of the Elena and Savoia glaciers and the view of Savoia Peak and the other surrounding peaks is spectacular when the clouds lift.

Main Elena Hut and Porters Huts

Dominic and I only had soup for dinner as neither of us had any appetite – a side effect of high altitude. We knew we had to try to eat something, however, to keep up our strength. In the event Dominic chucked up some of his meal, reminiscent of his reaction to the dried fish noodles we had eaten at Old Moses Hut on Mt Kenya.

It was obvious that Dominic was suffering from the altitude – he was headachy and cold and very fatigued so we decided that we would not try for Margherita Peak the following day. Pierre and Till were raring to go so they would start off with Denisi early in the morning. We would wait for the porters to come back up and then go down to Kitandera Hut and Pierre and Till would follow on their return from the peak.

Till, Pierre and Denisi near Elena Hut

The outside toilet at Elena Hut sits a little way to the south-east near the edge of the cliff. The eastern side is open and has the most spectacular views of any toilet I have ever used. Facing east it looks out over the Mt Baker peaks about 400 metres higher than Elena Hut and about two kilometres away on the other side of the Scott-Elliott pass.

Elena Hut dunny - best view in the world!

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (11)

There will be a temporary pause in this 'strand' while I write up my recent Shanghai trip.

Normal service will resume soon :-)

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (10)

Ruwenzori Circuit, John Matte Hut to Bujuku Hut, July 20th
This stretch of the trail took us through the Lower and Upper Bigo Bogs before traversing the northern edge of Lake Bujuku to arrive at Bujuku Hut. The scenery was brilliant with some truly amazing vegetation in the bog areas. The park authorities try to get everyone to stick to the trail and generally people do try to do this. In the boggy areas, however, it is difficult to see where the trail should be and most people try to keep dry feet- at least until they inevitably miss a tussock and end up in the bog anyway. Traversing the bogs is a very tiring process. Our tendency initially, like everyone else, was to try to keep our boots dry by leaping from tussock to tussock. Denisi, our guide was good at helping us to find the best paths but inevitably we started to miss the odd landing and got wet anyway. The water and mud would often reach to mid-thigh level and though gaiters helped to keep most of the mud out of our boots to some extent, the water seeped in anyway and we had to resign ouselves to wet feet for the rest of the day.

We had left John Matte Hut at around 9:10am and arrived at Bujuku Hut ahead of the Dutch party at around 4pm. Along the way we met up with the two British guys again as they were on their way back down to spend the night at John Matte Hut again. Just at the time we met up with them, which would have been mid-afternoon, the clouds lifted and we got a rare glimpse of the high peaks. Sightings are rare as they are frequently shrouded in cloud so we felt quite priviledged. The photo at left shows Bert admiring the sights near Lake Bujuku with giant Lobelia and giant Groundsel in the background.

Using our trekking poles to leap from tussock to tussock through the bog helped quite a lot and Pierre and Till did even better with two poles apiece. However, by the end of the day not only were our legs tired but so too were our arms and shoulders.

Giant Lobelias in Bigo Bog

On arrival at the very poor Bujuku Hut, at nearly 4000 metres ASL, Denisi and our Zairean porter set up a charcoal brazier to warm us up and help to dry our clothes. The Dutch party straggled in at around 6pm and we turned in for the night at 8pm. Part of the lower sleeping platform was broken, putting it on a bit of a lean which made sleeping uncomfortable for those unlucky enough to end up on it. It is very cold at this altitude and I was glad of having polar fleece overpants and jacket to wear. A lot of the Dutch party were in tents around the hut so they may have been even colder than we were.

Dominic and Bert outside Bujuku Hut

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (9)

July 19th
After a good night's sleep, a breakfast of fresh pineapple and tea fuelled us for the day’s start at 8:45am. The first part of our track was slightly uphill and then descended steeply to cross confluence of the raging Bujuku and Mubuku rivers via the Kurt Shafer suspension bridge. The bridge was donated by Kurt Shafer (I think he was a US Ambassador to Uganda) as the previous low-level bridges kept getting washed away by floods. After crossing the river it was steeply up, up, up over roots and rocks. This was very hard going and we reached a very welcome rest stop after about three hours. After a brief rest and snack we carried on over undulating terrain of mostly slippery boulders for another two hours through the forest.

We emerged from the forest near a fast-running stream so I stopped to fill my water bottle. As I bent down over the stream I slipped and plunged headfirst into the water which was fortunately not deep. Denisi grabbed my belt and hauled me back upright but I had lost my watch in the stream when the wristband popped. After scrabbling around I managed to find it and it was still running quite happily. The bracelet was easily repaired and then we were off again. Oh what an adventurous life!

The trail led alongside the river to the unused Nyamuleju Hut and then through boggy areas to the newer John Matte Hut. This was about 7.5 hours total for the day and very tiring. At breakfast time I had thought I would fold but managed to make it through the day. On the final stretch to John Matte Hut we passed the whole of the Dutch party and caught up with Till and Pierre who had passed us after the first 2.5 hours. Two British guys arrived at John Matte Hut having come all the way up from Nyakalengija in one day. We thought it pure madness as they had no porters and told us that they might not go much further.

