- Climb Kilimanjaro for charity
The story of Kilimanjaro – “The Roof of Africa”
I have just finished my fourth Charity Challenge Trek. Having previously done a Husky Sledding Trek in the Arctic, a Desert Trek in Namibia, and an Andean Trek in Peru (up to Machu Picchu), this year I went to Tanzania in Africa, for an 8 day trek, ultimately leading up to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro (the ‘Roof of Africa’), the highest mountain in Africa, and the highest free standing mountain in the world! The summit of Kilimanjaro is at nearly 6,000m! It was to be a mentally and physically challenging, but, at the same time, enormously rewarding and amazing trip.
Charity
This year I had chosen the charity “B.H.F.” (British Heart Foundation), the nation’s heart charity. Every day they save lives, through pioneering research, providing vital information to help people reduce their own heart health risks, campaigning for change and supporting and caring for heart patients. .For more information, please see www.bhf.org.uk I did this trek in memory of my dad, who died of heart disease 20 years ago, at the age of only 60, far too young. I took a photo of my dad with me on the trip, hoping to carry him all the way up to the summit of ‘Kili’.
Organisation
Again, I went with ‘Across the Divide’ (AtD), a British organisation, doing expedition style treks all over the world, all for charity. They are very safety and security conscious, and always take British expedition leaders, guides and doctors on all their trips. They also work with local guides and teams of porters, who all benefit from this employment, as do their families. AtD participants have donated some £40 million to charity over the years!
Preparation
As this trek was to be the most strenuous I’d ever done (the trek is not called ‘extreme’ for no reason!), I decided to prepare myself properly for this one, which included lots of walking, running and cycling, going to the gym on a regular basis, losing weight, eating healthily, getting some specialist equipment and getting in touch with some of the other participants before the event, to get the best chance of being fully prepared. I also went to an introduction lecture, in London, where I met 7 of the other people who were to go on the trip (most of these people were to become good friends whilst on the actual trek). The speaker stressed the possible effects of altitude, which may include ‘Acute Mountain Sickness’ (AMS), which can show as shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, lack of appetite, nausea etc., as well as the much more dangerous ‘High Altitude Pulmonary Edema’ (HAPE), and ‘High Altitude Cerebral Edema’ (HACE), both possibly life threatening conditions. After the talk we were all as nervous as each other! To raise funds for BHF I advertised the trek at work, in various magazines, amongst my friends and family and I set up a ‘Justgiving’ web site again. Over the months leading up to the trek I managed to collect nearly £4,000 for charity. As I had paid for the trek myself, all this money went to BHF. Finally, my preparation included lots of vaccinations, amongst others against Yellow Fever, and getting Malaria drugs, as well as the more usual Nurofen, Paracetamol, Imodium, Compeed etc.
Jambo!
After months of anticipation, suddenly it was time to go to Africa, for my Big Adventure. On Saturday 12th September 2009 we all met at Heathrow Airport and then flew, overnight, to Nairobi, Kenya, then onwards to Kilimanjaro International airport, in Tanzania. Whilst flying to Kili airport, we got our first glimpse of ‘the mountain’, and it looked awesome. Once we had done the paperwork at the airport, and had it all checked by the one single official, sitting at a basic desk, we were in. However, 6 of our group’s suitcases had not arrived from Nairobi! The total freight weight for the small plane had been too much, so they had decided to leave some cases behind. Some of our group had to wait for the next plane to get their baggage later that afternoon. We got a coach transfer to our hotel in Moshi, a little town near the base of Kilimanjaro. This coach was not quite the kind we’re used to in the UK, being small, old, tatty, obviously without air-conditioning and seemingly without suspension. At the hotel we were put in ‘couples’, which were to remain the same for sharing tents during the entire trek. I was put with John ‘Crazy Cat’ Davie (after an e-mail he sent out to everyone before the trip), a British guy who lives in Abu Dhabi, who I had already met in London some weeks ago. We got on well straight away. Other ‘couples’ were Nick and Adrian. As they were inseparable and often wore cowboy hats, they were known as the ‘Brokeback Boys’. Adrian was also to become known as ‘Gomez’, ‘Gonzalez’ or ‘Speedy’ during the week, whilst Nick became the ‘Lobster’ due his often very red face. Rachel and Hayley (‘The Hamster’) were put together and became very close friends on the trip. Eddie, the mad Irish guy, was put with Adrian D’Enrico (‘Den’) and two girls from Manchester and already best friends, Jess and Lucy, were coupled as well. Then we had Sally and John, Brenda and Linda, Jan and Abbey, John and Simon, Nenna and John (the latter two each had a tent on their own). I was to get my nickname as well: ‘The Ledge’, short for ‘legend’; I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t complaining! We re-packed our bags, to leave as much as possible to be transferred to the hotel where we would end up after the trek. After lunch we walked into town. Apart from the main road leading to and from the town, all roads were just dirt tracks, very dusty and littered with very small basic houses and shops, more like shacks than proper buildings. People would walk, talk, or just sit on the road side, sell fruit and vegetables, try to entice us into their souvenir shops, or just go about their way. We had a drink or two in a local bar, pretending to ‘integrate’ with the locals. They had ‘Kilimanjaro’, ‘Safari’ and ‘Serengeti’ beer, as well as the ubiquitous Coca Cola and Fanta. After our little walk we relaxed by the pool of the hotel. After a trek briefing by Nick, our leader for the week, we had dinner together. Today I learned my first words of Swahili: ‘Jambo’ means ‘hello’, ‘asante (sana)’ means ‘thanks’, ‘karibu’ means ‘welcome/you’re welcome’, ‘pole pole’ means ‘slowly’ and, most importantly, ‘hakuna matata’ means ‘no problem’. Bring it on!
