I wrote this a few days ago but am now getting around to publishing. Pictures to come shortly...
Yes, I did it!! I proudly write this from Arusha, Tanzania following a week spent hiking on Mount Kilimanjaro, during which time I reached both Gilman’s Point (5,685M) and Uhuru Peak (5,895M), the highest point in Africa.
As you may have been able to tell from my last posting, I was pretty nervous about the trip up to Tanzania and the week I was preparing to spend on the climb. I’m happy to report that I made all of my connecting flights, as did my luggage, despite the “dodginess” (to quote my Brit friends) of the Dar es Salaam airport. Fortunately, I befriended another girl around my age who was waiting at the Dar cafeteria, and I was able to spend the few hours of my layover with her. Lizbeth is a Dutch expat working for a local NGO that helps to build schools and provide education for elementary-age children here in Tanzania. I’m glad I invited myself to join her at the cafeteria and certainly appreciated our conversation over the few hours of transit time.
I arrived in Kilimanjaro at the same time as a KLM flight and was surrounded by the most Americans that I had seen thus far on the trip. Until that point, I had only met two Americans in South Africa, so it suddenly seemed quite strange to be chatting with Iowans in the customs line. I managed to locate my baggage and my airport transfer and make it to my hotel, albeit late in the evening following a two hour drive from the airport. The drive was quite dark, as there are no street lights here along the road – it reminded me a bit of late drives on the country backroads near home. The last 2 km of the drive were on a very rocky dirt road, and after first dropping me off at the wrong (and unfortunately nicer-looking hotel), the driver deposited me at the Kibo Hotel in Marangu, Tanzania.
Because the group from the Global Volunteer Network wasn’t arriving until the next evening, I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a bit on Sunday morning, have a late breakfast, and then spend some time exploring Marangu. Unfortunately, exploring wasn’t as easy as strolling around town, given that there weren’t sidewalks or paved roads and that the local attractions were situated on off-beaten tracks. A local boy arranged by the hotel took me to a beautiful waterfall, known as the “Endless Waterfall.” Afterwards, we visited a Chaga museum, which was basically a small area that had a replica of the Chaga tribe huts and some displays of traditional tools. The guide was great, but I was most surprised to find a cow grazing inside one of the small huts. Not what I expected!
I spent the rest of the afternoon repacking my bag for the trip, reading, and playing with a young boy whose mother worked at the Kibo Hotel. The group arrived around 7:00 p.m., and we had a brief dinner before we all went to sleep. We knew that it was probably one of the last nights of good rest we would have over the next week.
The next morning, we packed up our things and weighed our bags to ensure that they were under the 15 kg weight limit for the trip, as porters would be carrying our packs throughout the climb. Now, as many of you know, I am not a good packer. I ALWAYS overpack and am notorious for having way too many clothes wherever I go. However, thanks to the consultation of Andrew T., I was tied for the lightest bag of everyone – only 9 kg, including a 2 kg sleeping bag that I had rented! In retrospect, I felt that I had sufficient gear for the trip, minus rain pants, hand sanitizer, and face wipes that I wished I had brought along from the US.
We left Marangu and had a very bumpy two hour ride on mostly dirt roads to the park gate. There, we met our guides, cook, and porters and divided into two groups of nine each. My group included: Lauren, the friendly Aussie working for GVN in New Zealand whose exclamations of “Wow” from the scenery served as our morning wake-up calls; Nicola, my outstanding roommate/tentmate from Bermuda, who has seen the world over the past two years and inspired all of us to keep traveling; Gene Moses and Liza Morris, a couple from DC who were just married three weeks ago and spent part of their honeymoon on this trip with us – a beautiful pair with beautiful perspectives on life; Kaye, the friendly fellow Midwesterner (from Milwaukee) who witnessed and took in stride my minor breakdown in a snow drift during my return from the summit; Cindy, a mother of three who beat all odds to reach the summit and who kept smiling for the entire trip; and William and Amanda, Canadian students from Saskatchewan who were the quickest up AND down the mountain.
Anyway, Day 1 – we left the gate early and started our 3-4 hour hike through the tropical rain forest. At the bottom of the trail, little children would run out to meet us, asking for pens and chocolates. We learned that some people live within the gates of Kilimanjaro but that almost all structures built must be of wood rather than more permanent concrete or brick. Many of these tenants help in the maintenance of the park.