Dinner was a very welcome good cooked meal of Thai soup followed by Rice-a-Risso and mixed vegetables (Dehydrated potato and some sweet potato). Left is a shot of the porters hut at John Matte Hut camp, with the porters preparing thier evening meal. Below right is John Matte Hut with Till, myself and Dominic 'relaxing' at the end of a gruelling day.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (8)

July 17th and 18th. After our day+ of bus travel we awoke after a good sleep to a very misty morning. Partly what woke us was the Maribou Storks on the corrugated iron roof which sounded like half a battalion of infantry marching around. After breakfast we changed some more money at Us950 to US$1. There did not appear to be any currency control as we were frequently accosted by people on the street wanting to change money. However, we had heard of other people being caught up in illegal dealings so we do all of our currency exchanges through the banking system. We may not have got the most favourable rate but we felt it was better to be safe. With some local currency in pocket we headed for the market and bought a large bunch of bananas for Us400.

After strolling around the town awhile we located the Ruwenzori Mountaineering Service (RMS) office and obtained some information about deals and protocols. Because accommodation on the circuit is limited the number of groups departing is strictly controlled. One of the downsides of this type of trek is that there is generally little opportunity to slip in a rest day – you have to keep moving.

Pierre and Till arrived as planned around midday and after they got settled in we all went back to RMS to arrange a trip. The trip was arranged to start on the following day at 8am and would cost us US$370 for 8 days. This didn’t, of course, include food so after lunch we set off to purchase some necessary supplies. We bought pasta, biscuits, bread, soups, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, sweet potato, pineapples, tea, bananas which we thought would keep us all going on the trek.

The next morning. our 8am pickup to start the walk didn’t arrive until 9:10am and that after Pierre and Dominic went to find out what was going on. It is very hard for us 'westerners' to get used to African time. In South Africa I believe they often use a relative urgency specification system. 'Now' means 'sometime soon', and 'now now' means pretty much immediately.

Eventually we departed on the back of a utility to Nyakalengija where we were to meet up with our guide and porters. The whole selection process is somewhat of a cattle auction and one relies ont the guide - in our case Denesi - to do the selecting and rejecting. It wasn’t possible for us to determine how equitable the process is and it is quite possible that there are some degrees of favouritism involved. We had to rely on Denisi to pick men who will carry their loads for the whole trip without problems. Because we had 109 kilogrammes between the four of us we had to have an additional porter above what we had already paid for at an additional US$50.

Porter Selection at Nyakalengija.

Eventually everything got sorted out and at about 11:30am we started off on the first day’s trek. This was initially past shambas (small farms) before reaching the elephant-grass covered lower slopes. The porters set a cracking pace and initially we made the mistake of trying to keep up with them. They did slow down on the steeper sections but then sped up as soon as they could. Jerome, one of the older porters seemed happy to be going much slower than the rest and was much closer to my pace.

The pace and effort began to take their toll after three hours and we found that we had to drink frequently and also stop for many rests. After the elephant grass we entered the forest where at least there were trees to use for leverage and to have the occasional rest against. Four and three-quarter hours after leaving Nyakalengija we arrived at our destination for the day – Nyabitaba Hut. I’m sure that I arrived much lighter than I started out due to sweating heavily for almost the whole distance. Again we are already higher than Mt Kosciusko at around 2600 metres ASL. There are marvellous views over the forested hills on the other side of the Mubuku River valley and we can also see the Portal Peaks slightly to the west of north. These are about five kilometres away by crow flight and stand over 4300 metres high.

Nyabatiba Hut - The author sitting midway
along the verandah, Pierre and Till to the left.

A large organised Dutch group also arrived and set up camp nearby. The was apparently a regular trip for the guys running it and they were very self-sufficient. After dinner they decided to have a sing-a-long around the camp fire giving a rousing rendition of the old Max Bygraves song ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’. This rather surprised us as we had the idea that real Dutch people would shudder at that particular song.

While preparing our evening meal we discovered that bananas don’t travel well at all. We had put them into a plastic garbage bag in one of the porter’s loads. When we reached in to get a banana we got a handful of mush mixed up with banana skins. While it didn’t look good it was edible and nutritious so didn’t go entirely to waste. The hut was dry and we had a good sound sleep after a taxing day. Tomorrow we will go slower for sure.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (7)

After the unpleasant illness of the previous day, I woke up feeling much better and felt well enough to tackle a light breakfast and, later, a light lunch. I decided that I would be OK to travel on Friday so we headed back down into the city to the Akamba Bus Company to re-book. The booking agent apologised, unnecessarily, for not being able to give us a refund which, he explained, we could have got if we had notified them before our scheduled departure. However, he gave us new tickets for half price (Ks450 each) which was much appreciated.

On Friday we decided to do some more sightseeing to fill in the time before our long bus trip that night. We booked a four and a half hour guided trip through the Nairobi Game Park and were amply rewarded with sightings of many animals including Grant’s and Thompson’s Gazelle, Impala, Eland, Wildebeest, Hartebeest, Buffalo, Rhinoceros, Crocodiles, Tortoise, Baboons, Hyrax, Zebra, Giraffe. There were also many bird species to be seen and they included Ostrich, Maribou Stork, Vulture, Weaver Birds, Blacksmith Bird and Pigeons. We didn’t get to see any of the big cats but this was unsurprising as the grass was very tall – we could barely see the rhinos until we got fairly close.

