Measurements (part 1)

All of you have to apologize us... Sorry for the delay to provide news but the latest days were too occupied with last measurements and traveling back home (which included some lost flight connections and lost bags... business as usual)...

So, this time is just to show some few photos of the measurements done in the Uhuru Peak. I have to tell that the biggest hero was our guide, called Yitzack Mmasi... He stayed 5h controlling the receiver (I only could stay 30m). Therefore, we multiplied for 10 the time that we were expecting to carry GPS observations in the top of the mountain.

Enjoy the pictures... More will come.

Team 1

Here they are... just after the climbing.

They did it

First team successfully reached the top of Kilimanjaro. They are returning today back to Moshi. The other teams are waiting for them. Some Tanzanian media will be here too.
This photo is from the last time team 2 (with the gravimeter) was together with the climbing team, 3200 meters up in the mountain.

Measuring...

Putting GPS receiver and gravimeter in position for measuring on the point we set in the first hut of the Marangu route.

Into the forest

During the first day of climbing we crossed through the mountain forest.

Starting...

October 3, here we are at the Marangu gate, taking a photo of all persons directly involved in this expedition. The climbing started about 13:30, local time.

It will be tomorrow!

After several delays to solve some issues, finally the big day to start the climbing has come. This photo was taken from the top of our hotel, at sunset of the day before, with the top of Kilimanjaro in background. As you can see, André is very confident :-)

Absolut gravity point

After some time without news due to hard work, here we are again updating the news from the KILI2008 Expedition.
This photo is showing our first measures a the absolut gravity point located at Moshi Aerodrome. Joaquim is doing it.

Still in Moshi

Yes... We are still in Moshi... Time is running short but we are still under the window... Once again, a big story with an happy ending... There was still missing a permit from the Kilimanjaro National Park (required about one month ago)... We went to colect it yesterday but it is a national holiday in Tanzania (end of Ramadan and there is a large number of muslims here). By the way, today is also public holiday... Consequences: in a European situation you were really in troubles (where to find the responsible on Christmas day to give you the necessary permit?) But a lot of phone calls and by the end of the day we were obtaining the permit... So, we still could talk with a person responsible for the logistics (at the same time that we were watching Sporting defeating Basel) and everything is now setup to start tomorrow...

So, at 8h30, when the gates will open, 27 persons (8 team members, 5 guides, 13 porters, and 1 cooker) will start the climbing...

Meanwhile, at the same time that I was making someone millionaire (shillings speaking), one team is already in the field collecting gravimetric data... For this, we are having the great support of our Tanzanian colleagues, which already know a lot of beacon points that we can us to connect also with the vertical grid.
And the second team is now crossing the border... So, by evening all the participants we will meet together... In this way, it was not bad to wait one day... The only problem is that we don't have any margin anymore in the mountain and the latest news are: strong winds and -21 celsius at the summit... Who said this is a easy life? (the latest comment is just to be nasty)

Last night in Paris?

Yesterday I bought myself a book: John Steinbeck, East of Eden. It has more than 1000 pages so this gives me something to do. I thought of buying Prousts "A la recherche du temps perdu" but they did not have it in English...

Today I went to the Kenyan embassy at 10:00am. I had to speak to some senior officer but after some stern staring and asking a few questions, and checking with headquarters, he decided that I was not a dangerous person and ordered that I could apply for a visa. At 15:00 I could pick it up.
During lunch time I walked around Observatoire de Paris where I spent 6 months in 1996. Not muched had changed in that neighbourhood.
Afterwards I went to the embassy of Tanzania. Although it was after official opening hours, they let me in and promptly started to help me getting a visa. Everybody was happy in that place. In the Dutch embassy there was a bullet proof screen between the client and the bureaucrats. In the Kenyan embassy I already shook hands with people. In the Tanzania embassy people were walking freely in and out in a friendly atmosphere. Not once did anybody complain there that I was asking for something outside opening hours!

I hope that this will be my last night in Paris.....

Finally, Moshi...

Yes... All of us already arrived at Moshi... Ok, still missing 1 Kenyan, 2 Egyptians and 1 Dutch (in this occasion you don't say he is living in Portugal)... If this was expected for the first 3, the Dutch is still showing his new shiny PINK passport in the Embassies of Kenya and Tanzania in Paris (which country in world except Holland would give pink passports to their citizens?). But, Machiel will probably tell you the story later in the day...

