Shira One Camp (3610M) – Shira Two Camp (3850M)

A little lie-in today, coffee in bed at 6.30. Today’s walk to Shira Camp 2 is short. We started off at 8.00 am and soon saw some Jackal footprints.

Today’s walk started off through short scrubland. The Shira 2 Camp site was soon visible on an exposed ridge above us. It was likely to be cold. We arrived for lunch, which we ate in the mess tent. The temperature in the tent ranged from cold, to boiling hot, depending on the state of the sun.

Today three of us crowded into the Chef’s tent to see how food was prepared, and to help prepare the popcorn for tea. The kitchen was a small blue ridge tent. It was quite a tight squeeze to fit us, the cook and helper, into the tent. Cooking was done on a couple of large gas cylinders with an integral ring. These were used for all the cooking and heating hot water for washing in the mornings and evenings. I could see only two large light weight cooking pots which were used for stews, roasting chicken, making omelettes, pancakes and of course the popcorn which we had a helping hand in producing. There were no tables, and food preparation was done sitting down on the ground with the same plastic chopping boards I use at home. How they produced these meals for us and fed all the porters and guides was quite unbelievable. Food supplies were getting short, and there was going to be a restock of food and gas the next day, all brought up to the Baranco camp.

After the demonstration cook, we had tea at 3.30, and then a short walk-up tomorrow’s path to take us above 4,000 Meters to help us acclimatise to the altitude. This walk was quite hard work, and I was beginning to get out of breath. Back down again, and then supper. It was at this stage I noticed my appetite for food had gone. I noticed I was still eating after everyone else had finished.

No rain today, I was sleeping well during the night. I was not cold, no headaches, just a total loss of appetite.

Our Route to Shira Two Camp