I’m not sure any of us knew what to expect on the first day, but we quickly fell into conversation to help pass the time. The hike was not too steep, but we were reminded to drink a lot of water to help acclimatize to the altitude. We arrived at our camp within minutes of a downpour, to find our tents already pitched by the fast-moving porters. Little did we know that it was the first of many rains…
After the short downpour, we had our first “snack time” in the mess tent where we enjoyed tea, hot chocolate (to help with the 3-4 liter liquid consumption recommendation) and some popcorn. We emerged from the snack to find two double rainbows stretching out over the campsite and a view of Mt. Mowenzi in the background. Truly breathtaking. Camp was at approximately 2,600M.
The next morning, we started early after breakfast with a 3-4 hour hike up a steeper trail, with a more gradual up and down walk after lunch. Unfortunately, we weren’t so lucky to escape the rain on this day, and our hike took us out of the rain forest and into moorlands – during which time, we all were soaked, and I somehow managed to step in a muddy bog. Again, the porters had our tents ready at the next campsite, which had even more breathtaking views of Mowenzi. It was clear from our shallow breathing that the altitude had increased, but my water consumption helped ease any headaches. Unfortunately, my sleeping bag didn’t seem to be warm enough that evening, and I woke very early in the morning shivering from the cold. I learned quickly to layer more for the next few nights and am thankful for the extra thick wool socks, sleeping bag liner, and silk shirt that were loaned to me by my teammates. Camp was at approximately 3,700M.
Although the third day of hiking also included more rain, it ended in the most beautiful campsite –right near the Mt. Mowenzi crater that provided some great scenery to distract us from the cold, wind, rain, and fog. We arrived in camp fairly early, had a late lunch, then took an acclimitization hike after lunch up to 4700M. Camp was at 4500M and was quite cold – in fact, we woke up the next morning to snow on the ground and ice on our tent. The warm porridge served at breakfast was appreciated that day.
The fourth day of hiking took us out of the moor lands and into the desert – sand and soil as far as you could see, with very little vegetation, other than some “senecio kilimanjari” trees, affectionally coined the “Dr. Seuss trees” by someone in our group. We had gorgeous weather – blue skies – and finally had some great sightings of Kili. Most of our walk was above the cloud line down a long, straight trail headed for Kibo Hut, the last camp before the summit. Camp was at 4500M.
We had an early dinner on the fourth day, although I was a little too nervous to eat much of anything. We were told to try and sleep at around 7:00, although I really had a hard time falling asleep until around 9:30. We were woken up at 11:30 p.m. to start our summit climb, and I was really disappointed to hear what sounded like rain on our tent when I woke. I was already nervous enough about the climb in the cold – much less worried about climbing in the rain – but when I looked outside, it was snow. I decided that the snow somehow had to represent all of the thoughts and prayers from friends and family in my snowy home of Chicago and quickly dressed in as many layers as I could. We had a very brief snack and left the camp around 12:30 a.m.
Now comes the really interesting part. I had heard that the Kilimanjaro climb was not too difficult, except for the last few hours up to the summit, and I have to agree. The first four days definitely required a certain level of physical fitness, but the last day required both physical and mental fitness, with a VERY STRONG emphasis on the mental part. I’m going to try and detail the 12 hours of the summit climb the best I can, but to be honest, it’s really indescribable. It is by far the most intense experience I have ever had and one of – if not the biggest – challenge I’ve ever tackled.
The climb itself is in pitch dark and is a series of switchback trails up the side of the mountain. Sounds straightforward, but add in significant altitude, shallow breathing, poor visibility, hundreds of other fellow climbers but yet strange silence from everyone, the dizzying view of headlamps rising directly above you, and a path approximately three and a half feet wide –it certainly makes you question what you’re doing. Oh – and the climb takes 5-6 hours just to hit the first part of the crater. In summary, intense.