After returning from our trip to the Game Park we checked out of the Fairview and went down to Lagos Road to catch our bus from Kampala. I’d heard about the chaos typically attending bus departures in Italy and what we experienced would not, it seems, have been out of place there. Nevertheless it all resolved and we departed for Kampala at 7:15pm. We discovered that two young Germans, Pierre and Till, who were on board the bus were also planning to do the Ruwenzori circuit so I suggested that we join forces giving us a party of four. I had the idea that the larger party would make guide and porter negotiations a bit easier and probably save all of us a bit of money. The only hitch from their point of view, discovered after we were well on the way, was that they had left the batteries for their camcorder charging in a friend’s room back in Nairobi. By the time we left Naivasha they had managed to contact the friend and arranged to meet up with him in Kampala the following day with the errant batteries.

The bus trip was generally neither more nor less of an experience than any other such long distance journey with the exception that the seat padding was almost non-existent. To stave off the numb-bum effect I pulled the dense foam stiffener from the inside of my day-pack and doubled that between my posterior and the seat. It provided some relief but about four times as thick would have been better. Dominic had no additional padding so was suffering far worse than I.

At the Kenya-Uganda border post of Busia we had a two hour delay while the various customs officials inspected all of the cargo in great detail. However, we had no problem with personal clearances. All of this around 2am.

Upon getting underway from Busia we had been travelling for perhaps an hour and a half before being stopped again for another check – this time by a militia group. We all had to get off the bus and were instructed to leave all belongings behind but we took our day-packs with us. All of the personal gear left on board was searched and the odd bottle of beer was ‘confiscated’ before finally we were allowed back on the bus to continue our journey. Eventually, we arrived in Kampala at 11am after 16 hours of travel – 14 of them bum-numbing.

The journey from Busia to Kampala gave us a view of the Eastern Uganda countryside which proved quite different to the drier conditions we had experienced in Kenya. Seen from the bus it seemed to be very lush and green with lots of trees. Tea plantations were frequent and the towns and villages we passed through were in better condition than their Kenyan counterparts. Uganda went through a lot of turmoil after independence in 1962. Its first president, Milton Obote was ousted by Idi Amin in 1971 and then returned from exile for a second period in 1979 after Amin was ousted by Tanzanian forces. Obote’s second term was marked by repression and eventually he was ousted for the second time by his own military chiefs in a coup in 1985. After a period of unrest the (guerrilla) National Resistance Army of the current President Museveni took control. However, Uganda seemed to have weathered through and maintained its right to Winston Churchill’s appellation ‘Pearl of Africa’.

On arrival in Kampala Dominic and my priority was to locate a bus departing for Kasese in Western Uganda. Kasese is the jumping off point for the Ruwenzori trek and we wanted to get there as soon as possible so that we could get a trip organised. Pierre and Till were to wait in Kampala for their friend and follow on to Kasese the following day. Fortunately, in common with many other African cities, Kampala buses tend to congregate in a central area close to the city centre, markets, etc so we didn’t anticipate a long search and so it proved to be. Pierre and Till stayed with us until we located the general area from which buses departed for Kasese. We located a bus departing almost straight away costing us Us7000 each plus Us3000 for luggage. With the exchange rate at around Us (Uganda Shillings) 950 to 1000 for US$1 it was a very reasonable deal. The people all seemed to be very friendly and with much less of the pushiness of the Kenyans.

The bus was crowded and we would have to endure some more bum-numbing but at least we had a seat. During the six-hour trip we saw a strong and vibrant countryside with cultivated crops of coffee, tea, sugar cane and bananas. The early part of the trip was through relatively lush areas but later on, as we started across the western plains it became much drier. At one village some of the guys on the bus bought a big hand of about 15 bananas for Us200 – approximately 20c US.

Further on we saw many Impala and Bufffalo, along with baboons and a larger gazelle in the distance – possibly Eland. One of our fellow passengers was very eager to point out all of the animals to us. It is remarkable that the animal numbers have grown so much as a large percentage were killed off during the Tanzanian invasion when the soldiers would just gun them down indiscriminately – not even using them for food.

On arrival in Kasese we were absolutely filthy and sweaty and tired after about 23 hours travelling. We got a double room at the SAAD Hotel for Us15000 a night but no running water despite all the plumbing being in place. We had to make do with a 40 litre jerry can but it was better than no water at all. While waiting here for Pierre and Til, who should arrive the following day, we would search out the Ruwenzori Mountain Society to find out what was happening.

There were lots of Maribou storks around the hotel and the streets of the town. These are primarily carrion eaters so we guessed it was their job to keep the town clean up to a point. Dinner was of very tough chicken which we thought might actually be ‘leg of Maribou Stork’. The hotel is Muslim owned and therefore dry but that was no problem to us. It also meant that there was no bar noise to interfere with our rest. After dinner we walked around the town to see if we could find the RMS but without any luck.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (6)

Mt Kenya looking up the McKinder Valley to the
scree slope which leads to the glacier (centre).

The next morning, after settling up the lodge bill after breakfast, we were preparing to leave for Nairobi in the Peugeot which Dominic had arranged when the desk clerk ran up to say he had undercharged us by US$90. So much for using a calculator! The Peugeot took the six of us (Dominic and I, the three Spaniards, and the German) along with our packs of course, for Ks700 each. It was somewhat more comfortable than a matatu which would have been grossly overloaded on a journey into the city.

