Kili

Just got back from Tanzania. After climbing Kilimanjaro (amazing) we headed to Zanzibar (gorgeous) for a couple days before returning back to Cameroon. I can’t believe how developed east Africa is compared to west Africa. Tanzania made Cameroon look really bad. In any case, I only have about 3 months left and have tons of work to do, but my mother has persistently urged me to provide a write-up of my experience.. so here is a shoddy yet final version!

The moment of truth had finally arrived. As I boarded the plane for Tanzania in Yaounde, Cameroon, I felt grossly unprepared.  Though I consider myself decently athletic, I am not at all what you’d call an ‘outdoorsman’. In fact, I’m much the opposite. I’d never been camping, and certainly had never undertaken any task of this nature. Fortunately Caleb, my climbing buddy, loves rocks grass dirt and Eddie Bauer, so he balanced me out.

Caleb and I had spent countless hours planning the climb up mount Kilimanjaro, and even more time in organizing our fundraising campaign, Climb Kili for Literacy. We had successfully been able to raise all the funds thanks to several selfless donors. We even had a website with all the details of our project and endeavour. It inevitably became a very public affair. Now if I don’t make it to the top, it would be beyond embarrassing.

We flew to Nairobi and then to Kilimanjaro International Airport in Moshi, Tanzania. Minutes before touch down, we caught the first glimpse of our adversary. Mount Kilimanjaro looked massive, towering well above cloud cover. It seemed difficult to fathom that I’d  be attempting to summit there. We touched down in Moshi and found the tour company we’d been corresponding with. Every climber is obligated to hire a guide, and we went with the budget tour package offered by Tro-Peaks.

There are several routes one can choose from when summiting Kilimanjaro. They range from easier hiking routes(Marangu) to very difficult technical climbs (Umbwe). We went with one of the difficult hiking routes, Lemosho, known for its beauty. We tried to negotiate a 6-day package with several tour companies (so we could have more time in Zanzibar after the climb), but were advised against it due to difficulty and had to settle for a 7 day instead. We actually ended up completing the climb in 5 days, though we came to fully understand the tour operator’s advice! We arrived in Moshi on July 7^th and stayed in a hotel there the same night. We planned to depart for the mountain about 9am the next day. 

Day one of the climb, we ate breakfast, assembled our gear, rented a tent, sleeping bags, and a couple other items, and left for the Lemosho trailhead with our crew. Our crew consisted of porters, a guide, and a cook, all of whom we got to know pretty well over the length of our climb. Once we arrived, we strapped on our day packs  (20-30 lbs) and began. The first day was spent entirely in the rain forest where we got to see tons of unique vegetation, Elephant tracks, even more Elephant dung, and lots of monkeys (the black and white colombos monkey and blue monkey). We arrived at camp about 3.5 hours later and settled there for the night. Our cook, Kombo, prepared a delicious meal of potatoes and tilapia.

The 2nd day was rough. We got out of camp at about 7am and started our way up the mountain. We had slept at about 8,000 feet the night before and would be settling at about 12,000 feet on the second night. We trekked through more gorgeous rainforest, then at slightly higher elevation, moorland (which are dense short shrubs), then finally entered semi-arid desert by the end of the day. The diversity of ecology throughout the climb is one of the things that makes Kilimanjaro so incredible.  What made the 2^nd day tough were the extreme inclines and declines throughout the trek. We had to traverse what was left of an ancient volcano that had exploded; first hiking over the rim and then down into the crater, known as the Shira plateau. At about the 6^th hour, I felt a sharp pain in my knee, right about where I had torn my LCL in college. I was pretty worried because it was only the 2^nd day and we still had so long to go.. I thought it would only get worse. The last hour I practically limped to camp. Our camp was above cloud cover and allowed an amazing view. That night was very cold… as was the 3rd and especially 4th night.

The 3^rd day we got up and out of camp again at about 7am. The cold nights made it nearly impossible to sleep but I still felt decent. I took some Ibuprofen and wrapped my knee. I decided to use a walking stick (I had picked it up on the second day in the Moorland area) to ease the pressure.  We hiked up to Lava Tower, a volcanic plug, at 15,000 ft, ate lunch there, and then hiked down to our next camp, Barafu, at about 13,000 feet.  It was again a 6-7 hour hike. Luckily my knee held together and I felt pretty good.  On the way to our 3^rd camp, we crossed a valley full of a plant species endemic to Mount Kilimanjaro.  Very cool.  The camp the 3^rd night offered the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen. We were right under the snowcapped peak of Kili, with a green valley watered by glacier water on our left, barren rock on our right, and a sea of clouds downhill behind us.