Anyway, everything is starting to move forward... Today, we will have a general meeting in order to prepare together the detailed plan of observations (and alternative plans) and to decide if we depart tomorrow morning or if we stay one more day (basically, this will depend of the latest hour to start the climbing safely). For myself (Rui), I was just revisiting Moshi (it is indeed a very nice city, full of trees and nice people) after a great trip of 7h by 4-wheel drive from Dar es Salaam. The only problem is that I still could not see again the Kili... Clouds and clouds... In a way, this is nice... Probably is better to not know what we will have in front of us (I don't want that the others want to quit!!!!!).

Joca, Jorge and André and the Tanzanian colleagues leaded by Prof. Saburi (sorry not mention all the others) already went to survey the absolute gravimetric point at the Moshi Airport. This will be our starting point for the gravimetric surveys... We just met outside of town by chance when I was arriving... The guys are really having fun... In fact, all of us... Or shouldn't I say this? Ok... This has been a very hard work... The truth is not really up to now, but the stress is really reaching high levels (and I am already kind of us to such situations). But, as we say in Portugal: "we don't like to see too good starts to our kids" - free translation...

Dar es Salaam story...

Yesterday, we told you that Rui was also stuck in Dar es Salaam... Of course that we could have immediately told why, but we wanted to create suspense... Millions and millions of people reading our blog asking what happened... After all, if you can enter (as I just did) in a Tanzanian hotel and you start to hear Portuguese and you look around until you find out that about 10 person from India are seated in the front of the TV watching a Brazilian soap in the National Mozambican Channel, you can also create a little bit of suspense here... The people will enjoy for sure.

And let me tell you also that this story looks as an American movie... It has an happy ending (I know, I just spoiled the story).

But the story is simple... My luggage consisted of two pieces... One arrived and the other not... Following Murphy's law, the bag that disappear had all my climbing material, almost all my clothes (including, naturally, the boxers and socks) and, the worst thing: the bottle of Licor Beirão that we will take to the top... The drama, the horror, imediatelly stroke me, in particular after they told me that they had no idea where the bag was... Lisbon? Gatwick? Dubai? (at least in Dubai the bottle was safe, but if the bag was in Gatwick?)
Another call in the night, same answer: no traces of the bottle, sorry, no traces of the bag... Please, call again at 11:00... I didn't. But John Msewma did... And voilá, they told him that the bottle, sorry, the bag, was in Dubai and was coming... It could pass Gatwick alive!
Finally, a couple of hours ago, I got my bag back... Now, after all the things that happened with the traveling, I'm considering if I should take the bottle to the top or just drinking it... But it is not fun to drink alone... I could consider to go downstairs and share the bottle with the 10 Indians, but I will prefer to just take it with me and try to do a Caipirão in the top of Kilimanjaro.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to Moshi at 07:00... We will discuss if we will postpone one day the start of the climb or if we still start on Wednesday (I really would like to be on the top on October 6th - a very special date to me 18 years ago...)

Paris update...

Today, Monday, I received my shiny new emergency passport. Let us see if I will make it to the Kilimanjaro.

Nairobi

The arrival of the three remaining participants (one was stuck in Paris) was ok... Or not... One bag missing... And this bag contained all climbing material of André and the tripod of the gravimeter... The good news were that they immediately informed us that the bag was in Paris... In solidarity with Machiel? Anyway, it was supposed to arrive yesterday morning in Nairobi. Of course not... Therefore, one more split... Joca and Jorge continued to Moshi and André stayed in Nairobi waiting for the night flight from Amsterdam...
And it worked... J&J arrived in Moshi, and the bag arrived in the evening... So, André is now heading to Moshi...

Let's just hope that on the climbing we will have a better success rate... After all, from the four that departed from Lisbon, only two are already in Moshi... Because Rui is also stuck in Dar es Salaam... But, this is another story...

Well, for me it is still uncertain if I will make it to the Kilimanjaro. Someone stole my laptop with my passport while waiting to enter the plane to Nairobi. Not nice! After declaring the theft to the police I had to find my hotel, booked through the tourist information at the airport. I got the answer machine of the ambassy but they also mentioned an emergency number. Anyway, the only help they offered was to wait till Monday for the ambassy to open. Air-France is only offering a flight to Nairobi on 1 October. So, I probably have to spend the next 4 days in Paris.

