Eating through Tanzania: Swahili food on the roof of Africa

We started our October trek of Kilimanjaro on what I think was a Saturday that would take us six days.  We were joined by a noisy rabble of six Canadians and a couple extra solo travelers and began our ascent up to the Roof of Africa. 

The food was better than I expected.  The porters brought up bread and fruit and some bacon for the first two days.  We ate in a mess tent where we would try and warm up with tea and instant coffee or Milo.  The water was tapped from springs or streams on the mountain and boiled and remarkably there were few digestive issues!  Although, the diamox we were taking for altitude sickness makes one pee a lot.

Exhaustion should have made us hungry, but the effect of altitude was that one’s appetite was extinguished.  This was worsened by the repetitiveness of the meals. Unfortunately, the steady diet of porridge, soup and the same vegetable base sauce use to coat rice and pasta became unbearable by the end and we were relieved to get down the mountain and eat a pizza and drink a cold beer.