On arrival we booked into the slightly more salubrious Fairview Hotel at US$70 a night including breakfast. This turned out to be much better value than the SixEighty and quieter – being away from the bustle of the city centre. It had maintained a colonial feeling to it which was definitely missing at the SixEighty. We had a nice lunch of samosas at the hotel. We had become addicted to samosas when we lived in Nairobi in the early 1970's so it was good to be able to have them whenever we wanted to. After lunch we headed downtown to check out buses for Kampala. The Lonely Planet guide had mentioned the Akamba Bus Company but we couldn’t locate it. However, we did manage to find a regular service for when we would be ready for the next leg of the trip.

On the way back to the hotel we picked up our suitcases which we had left at the Six-Eighty Hotel while we were ‘up-country’.

On arrival back at the Fairview we contacted old friends Frank and Marjorie Watts. This hardy couple had stayed on in Kenya following Frank’s second retirement and spent much of their time helping out at the animal orphanage attached to the Nairobi Game Park. Frank originally travelled from England to Kenya on the same flight which we had travelled on way back in 1974. He was then taking up his new position as Safety Officer for East African Power and Lighting Company after retiring from the electricity industry in England. I was joining the same company as a Senior Programmer on a two year contract. When we got settled into company housing we turned out to be in the same street and separated by just one other house. It would be good to catch up with them after all these years so we arranged to meet them for lunch at the Fairview next day to catch up on old times.

Dinner that night was a Fairview Special Burger with sides for Ks1000 including drinks.

The next morning we decided on a bit of sight-seeing so we headed off on foot to the Snake Park and Museum. I remembered the Snake Park from our time here twenty years ago. When we arrived there we could not discern any changes apart from having to pay the non-resident price to get in. The snake pit in the middle of the park was literally crawling with legless reptiles - I wouldn't want to fall in!

Green tree snakes in Nairobi Snake Park. How many can you count?

Afterwards we headed back into town to attempt to find the Akamba Bus Company again which we eventually did find it in Lagos Road. The company runs an overnight bus between Nairobi and Kampala so we booked for the 7pm trip the following night. Dominic had arranged to visit the Australian High Commission the following morning so the evening departure would suit us quite nicely. At least that was the plan but the best laid plans ...

For our trip up Mt Kenya we had bought kerosene which was the only stove fuel we could find at the time but it was not good for cooking with being far too dirty and emitting noxious black smoke. For the next leg we hunted around and found some white spirit which burns cleanly. We were able to stock up on drinks and snacks for the bus trip at the same time.

The morning having been successfully taken care of at the Snake Park and doing our shopping we headed back to the hotel by taxi to meet Marjorie and Frank for lunch.

Meeting up with Marjorie and Frank after 18 years was quite a joy and they seemed to be handling their increasing age well. Marjorie told us of some of her experiences at the Animal Orphanage, including being mauled by a young lion which left her with some nasty scars on her arms. They also regaled us with tales about the number of times their house had been broken into although they seemed quite blasé about it. They do have an Askari (guard) looking after the house but from our previous experiences the Askari is not likely to prove much of a deterrent to would-be thieves - they typically run away to avoid trouble. Apart from their security experiences the ex-patriot lifestyle seemed to suit them and, as they told us, there was nothing for them back in England.

The following morning - July 13th - Dominic went off to do his bit of work at the Australian High Commission. He was on leave from the Department of Administrative Services who provided information technology services to the Department of Foreign Affairs, and had arranged to do a technical review of the AHC installation while he was in Nairobi.

I, on the other hand, had woken up with acute diarrhoea, upset stomach and mild fever. From the symptoms I worked out that it was probably amoebic dysentery caught from improperly prepared food or bad water up-country. We had been extremely careful about what we ate and where and we had a pump-style water purifier with us which we used for all of our drinking and cooking water (and for teeth-cleaning water). However, there was no mistaking the nature of the problem so I stayed in bed and dosed up on Lomotil (for the vomiting) and Bactrim (for the other end). When Dominic returned I wasn’t feeling significantly better so we decided to postpone the Kampala trip for a couple of days. I could not envisage sitting on a bus for over 15 hours in this state. The medicines seemed to have the desired effect eventually but it was an unwelcome upset to our plans. I did get to watch a lot of UK TV via cable which kept me in touch with the outside world somewhat.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (5)

We had a good breakfast the next day prior to Dominic heading off with his 'expedition'. After Dominic had gone I later had a good lunch which was pretty much the same as the previous night's dinner except that it was in the restaurant beside the swimming pool. Unfortunately afterwards I had an attack of the skitters which saw me have to walk with clenched buttocks back to the cottage. Because I was on my own in a fairly large cottage, they moved me to a different cottage which was a bit closer to the lodge amenities and beside the river but it had a lot of overhanging trees which made it quite a gloomy place. I managed to call Patricia at home and had a welcome conversation while I brought her up to date with the happenings.

That night I was very uneasy. Alone in this very dark cottage I was conscious of having all of Dominic's and my worldly possessions and the slightest noise from the trees outside had me twitching. spent a very uneasy night. The cottage was quiet apart from ambient bush and river noises but I felt very insecure even though I double and triple checked that doors and windows were secured. When I wen to bed I spent the early part of the night starting at every unusual noise. Eventually I got out of bed and barricaded the bedroom door with a chest of drawers buttressed by the end of the bed. At least if anyone broke in I was going to have plenty of warning before they could get into the room. After blocking the doorway that I was able to get back to sleep properly although if there had been a fire I would have been stonkered.