Anyway, It's now Sunday and I have spend yesterday buying a toothbrush and other personal hygiene things, a little rugsack to put it in and an extra t-shirt. My luggage went through to Nairobi so I have here only the clothes I wear. The rest of the day I spend at the airport trying to get this flight on Wednesday, all flights on Monday are full. French police is not that helpful since they don' speak English and I don't speak French. I had to change hotel because the I could only stay there one night and they offered me a reasonable alternative. However, the sewage pipe of this new room was blocked and I could not use the toilet, sink or bath. Today they offered me another room. Tomorrow I will try to get an emergency passport that will allow me to go to Nairobi.

Paris Jamais

This chronicle was supposed to be written yesterday since we are already on the move... But was impossible... Too many things happening... Not all nice...

Four of us departed from Portugal yesterday... Only three arrived this morning in Nairobi where our colleagues from RCMRD were waiting them...

One is still in Paris. And he will probably needs to stay until Wednesday... He will describe later his experience... My only comment: who says that Nairobi is a dangerous place? To me, Paris (and its airports) is much worse... Some of the equipment was also left behind... They promised that will arrive tomorrow morning... Let's see

Since I am waiting now in Gatwick (where I also needed to wait more than 1h for a bus that was supposed to come every 15m), I have some time to write few lines...

Not much to say now... Excited with the expectation of returning to Africa (always good in particular after these experiences in Northern Europe), and of course, really happy to revisit Dar...

Except Paris, everything is going ok... And I'm wearing my nice new t-shirt...

Preparation of the Expedition (a previous one)...

The only thing that I can say is that no one of us uses mustache...

(We really could not resist to show this moment to every one)

Physical Preparation...

Of course that every participant wanted to do specific preparations for the climbing as the starting date of the project was approaching... I had the same ambitions... And I even had excellent conditions... I am spending my daily life between Covilhã (on the flanks of Serra da Estrela (top image), the highest point in Portuguese Mainland - ok, only 1991m - we need to prepare ESTRELA2009 to check it) and Serpins, Lousã where I awake up (when I'm there) having the beautiful mountain of Trevim (bottom image) on the front of me...

But, the truth is that most of my free time in last months was done in collaboration with PanEuropa... I'm counting many miles inside planes going to Africa... The good thing is that I can say that I'm used to altitude by now... Unfortunately not to the lack of oxigen...

Institutional Support - the Portuguese case...

Finding the necessary funds to support this project was a major issue since the start... The date of the mission was selected in order that the Tanzanian partners could allocate some funds to the project... But, how to cover the remain part? Where to find the necessary support? To walk from Portugal to Kilimanjaro was not really an option...

This project is extraordinary since it combines a scientific motif (evaluation and optimization of modern spatial geodetic techniques), technical issues (accurate computation of the orthometric height at a difficult environment), development of human knowledge (Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa and a mythic place) and passion (a dream becoming true)...

To go for the normal sources of scientific funding was not possible... Where to fit the project (concerning the schedule and the topic)? But the Portuguese National Scientific Foundation (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) was completely receptive to our project. They understood the importance and benefits of KILI2008 and they are providing financial support essential to the success of the expedition...

I will never complain again about bureaucracy in Portugal (at least, not much...)

The complete list of participants

KILI2008 will have participants from 6 different countries (ok..., maybe 5 and half since Machiel is Dutch but is living in Portugal - love demands).

I apologize to not include the name of the porters and drivers (they will also be essential for the project), but the complete list of scientific and technical participants are:

PORTUGAL
Rui Fernandes (UBI, IDL)
Machiel Bos (UP, CIIMAR)
Miguel Miranda (UL, IDL)
Joaquim Luís (UAlg, CIMA)
Jorge Santos (UC, INESCC)
André Sá (IPG, IDL)

TANZÂNIA
John A. Msemwa (SMD)
Saburi John (ARU)
Essau Mligo (SMD)
Goodchance J. Tetti (SMD)
Hassan M. Ubwa (SMD)
John R. Sorwa (SMD)
Maenda Kwimbere (ARU)
Elifuraha Saria (ARU)
Paul Emmanuel (ARU)

KENYA
Hussein Farah (RCMRD)
Charles Muya Kamamia (RCMRD)

EGYPT
Elsayed Issawi (NRIAG)
Anwar Radwan (NRIAG)

USA
Rob Painter (Trimble)

How we will celebrate?