We had been told that we were going to take four 5-10 minute breaks along the way, but given the snow, sleet, and wind conditions on the way up, our guides didn’t let us rest much, as that’s apparently when the nausea and the cold really set in. We had started with four guides for our group of nine, but two had dropped back to help two of our group, so one (Eugene) led the rest of us, while one (Estho) stayed at the back to pick up the stragglers along the way. Estho was actually a porter who was training to be a guide, and I believe he did a great job - he gave me an extra hat, helped me with my cumbersome mittens, and gave me a hug when I needed it most. I personally have to admit that I had several panic moments myself, but I developed my own tactic to keep my mind occupied and quickly decided to implement a few personal rules:
1. Do not look up. Under no circumstances would I let myself look up, as that’s when I would feel nausea. I couldn’t see anything regardless, so I just didn’t allow myself to do it.
2. Focus only on the feet in front of you. Given the dark and the trajectory of my light from my headlamp, that was about all I could see anyway. Key was to not look down the side of the mountain.
3. Sing. Music calms me, so when I started to really panic, I decided to play a game. I started with the letter “A” and had to think of two artists that started with that letter – for example, I started with Al Green and Alanis Morrisette. I then had to sing a song by each one of the artists. If my mind started to stray or I was getting too focused on the climb, I switched songs. I know it sounds silly given the surroundings, but I later learned that several others had sung to themselves as a distraction as well. As I mentioned, it was a mental game, and it took whatever mental power or distraction necessary to get up the mountain. A special thanks to Moses who suggested “Beyonce” instead of “Britney” when I was stuck on “Hit Me Baby One More Time.”
I hit Gilman’s Peak around 6:20 a.m. right as the sun was rising. I had started to see the sky getting lighter, which lifted my spirits and made me feel that the end was in sight. Nothing can describe the rush of accomplishment when I reached the top step and saw the sign marking Gilman’s Point. It was the best feeling in the world and the most joyful moment of the entire week.
When I had planned the trip, I had intended on making it to Gilman’s but didn’t really imagine the trip without making it to Uhuru, the actual summit of Kilimanjaro that is approximately 210M higher than Gilman’s and an additional one and a half hour walk. While this sounds like a no-brainer – if you’ve gone that far, why not go another hour and a half? – remember that all of us were freezing, hungry, tired, and still reeling from the past six hours. Fortunately, our guides didn’t give us the option of going or not, because if so, it would have been difficult to choose to make the trip. They just said “twende, twende” (Swahili for “let’s go”) and took off. I later learned that the guides are trained to not give too much of a break at Gilman’s and to initiate the walk fairly quickly because many probably wouldn’t go the extra distance if they had the option.
Our group of seven again walked in silence for the next hour and a half – not because we didn’t want to talk to each other, but more because we just couldn’t. We were each still playing our own mental games because the weather had gotten worse – very windy, very cold, and very snowy. I had intended to take tons of pictures at the summit, but I think I only snapped five for the entire day, two of which were on the way down. The thought of removing my gloves and digging through my coat for my camera (which had to be placed at least two layers in as to avoid a battery freeze) was too much, so I had to take a lot of mental pictures of the frozen volcanic crater and the ice glaciers we passed along the way. The scereny was stunning, but I was a little overcome with the walk – it seemed like just the next hill would be the Uhuru peak, only for us to pass through and find the trail stretching ahead even further. After what seemed like an eternity, we reached Uhuru, snapped a couple of photos, and then we all clearly had the same thing in mind – getting off that mountain. William and Amanda took off with Estho and booked it down the mountain – I only saw them three hours later at lunch back at camp. Eugene stayed with Kaye, Moses, Liza, Lauren, and me, although Kaye and I got stuck in some snow drifts and had a hard time seeing the footprints (thus, the small breakdown). We seemed to reach Gilman’s Point much more quickly on our return, although my concept of time up on the mountain was significantly skewed. We rested only a minute at Gilman’s before beginning our descent.
In addition to being a poor packer, I am also known for my clumsiness. I fell down steps at a restaurant before a high school dance, tripped over a step ladder in K-Mart, and in general lack a good bit of grace and agility. The thought of walking down the mountain was overwhelming, especially given that much of the ice we had climbed up that morning had melted a bit to leave loose scree covering the path. I just decided to take my time and was fortunate to have company of the five others at various points on our trek. Our guides had estimated the descent between 2-3 hours, and I’m sure we used every bit of that.