Later next morning I went to reception and put Dominic’s money into safe storage. I also got them to move me into a double villa-type room which gave me a more secure feeling as there were people in the rooms on both sides. The ‘room’ was half of a small villa – one of several which are set in a row alongside the pathway to the lodge's central amenities area.

I bought a writing pad and wrote seven pages to Patricia. Possibly the spooked feeling was down to a bit of physical exhaustion compounded by the dose of skitters. I wonder if I was coming down with that while up the mountain and it might have contributed to the fatigue?

Even though I’d only been by myself a day, the enforced inactivity was making me a bit potty and I would be glad when Dominic arrived back. I did hope he was having a good experience though.

I lit a fire before going to dinner and by the time I got back it had warmed the room up quite nicely. People who haven't been there often think that all of Africa is hot and steamy all of the time. Even though it straddles the Equator, upland Kenya is quite temperate and night time temperatures drop quite low because of the altitude. Dinner was up to the usual standard – especially the Piripiri Chicken. That night I slept much better.

The following morning I skipped breakfast as I was feeling a little overfed. I mooched around the lodge property, read, watched birds then had lunch. This included samosas and curries for a nice change.

A group of American twitchers (birdwatchers) arrived during the morning. The group was mainly composed of middle-aged women and it was amusing to me to watch them wandering around with binoculars oohing and aahing at every little bird that moved. There were some very pretty birds around, however, including a group of green parrots.

At around 4:30pm Dominic arrived back from his mountain adventure very very tired. He made it up to Pt Lenana but only just. Still, he did get there and was glad he had done it. His description of the last section from McKinder’s Hut to Pt Lenana was almost word for word with my memory of my own experience 19 years ago.

The 1975 Mt Kenya Summit Party at Pt Lenana.
The author is 2nd from right in the yellow balaclava.

Dinner that night was a good one enjoyed with three Spaniards – Idor, Jose, and Anna – who were actually Basques, and a German – Klaus. They had all been part of Dominic’s ‘summit party’. As they were all weary from their Mt Kenya experience we soon broke up after dinner for an early night.

The 1994 Mt Kenya Summit Party.
Dominic in red Goretex 2nd from right

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (5)

After breaking camp at Sirimon Gate we had to pay the Park Ranger for the necessary permits. Being in the park costs US$20 each per (planned) day - $12 for admission and $8 for camping. Like other public facilities in Kenya, visitors pay much more than local residents. When we lived in Kenya in the ‘70s we had benefited from this but now we had to pay the full tariff. We had calculated that it would take us four days to get up to Pt Lenana and back out of the park.

Starting out just after 9am the first day’s walk was up through the dense forest on the lower slopes and would take us above the tree line some distance before Judmaier Camp. The track is steep and the going was slow with the approximately 25kg that each of us was carrying so stops for breath were frequent. The rests did, however, give us time to appreciate the natural beauty of these lower slopes. Shortly after departing Sirimon gate we saw Bushbuck and further on there were Guinea Fowl. We saw many forest birds, and monkeys abounded in the trees. There were signs of buffalo, elephant and hyena along the trail as evidenced by their distinctive piles of droppings. We didn’t want to meet any one of them face to face but if we did we were trusting to our walking poles to provide some degree of defence.

It took us about five and a half hours to ascend the 800 metres over about 8 km. The last one and a quarter hours we were trudging through a fierce hail storm. Even with the hood of our Goretex waterproof jackets up the hail stung and the track soon became a mini-river. We were now above the tree line and the terrain wasn’t quite so steep. It was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and eventually we came to the Old Moses Bunkhouse at Judmaier Camp. Danish couple Jacob and Tina, who had passed us just before the hail started, were already there. Although we had the tent we were cold and wet and didn’t relish the idea of setting up camp in the still-falling hail so we opted to spend the night at the bunkhouse. At Ks 650 it was worth it to spend a drier and more restful night.

Shortly after our arrival a group of eleven straggled in followed by a group of four Australians from Perth. The change into warm dry gear was most welcome. That evening we cooked a light meal using some of the dired fish which had bought in the City Market in Nairobi. They were edible but particularly palatable and Dominic's stomach revolted at eating them. And it had seemed like such a good idea when we bought them.

After a cosy (and dry) night in the hut, our start at a little before 8am was through frozen hail which made it very crisp underfoot. Our plan today was to make for Liki North Hut and spend the night there. From there it would be releatively straightforward to go to Point Lenana and then get back to Liki North Hut in one day. With the frozen hail on the ground it was hard to imagine that we were just a few kilometres south of the Equator. However, the equatorial region plays little part in the local climate when you are over 3500 metres above sea level.

I found the going very tiring and after three hours we had made a bare 200 metres in altitude and about 3 kilometres in distance. Even though it was a bright sunny day and I was wearing my Goretex shell I was feeling cold which was a sure sign of very low blood sugar. I had a very real fear of developing altitude sickness and we were still at least 400 metres in altitude and five kilometres in distance from Liki North Hut. Reluctantly we decided to go back down to Old Moses Bunkhouse for another night and re-assess the situation there. It took us about one and a half hours to make the return, downhill, trip. It felt almost as hard going down as it was going up but that was probably just the result of extreme fatigue.