Walk-n-talk
On Monday 14th we got up at 7am to find that, from the balcony of our hotel, we could see the summit of Kilimanjaro in the far distance, in the bright morning sunshine! Wow, that was a sight never to forget. It seemed so far away, so high, so impossible to go and climb. After breakfast we boarded our lovely coach again, this time for a 4 hour transfer to the start of our walk, near the village of Naru Meru, at 1980m altitude. This transfer was tiring, especially as nearly all the roads we were on were dirt tracks again, most of which interrupted by road works. It was also a very dusty affair. We made a quick stop at the local ‘supermarket’, called Mr. Price, where we bought some more sunhats, spare batteries, toilet paper, or whatever we were lacking in. We passed loads of small villages, all looking exactly the same; basic, simple and littered with similar shops, ladies walking at the road side with large pots or bunches of bananas on their heads, and, strangely, some men wearing Manchester United football shirts! We also had an interesting pee stop. We just stopped at the roadside and used the trees and shrubs, boys on one side, girls on the other. For some of the girls this was their first experience of peeing in the bushes – only to find out that it was being witnessed by a whole family of kids and adults! We were basically peeing in their back garden! First inhibitions out the window! When we arrived at our starting point, there were about 60 porters waiting for us already. These porters were to stay with us for the duration of our trek, carrying our main bags, as well as their own stuff, all the tents, chairs, cooking equipment and food for all of us for the whole week ahead. The porters’ work is all very strictly regulated and controlled, and each porter carries a maximum of 25kg. We signed in to the Kilimanjaro National Park register, took some group photos, whilst still reasonably clean and started our walk for the day, about 4 hours this afternoon. During the first half hour it became clear we were never going to stay clean in any way or form. The entire mountain is volcanic, and therefore most of it is simply made of volcanic rock, interspersed with lots of incredibly fine ash, which goes literally everywhere! Whilst walking through the forest we were lucky enough to see both Baboon and Colobus monkeys. Eventually we arrived at our first camp site, called ‘First Cave’, at 2620m, with great views of the Mawenzi summit, one of the three volcanoes making up Kilimanjaro. The camp ground was very uneven, so I was happy to have brought my thermarest inflatable mat, to be added to the thin mattress we were supplied with to sleep on. I’d learned this from the previous year, where I never got a single day’s proper rest in Peru. The loos were inside small wooden buildings, of the long drop variety, and rather horrible. During the week we all learned to use these as little as possible, and without having to touch anything when having to use them. After dinner (containing soup and pasta, as many times during the week) we started to memorise the words to the famous Monty Python song “Always look on the bright side of life”. John, one of our group, had recently lost his wife Frankie to breast cancer, and wanted this song to be sung on the summit of Kilimanjaro, in her memory. This song would become quite symbolic during our trek. Later we had a further briefing on the next day and then we all went to bed early.
