After almost 5 hours of driving, a lot of it on the dustiest and rutted roads in the world we started our hike about a KM from the official start point because the van could not go any further.

I was nervous about my feet but they ended up fine. The hike was a couple of hours. Think about it. We started higher than the tallest mountain in Israel, the Hermon. So the breathing was a little labored but all in all, a good first day.

Lush jungle and forest. Really untouched. And the Columbus monkeys were out in force at a few points of the path. Some of the ascents were quite steep and the tree roots were thick and raised from years of path erosion.
Our porters get to base camp before us, make hot water and popcorn. Pitch our tents and in general make it really welcoming. The tents though are small and little room to do much. And Ori snores like a tractor trailer is going over my head. But did take earplugs given advice on a list for overnight camping. They worked last night.

We get to our camp, Mti Mkubwa (Big Tree),  with 10 km hike Final Elevation 2650 M
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