Mt. Kilimanjaro!

I love warm weather, the beach, etc. But as some of you may have already heard, the Ghanaian heat and humidity is nothing to joke about. I’m still getting accustomed to sweating 24-7, and chug at least 3L of water daily. Good for the skin right? But as the holidays approached I decided it’d be nice to have a White Christmas, or at least a Cool Christmas. Taking inspiration from Toto, I decided there was no better getaway than 6,000m above the Serengeti: climbing Kilimanjaro!

Mount Kilimanjaro is in northern Tanzania, and at 5,895m (19,340ft) it stands as the highest mountain in Africa. Also the highest free-standing mountain in the world, if that means anything to you. Most importantly, it is the only one of the seven summits that a hiker can climb by simply walking up the mountain. No technical skills or ice gear required. I signed up with ZaraTours, an operator out of Moshi, Tanzania, and asked to be placed in a group on one of their 5-day Marangu Route hiking expeditions (the shortest and cheapest climbs available). Then I joked with my family that I’d either end up joining a group of burly German mountaineers or camera-toting Japanese tourists. Little did I know…

I arrived December 24^th in Moshi, Tanzania, the tour operator’s base and met my group. And almost burst out laughing. Japanese Tourists!

(pictured: Keen, Megumi, Me, Mayuko, Toshi; not pictured: Quian, Tara, Ryan)

Day 1: climbing to Mandara Huts (2,720m)

(me, all set to go!)

We set off towards Kilimanjaro on Christmas morning, for an 8 kilometer hike through rainforest to the first camp. Hiking with us was a crew of approximately 20 people: 3 guides, 15 porters, and 2 cooks. This is pretty standard for how most tour groups. Our guide started off on the trail with us and immediately taught us the meaning of “Pole Pole,” the Swahili slogan of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Pole Pole means “Slowly, Slowly.” Climbing to over 19,000 feet is no joke, and doing it too quickly can cause Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). Because it’s an accessible mountain, and tourists tend to undertake it without adequate preparation, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro account for 50% of AMS worldwide. Pretty scary. Complications of AMS include pulmonary edema, cerebral edema, and death. In fact, comments I heard in the days leading up to my trip included:

“Please don’t get cerebral edema and DIE.” –my mother

“I made it halfway and then threw up blood, so they made me descend.” –girl at busstop outside park

“Only 4 in my group of 8 made it to the peak. One guy got stretchered down.” – tourist at the border

Needless to say, these comments made me a little nervous. But hiking behind the guide “Pole Pole” style alleviated most of my fears the first day. We were literally hiking in slow motion. Picture a three-toed sloth. Or a turtle. Now imagine it in slow motion. That’s Pole Pole.

(me and our main guide, Abdi)

Day 2: Hiking to Horombo Huts (3,720m)

We woke up the day after Christmas and had a hearty breakfast to fuel our 12k hike to Horombo Huts. The Japanese tourists made the morning extra cheery by whipping out their iPod and portable speakers to play Christmas carols on the trail. So funny. Some hikers coming down the mountain were even wearing Santa hats. A very good morning.

This extra holiday cheer was pretty helpful, because the hike to Horombo Huts was not only long, but it poured cats and dogs the entire way. I had been warned about hiking during the rainy season, but whew! I was getting the desired winter vacation!

(me in the rain with some cool vegetation)

I also spent the day marveling at the porters. These men carried loads of up to 30kg, mostly on their heads, and literally ran up the trail ahead of all the tour groups. Some NGOs in East Africa are actually focused on protecting the health and wellbeing of porters, because the physical strain of the job is so intense. I absolutely could not believe their strength, and urge anyone looking to get in insane physical shape to take up a porter job in Tanzania…..

We finished the day at Horombo Huts, 3,720m above sea level, which is pretty high. Some people in my group started to feel the effects of altitude, getting headaches and feeling nauseous. Thankfully, I felt fine.

(me and Quian)

Day 3: Up to Kibo Huts (4,700m)

Day 3 promised to be the most intense of the trip, because we not only had to hike 9k to Kibo during the day, but we would set off for the summit at midnight. We were nervous!

We hiked through Alpine Desert, large expanses of red sand with sparse dry bushes. Combining the scenery with lightheadedness from the altitude and it kind of felt like walking on the moon. This would have been really neat if (1) it weren’t pouring, pouring rain the entire time; (2) I hadn’t been so focused on conserving energy for the summit. I guess you could say I was really getting in the zone; and (3) Our group was too tired to talk at all. No using the iPod in the rain…. Combining the effects of these extra factors, I like to refer to Day 3’s hike as “The Trail of Tears.” Please don’t misinterpret the sentiment. I was having an awesome time. Just in a Trail of Tears kind of way. Maybe you had to be there....

Happily, when we arrived at Kibo, it was SNOWING! White Christmas Woo!!!

(arrival at Kibo)

(me and Kitentia, another of our guides)

(getting ready for the summit)

Night 3: UP TO THE SUMMIT

We left Kibo at 12 midnight for Uhuru Peak, the TOP of Kilimanjaro. Hikers leave in the middle of the night like this because it assures that the mountainside will be frozen and easy to walk on. It was still snowing, and yes I was still elated. I never knew I was such a closet winter weather fan!

We started the ascent with all 8 hikers in our group, but unfortunately, only 30 minutes later we lost one person. Mayuko started vomiting from the altitude and a guide escorted her back down the mountain. After that the 7 of us continued on. Hiking in the frozen night was so different from anything I’ve done before. We needed to wear headlamps to light the way, and when I looked up, all I saw was the black night and twinkling stars. The incline was so steep that sometimes I mistook hikers’ headlamps ahead for stars. (After some thought I decided not to look up too much; hiking toward the stars seems kind of demoralizing.) We carried our water in our jackets because the night was so cold that anything in our backpacks froze. And we intentionally panted every few minutes to make sure we got enough oxygen. Our guide sang us Tanzanian songs in Swahili to keep us energized. Amazing.

At 7am (somehow I hiked for seven hours and barely realized the passage of time), we reached Gilman’s Point. This appears from all angles to be the top of the mountain, and from here we watched the sun rise.

Not to be distracted, however, I had my eyes on a ridge to the southwest: Uhuru.

Our group was starting to falter, however. Two people didn’t feel they had the energy to continue on across the ridge, and we had to buckle down and Pole Pole together.

(the group walking across the ridge to Uhuru. That's Tara in blue getting some support from our guides.)

8am: UHURU PEAK! The Roof of Africa!

Day 4/5: "Oh Yea, We Have to Go Down..."

Climbing Kilimanjaro was amazing, one of my absolute favorite activities so far in Africa. If anyone's interested in going back to do it on a different route, count me in! Just remember, however, that after climbing for 3.5 days, your guides expect you to descend the mountain in 1.5. This means that after hiking for almost 24 hours to reach Uhuru, we had to essentially run down 42 kilometers. Fast. Unfortunately, we lost another group member doing this. Toshi needed a stretcher to reach Mandara. But the hike down did give me the opportunity to see all the beautiful scenery again. Let me emphasize this: Tanzania is bee-yoo-tee-ful.

(rainforest trails by Mandara Huts)

(exiting the park

And if you can't climb Kilimanjaro, you can always drink it!

And that’s it! 1 summit down. 6 to go. Everest anyone?