Even though we turned back the day was far from wasted. At this altitude the unique mountain flora is abundant with giant lobelia and groundsel (Senecio) as well as giant heath. They provide a rich environment for small bird species such as the Malachite Sunbird, larger birds such as Guinea Fowl, and for several types of mammals such as Bushbuck and Hyrax.

On re-reaching Old Moses Bunkhouse I got into my sleeping bag to try to warm up and rest for a while. Dominic cooked up some packet Thai Hot and Spicy noodles which had a very beneficial effect.

Two Welsh guys were camped nearby on their way up the mountain where they planned to do two climbs.

And so to bed to rest up for whatever the new day would bring. The early night gave me a chance to think things over a bit and reflect on my condition.

After a decent sleep Dominic and I discussed our options. An obvious one was to try again for Liki North Hut having had another night to rest. I didn’t feel that I had recovered enough for it to be really that much different from the previous day though so I suggested that we head back down and then go down to Naro Moru where he could get a portered trip up the Naro Moru route which would take about three days total. I’d stay behind in the Naro Moru River Lodge and recover ready for my real objective – the Ruwenzoris. I was disappointed at not being able to make it but I had done the ascent to Pt Lenana once and Dominic deserved a chance to do it without me jeopardising the effort.

So at eight-thirtyish we started out back down the mountain to Sirimon Gate. From there we would play it by ear to get a ride back to Nanyuki and thence to Naro Moru.

The walk down to Sirimon Gate was uneventful and took us about two and a half hours. Waiting for a matatu to hitch a ride back to Nanyuki gave us a chance to rest for a while.

We finally managed to arrange a ride back to Nanyuki for Ks1000. A guide from another party tried to hustle us into staying at Nanyuki and arranging for Dominic to do a porteraged trip from there up the Sirimon route. We’d made our minds up, however, and we would do the Naro Moru option as we had agreed.

The trip back to Nanyuki was uneventful and there was a bus leaving ‘soon’ for Naro Moru. KS50 each and the same for our packs saw us on our way. I might have offended the local bus guys a little as I kept popping out of the bus to make sure our packs were not being offloaded from the roof while we were inside. However, better safe than sorry and I had heard some stories of backpackers arriving at their destination to find that their luggage had not. The bus trip was not without its amusements. One of the passengers was a self-proclaimed evangelist who had taken it upon herself to save the rest of humanity from the burning fires of hell. She copped a lot of flak and abuse from other passengers but she didn’t go far and it was quite peaceful for the rest of the trip. Of course, arrival in Naro Moru gave us yet another throng of hustlers to deal with but we fobbed them off with a ‘we will get back to you’ and carried on to walk the three kilometres to the Naro Moru River Lodge.

We were able to secure a self-contained cottage for US$45 per day and an extra US$23 for full board. Dominic arranged his trip up the Naro Moru route to start the following day and I would stay behind and recover. For US$450 he got a guide and two porters with all accommodation, park passes, and food included.

After this eventful day we finished off with an excellent dinner of six plus courses. The self-contained cottage was set off by itself in a very peacful area of the grounds. We were able to get some essential laundry done and relax a bit which was very welcome.

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (4)

Research the previous evening had provided us with the information that the ‘bus depot’ where we arrived in Nanyuki was also the place to pick up a local ride by taxi. We found a friendly driver and his ‘co-pilot’ who were willing to take us to the road junction for Sirimon Gate - off the main highway north. They helped us to load our packs and then we were off for the princely sum of Ks500. The driver and his mate were very chatty and happy to talk politics. The situation seemed to be pretty much like any other country in the world – country areas disadvantaged by policies that favoured the cities etc. There was much talk of corruption and regional favouritism.

To emphasise the point, we were stopped along the way by a policeman. According to our driver this was common practice with the country police officers seeking ‘tea money’ from wayfarers before allowing them to pass. Our presence in the car may have kept the cost down a bit for our driver.

We had arranged to be dropped at the main road junction where the road to Sirimon Gate begins. Our reasoning was that this would give us some time to walk ourselves fit and get used to the higher altitude. Nanyuki is at just over 1900m ASL and Sirimon Gate is at 2600m. The walk in from the road junction at about 2000m is about 9km and would give us a chance to stretch our legs and lungs. We would also get used to feeling the weight of our packs before we hit the steeper stuff! Our taxi driver and his mate could not see the point of us doing this and wanted to drop us off at the park gate but eventually we managed to convince them that we weren’t entirely nuts.

The 9km walk to the park gate took us four hours which was probably ok given that we were carrying heavy packs and gained about 600 metres in altitude. Along the way we passed by fields under cultivation although there were not many people about. Periodically on the track we had to detour around a large pile of elephant dung. At least the local shamba owners would have ready supplies of good-quality fertiliser for free – possibly in repayment for some of their crop which had been trampled and/or eaten.

Upon arrival at Sirimon Gate we payed our respects to the Park Ranger and explained that we would camp at the gate overnight and head into Mt Kenya National Park the following day. There were two South African couples at the Ranger Post. Hindi, Gregory, Sharon and Gavin who were planning to climb the south face of Batian.

Bert reclining in the tent at Sirimon Gate

We set up our tent and settled down for a bit of a rest. Just before getting ready to cook our evening meal we were hit by a violent hailstorm. Dominic’s expedition tent had its first real weather test and passed with flying colours. The only problem we found was that the air duct tubes in the vestibule, which we closed to keep out the hail, had filled up with hailstones so we had to be very careful when we reopened them to make sure the hailstones went outside and not inside. We had gleaned from our pre-trip reading that the afternoon storms are a pretty regular occurrence.