One other challenge – I had decided to wear my contacts up on the mountain, but at some point near Gilman’s, something blew into my eye and was causing excruciating pain. The air was fairly dry and the wind was too strong to try and investigate the problem, but I just couldn’t continue on in the same way. I finally decided that I would rather descend with one contact than have my left eye tearing and blurry the entire way – so I removed my left contact at Gilman’s before we left. Just an added bonus challenge :)
We arrived back in camp around 12:30, and most of our rag-tag group attempted to each lunch. We learned that the other two had successfully made it to Gilmans, which meant that we had a 100% completion rate! However, we all were dealing with varying degrees of altitude sickness, nausea, and exhaustion – and I’m grateful to Cindy for her cheerful attitude to pull us together to get us through the meal. I’m also grateful to Cindy for helping to fashion an eye patch out of some bandages and band-aids to cover my eye and allow it to heal. We collapsed for a short nap after lunch in our tents, and I didn’t even take my shoes off for fear of the pain of having to put them back on after lunch. Just picture my feet sticking out of a tent with Kili looming in the background!
After lunch, we had to pack up our tents and then walk another three hours to our camp that night. Although the thought of walking more seemed like insult to injury, it did make me feel a bit better to keep moving, especially because the next camp was at much lower altitude with much more oxygen. Of course, my eye patch attracted quite a bit of attention from the porters, guides, and our group, and I will be eternally thankful for the lack of mirrors on the mountain. The only record is a photo taken by Lauren that I saw only last night, causing me to double over in laughter. The patch was ridiculous, but necessary at the time. (BTW, my eye is fine now and has recovered 100%.)
Horombo Camp was gorgeous. There were actually permanent cabins built on the site, and we overlooked the valley of Tanzania and Kenya below. Most of our group had regained our appetite that evening, and I was so happy to not have to eat soup or force myself to drink many cups of tea or flavored water for a change. I also had the best night’s sleep of the entire trip, as expected, given that we had been awake for almost 2 days straight!
We woke to the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen. Photo credits to Nicola for capturing the beauty of the morning and the sky at 6:00 a.m.
Our last day included a 20 km walk through the Marangu Route, where we saw many teams on their way up to the summit. None of us knew what to say, other than “good luck,” and we were thankful we didn’t get pressed for too many details. I’m so glad we took another route down just for the sole purpose of seeing more of the mountain, and most of the walk was in a shady, lush rainforest where a few monkeys were spotted by others along the way. The feeling of crossing the Marangu Gate on the way out of the park was probably the second best feeling of accomplishment thus far, and our group celebrated with cold bottled cokes as we waited for our guides to complete the final paperwork.
We arrived back at our hotel within 15 minutes, and Nicola and I were eager for some clean clothes and a hot shower. Our group celebrated our achievement with several Kilimanjaro beers, a dinner, and the presentation of our certificates by Simon, the head guide.
One day later, it’s still so hard to believe that I did it…I CLIMBED KILIMANJARO. It was a pretty awesome week on the mountain, and I’m still not sure that I’ve had enough time to process the trip and the challenge. I think it will take me a few days or even weeks to really resolve how I feel about the climb, but the experience was certainly once-in-a-lifetime. I’m glad I did it, I’m happy I made it, and I’m proud that I mustered the mental resolve to carry me through the day. In total, we walked 71 km over the course of six days and acclimated to life (or at least a day) at over 19,000 ft. Certainly an accomplishment I will not forget.
The group dropped me off this morning in Arusha on their way to Nairobi, and I was just so sad to see them leave. The other eight individuals I spent the week with were truly extraordinaty, and while I did not have much opportunity to spend time with the remaining nine, it was clear that each of them were so friendly and welcoming. I am sad to not join the group for the last few days in Nairobi but am comforted in knowing that our fundraising efforts will be put to great use with the Kenyan children, who need extra help now more than before. I’m also looking forward to hopefully meeting some of our group participants at future destinations on my trip.
A special thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers over the last few weeks!
One Road into Soweto
Squatter Shacks in Soweto
Inscription at Memorial from 1955 Freedom Charter drafted by African National Congress
Harbor Bridge
Sydney Opera House