I woke up the 4^th day with a headache and feeling a bit sick. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the altitude or the frigid temperatures at night.  Either way, I found this day to be downright miserable. We again started very early in the morning and climbed up the Baranco wall, which was a high ridge on one side of the valley where we camped. It involved some ‘scrambling’ and moderate climbing but nothing too extreme. I had fractured my right arm a couple weeks back and it was still healing, so I avoided using it and awkwardly made my way up. We then hiked up and down a bunch of ridges, approaching the base of the summit. We finally settled at Baranco camp at 15,000 feet, from which we would climb straight to the summit at over 19,400 feet.  We arrived at the camp at about 3pm after about 7 hours of hiking. We tried to dry our clothes and prep for the summit attempt which would be the same night. I felt especially crappy and went into the tent and got into my sleeping bag. I took some meds and went to sleep at around 9pm, hoping to feel better within a couple hours somehow.


We woke up at 11:30 pm the same day and had some tea and biscuits. Miraculously, I felt normal again. We packed on every single layer we had and tried to insulate ourselves as best we could. I am going to pause here and tell you about our ghetto gear situation.

Caleb and I are Peace Corps volunteers in West Africa without access to many first-world amenities; such as cold weather clothing. Our “gear” was basically a random assortment of whatever we could find at the Ngaoundere fripperie. Thus, on the night of the summit, we were both wearing about 4 layers of random long sleeve shirts with ski jackets. On our legs, we were wearing about 3 layers of pants, one of which the tour provider fortunately contributed.  Out of all the white people on the mountain that day, we looked, by far, the most ridiculous and ill-equipped.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Unpause. We left at about 12:20 am. Caleb had the good fortune of falling ill at this point; I’ll save you the unsavory yet comical details for now. The hike essentially felt like a death march. At such high altitude, every step took more effort and breathing was labored. This is probably the only time during the excursion that I felt like I really might not be able to do it. Caleb and I barely spoke at all.. instead focusing on just trying to make it up. The most ridiculous thing about the summit night was that the peak was deceptively far. I remember looking up to the top of the ridge to see how far we had left. We’d arrive at the top of the ridge about an hour later, completely exhausted, only to find an even steeper and taller ridge than the last. This happened several times. Finally, we arrived to Shira point, which is at the lip of the volcanic crater of Kilimanjaro. We then had to walk around the lip of the crater about 45 minutes to Uhuru peak, at 19,400 feet, the highest point in Africa.

By the time we reached Uhuru peak, it was about 4:45 am. Caleb and I were freezing, exhausted, and a bit delirious. So much so that we stayed at the peak for no more than about 90 seconds, took as many pictures as possible, and promptly began the descent.  

The descent from summit was MUCH better. Caleb and I were completely pumped that we’d made it to the top. Our guide took us down the ‘express route’ down from the summit, which was a side of the mountain essentially composed of volcanic gravel.  We basically skied down in our hiking boots, though Caleb was much better at this than I was.. I bit it at least 7 times. On our way down we also caught a spectacular sunrise and amazing view. We reached the base camp at about 7:25am and recuperated while we waited for breakfast.

We rested, dried off, ate breakfast, and at about 9am, decided to continue all the way down the mountain. We were completely drained, but since we still had the entire day ahead of us, we really had no excuse.  The way down was very painful on the feet and knees.  My knee pain had returned and was super irritating. Although the increase in oxygen did wonders for us. We hiked down a different part of the mountain this time, and got to walk through a beautiful cloud forest.  We arrived at the gate at the bottom of the mountain completely starving and fatigued at 3:40 pm, concluding about 13 hours of hiking for the day and our long awaited climb of mount Kilimanjaro

So that’s it. It was an incredible experience. I can’t emphasize how much I appreciate everyone’s donations for the Climb Kili for Literacy campaign, and my friends' and family's efforts, especially my sister Hiba Suleman! We are already hard at work putting everyone’s valuable contributions to good use. We hope to post an update on the status soon!


Payce