From the door of the tent we could watch a group of Waterbuck grazing in the forest a short distance away along with a few Zebra. Where we were camped is about 500m north of the Equator and the top of Mt Kenya is about 20km by crow flight to the south-south-east. The peaks showed up briefly as the late afternoon storm passed and it really was an awesome sight.

Mt Kenya from Sirimon Gate - late afternoon

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (3)

Eventually we set off to Nairobi on June 30th 1994. This is Dominic and me at Sydney Airport, taken by Garth, while waiting for our Johannesburg flight. After briefly meeting up with Garth we’re off via Perth and Johannesburg arriving at 6:20AM to 2°C in the middle of their coldest snap since 1964! Time for some name dropping. While waiting to board our flight to Nairobi at Jan Smuts Airport the familiar face of Desmond Tutu appeared in the crowd mixing with true ecumenical egalitarianism. He only had time for a quick ‘Hi Bert’ before leaving (OK that’s a lie).

Our initial impressions of Nairobi after nearly 20 years were that it was busier and dirtier than remembered and that there were a lot more beggars and touts on the streets. These impressions may have been the result of faulty memory coupled with having lived now for many years in places where you don’t get accosted every few paces to ‘buy this’, ‘take this tour’, ‘shine your shoes;, or just plain outright begging. The first reaction of tourists to beggars is often ‘oh – poor things, better give them something’ and that is exactly what they count on. The best approach is to watch what the locals do and follow suit. There is no doubt that westerners coming to Africa are seen as being unimaginably wealthy and are therefore easy pickings for street-smart beggars in the larger cities. It is, perhaps, instructive that when you get away from the cities and into rural towns the incidence of beggars declines very rapidly. Unfortunately the same is not true of the touts. After being in Nairobi a few days we had swotted up on our basic Swahili again giving us the key phrase ‘Siyo! Kwenda!’ (‘No! Go away!’) accompanied by a dismissive hand gesture. This ‘hardened’ attitude did not stop us giving to those whom we felt were genuinely in need.

For the first few days of our trip we stayed in the SixEighty Hotel right on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi’s heart. Eighteen years previously this would possibly have been a 3-4 star hotel but on our return in 1994 it was officially rated at 2 stars. It was adequate though and at $US65 a night for the two of us, relatively inexpensive.

After check in we had a stroll around to some of the old city places we remembered. The City Market seemed to be conducting the same sort of fresh vegetable business and was very familiar. At the Thorn Tree Hotel we stopped for a tea for me and a Coca Cola for Dominic. It still provides a useful place to stop and watch the world go by.

In these first couple of days we also checked out the ground transport situation at the unofficial Matatu bus ‘depot’ on the corner of River and Accra Roads. It was, and no doubt still is, really just a matter of turning up and finding the next one leaving and then negotiating the price. We were quoted a general going rate for Nairobi to Nanyuki of around Ks250 (250 Kenya Shillings – roughly Ks60 = US$1) plus Ks100 per pack each.

One of the first things you have to work out in a strange place, and Nairobi was strange after nearly 20 years away, is how to feed yourself. Fortunately we found a ‘Burger King’ that did a good breakfast of baked beans, two poached eggs, toast, juice and tea for Ks63. Any resemblance to a Burger King anywhere else on the planet was only in the name but it was OK. For dinner on the second day we found an Italian Trattoria near Kenyatta Avenue that was as good as any in Melbourne’s Lygon Street. Nairobi, and Kenya in general, is not the sort of place where a 'must do' is totry the local cuisine. Apart from game, mostly from farmed sources, there is nothing to tempt foreign palates in Kenyan food. However, Kenya has a rich history of Indian and Pakistani settlers who have added to the local food scene. These along with other ethnic groups provide quite a reasonable selection for evening dining. Breakfast always seems to be the hardest meal to get 'right' though and the Burger King was probably the closest we would get except for in the better hotels.

On July 3rd, after breakfast at Burger King, we put our suitcases into storage at the SixEighty in preparation for our journey to Nanyuki. This is common practice as many people travel up-country for a few days and then return for the next leg of their holiday. There is no point in carting around stuff that you are not going to need but it is nice to know that it will be looked after and kept for your return for a very modest fee.

At River Road/Accra Road we located a Matatu which was going to Nanyuki ‘soon’. It had room for us and our backpacks for Ks200 each. That is Ks200 for each of us and each of our packs. The Matatu is typically a Toyota High Ace with seating for maybe twelve passengers but typically they take about sixteen plus luggage, parcels etc.

After the inevitable African wait, we were off to Nanyuki. The ride was enlivened somewhat by John who knew ‘everything that there is to know about trekking Mt Kenya, where the most reliable guides are to be found, and the only hotel to stay in’, and he had the inside running on all of it. We let him enjoy his short period as ‘information king’ as it alleviated the bum-numbing discomfort of the thinly padded seats which was exacerbated by nursing a 25kg backpack. We had no intention of following his advice but it was easier to agree with him than get into a pointless argument.