The ones of us that will succeed to climb to the top will have to celebrate... With Champagne? No... Since there are a lot of Portuguese guys, we should celebrate with a typical Portuguese drink... Port wine? No bad idea... But, we will do it with a better drink: Licor Beirão - O Licor de Portugal... And we will have ice there (unfortunately, much less than we would like to see...) Just missing some lime to do a Caipirão... Yes... You are guessing correctly... It is like Caipirinha but with Licor Beirão... Just try it... We will do it on Kilimanjaro.

CORS Station in Moshi offered by TRIMBLE

In connection with the KILI2008 project, a CORS (Continuous Operating Reference Station) was installed in Moshi last August 27th. This station is part of a pool of 5 stations donated by Trimble to the AFREF project. The station is installed on the building where the regional offices of SMD are located.
In order to guarantee the proper installation with time, we decided to do the installation before the expedition. Rui Fernandes optimized his stay in East Africa - he was in Nairobi for the 2nd Course on GNSS Data Processing (that was held by RCMRD between 18th and 29th August on the framework of AFREF) - to go to Moshi to do the installation with the support of SMD.
We must thank the support of all personal that greatly help with the installation (done in only 2 days). A special thank to Mr. Hassan Bendeyeko, Assistant Administrative Secretary of Department of Infrastructure Services and all his staff (Mr. Godwin Ngao and Mr. Thadey William and others).

My name is Machiel Bos, and my task in the Kilimanjaro 2008 project is to measure the gravity around the mountain.
You might ask why we need to measure gravity? Every normal map shows the height of the Earth's surface above mean sea-level. In Portugal this zero height is defined at the tide gauge in Cascais and all other heights are relative to this point. However, at Kilimanjaro we have no nearby sea to define our zero height. So we have a problem. Fortunately, we know that the surface of the water is always perpendicular to gravity. For example, the surface of water in a glass is always horizontal, never tilted. So, there is a relation between gravity and the mean sea-level. Gravity is not constant over the Earth but varies by about 0.001% over tens of kilometres. By measuring these variations in gravity, we are able to construct the mean sea-level surface underneath the Kilimanjaro.
I have left out many details but if you want to know more, please ask. In the attached picture you see me with a gravimeter at Faial, Azores.

Individual Participants - Rui Fernandes

I think is my obligation to introduce to you the KILI2008 project. The idea of this project started last year in Nairobi when I was the facilitator of a course for AFREF (African Reference Frame)... There, I discussed with a participant of SMD (Surveys & Mapping Division of Tanzania) the benefits of doing such project... Lugalla discussed the idea within SMD when he returned to Tanzania... and all this started...
The involvement from several Portuguese institutions, from RCMRD (Kenya), and NRIAG (Egypt) will come later as soon as we started to prepare all the logistics for the project. The participation of all these institutes were/are fundamental in order to make this project a reality. I must also stress the importance of Trimble (USA), which is supporting KILI2008 significantly. They provided a CORS GNSS station, which will continue to operate after the end of the project as an AFREF station and they are providing the GNSS equipment for the expedition.
But I must do not forget the support of other entities... With the support of the Portuguese National Scientific Foundation (FCT), this project was not possible... And I must also thank the support of PanEuropa and, last not least, the personal support of Lousã County (where I live) and Licor Beirão (which we will use to celebrate the arrival to the top of Kilimanjaro).

Presentation

This is the Blog of the KILI2008 expedition, which will occur between 27th September and 12th October.


This project intends to measure the current orthometric height of Mount Kilimanjaro with few centimetres error (decimetre-level). To achieve such goal, GPS (Global Positioning System) data will be combined with gravimetric observations. The gravimetric observations are necessary in order to construct the local geoid with sufficient accuracy.

Three teams will be active acquiring both GPS and gravimetric data.

The first two groups will observe gravimetric points on a dense grid (3-5 Km gap width) of points around Mount Kilimanjaro and on several routes in the direction of the top. Simultaneously, the third team will carry out GPS observations using two different paths (ascendant and descendant) to the summit. A GPS station will be installed permanently in the area in order to provide a reference for the GPS observations to be carried out. Such station will be connected to the global reference frame, ITRF2005.

We will present here information about the expedition during its preparation and execution, as well the results obtained...