Walk on
On Tuesday 15th, after a hearty breakfast of porridge, egg, sausage, fruit, bread and the ever present Milo (“The energy food drink of future champions”), we walked to our second camp site, called the ‘Second Cave’, at 3470m. As we gained altitude, the trees changed from big ones to little ones, then to shrubs only. Whilst walking we encountered some beautiful chameleons. We got to camp before lunch, with an acclimatization walk planned for the afternoon. This was optional, but most of us wanted to get used to being at altitude as much as possible. After lunch we first got a demonstration of the GAMOW Bag, a potentially life saving piece of equipment which AtD had brought with them. This is also called a PAC (‘Portable Altitude Chamber’). The idea is that when someone gets severe Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS), they can be zipped into this bag, which then gets inflated with air, to about double the current air pressure. This will simulate the person inside being at a far lower altitude than they actually are, thereby reducing the effects of altitude. We all hoped never to need the PAC. Little did we know that, some days later, this would become a real life saver! After the demo we walked up the mountain to an altitude of 3600m, sat in the afternoon sun for a while and took some beautiful photographs in the setting sunlight, before descending back down to our camp site. At camp we saw both White Necked Raven, as well as a beautiful Lammergeier flying over. After dinner we saw ‘The Mountain’ against a backdrop of a million stars and the milky way, quite an unbelievable sight. We tried to take photographs of it, but even with a little tripod and a 30s shutter time, we didn’t get the desired effect. Besides, by that time we were all half frozen to death, it was that cold. So instead we all went to bed early again, as was to be the case each and every night. We would just be too tired and cold to sit around in the evening.
First problem
On Wednesday 16th, after the by now usual morning ritual of tea by the tent, a quick wet wipe wash, get dressed and packed, have breakfast and put on suntan lotion, we went on our way to slowly ascend to the next camp site, at 3660m. We were to get to the ‘Third Cave’ camp, but due to a lack of water at this site, we were instead taken to the ‘Kikelewa’ camp site, where there was a small stream nearby for our water supplies. Later I saw some of the porters washing their socks in the very same stream we got our drinking water from! I only hoped they were down stream! Again, we had reached the camp at lunchtime, with another optional acclimatization walk planned for the afternoon. I was now starting to feel a little unwell, with stomach pains and cramps. In the afternoon we walked up to 3830m, then down again, and by the time I got back to camp, I had to run for the loo. I felt awful. I was not the last one to feel this way, as, over the next few days, nearly everybody succumbed to the ‘stomach bug’ which was evidently going around. I took some medication I had with me to try and get over this horrible feeling as quickly as possible. After dinner some of us played some games. I felt too ill and miserable to get involved in the simple but quite fun ‘name game’, whilst the others were trying to guess which celebrity, whose name was stuck to their forehead, they were. Instead I cheered myself up with the photos and card from my wife I had brought with me, and had an early bed.
On cloud nine
On Thursday 17th we walked, over steep and ever changing terrain, to the ‘Mawenzi Tarn Hut’ camp site where we would stay for 2 nights in a row. This was at an altitude of 4300m, serious altitude (officially called ‘very high altitude’). During the day’s walk we started out hot and sunny, but arrived, just after lunchtime, cold and in the clouds. Many of us noticed a sharp and sudden change in atmosphere – both in our surroundings and in the general feel of the group. We were definitely at serious altitude by this point and dull head-aches and nausea were becoming ever more prevalent! There was a small lake next to the camp site, which was used for our water supplies. After lunch some people went a bit higher yet, again as an acclimatization walk. I chose to rest this afternoon though, as I was still a bit affected by being unwell the day before. Some of the others also stayed behind, like Rachel who, while the others were on their walk, began to vomit – a sign that the altitude was really beginning to take its toll – but after some comforting hugs from the rest of the group and a hearty dose of Diamox (which is supposed to diminish the effects of altitude on the body somewhat) she soon felt back in the land of the living. After dinner most of us spent some time in the dining tent playing games, which was a good laugh. We needed our gloves, hats and down jackets though, as it was really cold in the evenings. The very next morning it was only -2*C, inside our small two person tent! The lake was frozen. Most people had had a very rough night. Sleeping at altitude is really difficult and disturbed sleep patterns are common. Some people had the dreaded tummy bug, others just a bad headache, others again just couldn’t sleep. As we didn’t have a busy day’s walking ahead of us, we were allowed half an hour lie-in! We were to walk up to a ridge, at 4600m, for nice views in the distance. Instead we got cloud and hail! Still, we were getting used to being at altitude and that was a good thing. We saw a good example of the Senecio Kilimanjaro, a plant specific to the Kilimanjaro area. When going down again, we tried our hand at the vertical ‘ski-ing’ technique, whereby we would just trust the scree slopes to be loose enough for us to sink into when stepping down. It was strangely satisfying running down the slope like this and very good practice for descending off the crater ridge after summit night in two days time. Hard on the quads, but easier than going up nevertheless. In the afternoon Nick, our leader, did a kit inspection for all of us, to make sure everyone had the right amount and type of clothing, in preparation for the final summit ascent the next day. Not having the right gear would possibly make the difference between being successful or not. At dinnertime Nick told us that the following day was crucial, as we would be assessed during the day’s hike, for health and fitness, to make sure we would be fit enough to go for the summit later that night. It was all becoming very serious and a bit scary now! Today, however, was also a good day for me, as I managed to get some text messages through from home. It was nice to be able to read some news from friends back home. The reception was not quite strong enough to send any back, but at least I had received a token of life from home.