On arrival in Nanyuki we headed for the YHA which was our intended destination all along, slipping away from John without too much trouble. The YHA is run as part of a church school by the very friendly and helpful Margaret. On hearing of our experiences with John she reassured us that we could follow our original plan without giving him another thought. The YHA accommodation – essentially a separate room within the school compound was basic but fine at Ks 100 each for the night. We had to cook outside under the stoop but that was no problem. After settling in, we had a bit of a walk around Nanyuki. I had changed into shorts as the waist cord of my Kathmandu splits was broken and I hadn’t had time to replace it. I’m not sure whether it was the shorts or my legs but something sure amused the locals. Glad I could brighten up their day!

Journey to the Mountains of the Moon - 1994 (2)

Planning the Great Adventure
Phase 1 – Assemble the Information, Rough out a Plan
Once the basic idea was hatched it was necessary to start searching for information. In the early 1990s the internet was not the magnificent source of information that it is today. Finding information was done by searching libraries, looking through travel magazines and writing to adventure tour operators to glean information.

I had discussed the idea of trekking the Ruwenzoris with son Dominic with whom I frequently went bushwalking. He expressed immediate interest having previously been trekking the Annapurna circuit in Nepal with his friend John. Dominic extended the idea by suggesting that we also ‘do’ Mt Kenya while in East Africa – it would be a shame to spend all that money, travel all that way, and not get maximum value from it!

We lived in Nairobi from 1974 to 1976 working a two-year contract and I had done a weekend trek up Mt Kenya with a group of expatriate colleagues. Dominic and twin brother Garth would have dearly loved to go at that time but I felt they were too young and I also didn’t know quite what to expect. So now it was only natural that Dominic would want to take the opportunity to address this past omission from his education in nature’s classroom.

Our researches unearthed a surprising number of good information sources. There was Guy Yeoman’s coffee-table format book “Africa’s Mountains of the Moon”. An amusing tale by journalist John Preston – “Touching the Moon”. And also an article from another book (?) “Mountains of the Moon – A Ruwenzori Journey” by John Cleare. About Mt Kenya we new enough from the Lonely Planet Guide “Trekking in East Africa” and my own previous experiences. We had also heard about a book “No Picnic on Mt Kenya” written by an Italian prisoner-of-war – Felice Benuzzi- about his and his compatriots’ experiences escaping from internment at Nanyuki on the western flanks of Mt Kenya for the sole purpose of climbing the mountain. Unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of a copy prior to our journey to East Africa. It wasn’t until a couple of years afterwards that Dominic managed to pick up a second-hand copy of “No Picnic …” in a bookshop in Kathmandu while in Nepal on another trek!

Little by little planning started as we gathered more and more information. I had already ‘done’ Mt Kenya, and Kenya is the easiest place to start an East African odyssey so we decided that the order of things would be to arrive in Nairobi, organise our needs for Mt Kenya and make our way to Nanyuki. At Nanyuki we would be able to find transport to the start of our chosen route up Mt Kenya – the Sirimon Gate approach. Having ‘cracked’ Mt Kenya we would head back to Nairobi and regroup before travelling across to Western Uganda to do the Ruwenzori trek. The plan was loose enough to provide any flexibility we needed and to be able to do some typically touristy things if we felt so inclined.

Living in Nairobi a mere 20 years previously had provided us with enough knowledge, we thought, of how things are done in Kenya so that we could leave all of the ground logistics until our arrival. The Lonely Planet guides are invaluable sources of information for this approach but you have to make sure that your copy is reasonably up-to-date. The political situation can change very quickly in most African countries – a fact of which we were very aware. During the time that we lived in Nairobi, an outspoken politician disappeared. Thre were reports of sightings of him from all over Africa but about two weeks later his body was discovered in the Ngong Hills just outside Nairobi. At that time we were all sent home from work and the kids were sent home from school, although the student rioting was over very quickly.

With the basic idea reasonably well worked out we turned our thoughts to actually making the trip happen. Fortunately project planning and management in one discipline has large areas of commonality with project planning and management in other disciplines. It was a relatively easy matter to work back from our intended goal and work out the relative timings for when we would have to do what.

We worked out that the best time of year to travel, for various reasons such as sub-equatorial weather patterns, would be around July-August. The time we would need to complete the Mt Kenya and Ruwenzori treks was around four to five weeks but we allowed six weeks to be on the safe side. Little by little the plan started to become tangible – we made sure passports were up-to-date, arranged necessary visas for Kenya, and booked our airline tickets to take us to Nairobi and back via Johannesburg. We booked our leave, arranged for necessary vaccinations and inoculations, and made check lists for gear, clothing and foodstuffs that we would need to take.

The Ruwenzori part of the trip would be organised in Kasese, Uganda and we knew that our accommodations on the trek would be in the huts provided. For Mt Kenya, however, we opted for a different approach. I was well aware that guides and porters are available along with a hut for the normal trek with one overnight on the mountain. We wished to take a more ‘leisurely’ approach (well slower anyway) so we decided that we would do our own porterage and guiding and would carry tent and cooking equipment with us.

Dominic had ‘earned’ a good two-person expedition tent as a result of some work he had done and he had not used it up to now. It was exactly right for our purpose so we got some practice in erecting it so as to not be caught out when we really needed to use it. The sight of that fairly large tent erected in our living room was quite amusing. My wife Patricia asked "why we didn’t erect it outside on the lawn?" The obvious answer was that we didn’t want to get it wet so that we’d have to dry it out before packing it up again!