A fitting problem
Saturday 19th was going to be the Big Day. Today we were to climb to the last camp site before the big night-time moonlit ascent to the summit. However, the day did not start well. Most of us were woken at 3AM in the night, because one member of our group, Ed, had had a fit in his tent. His buddy had alerted the doctor and the other leaders, and they had given him help with his problem. Initially there was the fear that he was suffering from High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), as this can cause fitting. He was given medication and Oxygen and the leaders all, in turn, held vigil with him throughout the night. After everyone got up in the morning, after a disturbed night sleep, rumours were going around about whether he would be allowed to continue to ascend further up the mountain. The leaders had several meetings and, in the end, unanimously decided that Ed would not be allowed to stay with the group and attempt to summit Kili, as this would potentially cause too big a health risk to himself, and possibly to the others in the group. He was to be escorted down the mountain, with some porters, to the campsite where we would descend to after summiting. All of us were very sad and disappointed, but not as much as Ed himself of course, who was quite distraught. It turned out, in the end, that Ed was suffering from another pre-existing condition, rather than altitude sickness.
The big scare
After breakfast we trekked to Kibo Hut, at 4700m, via the ‘saddle’ between the Mawenzi and Kibo Volcanoes. This walk gives far reaching views, weather permitting, and you can see Kibo hut from a long distance away. In total the walk took us some 6 hours. Halfway across the saddle, we came across a plane crash, which had only happened 2 months previously, when a Kenyan light aircraft failed to perform an emergency landing on the rocky ground. The pilot and his two passengers died. The mountain takes no prisoners! When we got to Kibo hut, we were all tired and some of us were slightly affected by the high altitude. We were asked to sign in at reception again. They keep strict records of who is on the mountain at any time. I was feeling dizzy, for the first time, and couldn’t believe that, right now, just before the ‘big ascent’, I was feeling the altitude more than ever before. I spoke to the doctor and got some Diamox tablets off him. I was nervous and scared that I was going to miss out on the biggest moment of the entire trek, being only hours away from the start of our midnight moonlit scramble up the frozen scree slopes to the summit of Kilimanjaro. My buddy John told me to relax and calm down, have something to eat, and that all would be OK, but, no matter what he said, I couldn’t relax till the dizziness went away. I felt my heart pounding away in my chest, in my neck, and even in my head, and it scared me. I was thinking of having to tell people at home how I hadn’t even made it to attempt the final climb, and this thought was just too much for me. After an early light dinner, during which we were told we would all be allowed to try for the summit, we got to bed at about 6pm, to try and get some sleep in before getting up at 10.30-11.00 pm that evening. We had been divided into two groups, with slightly different starting times, and I was to be in group 2 (or, as we called it, the A-team!), starting at midnight. After 45 minutes of lying down in my bed, wearing lots of layers inside my sleeping bag, I finally felt that the Diamox was kicking in, and I felt the dizziness become less and less. Still, there was no sleep at all for me that evening, as I was just too nervous to sleep at all. Most of us wore ear plugs that evening, as Kibo Hut is a busy and crowded place, and from 10pm onwards many different groups start their trek up the top of the mountain. It’s hard to get any sleep in at all, for anyone. Some of us were woken or disturbed by the sounds of our medics dragging a Polish climber into our mess tent to resuscitate him – he had been suffering from severe acute mountain sickness and HACE and through a chance conversation with his wife, Nick, our leader, had decided to check him out. It was immediately apparent that he was in serious need of help, so our doctor gave him some medication and then zipped him into our Gamow bag to simulate being at lower altitude, and thankfully saved his life – this meant no chance of even attempting to sleep for our medics, who still had the summit ascent lying ahead of them, along with everyone else. Again, it had become ever so clear that being at this altitude was serious stuff indeed!
Reach for the top!
At about 11.00pm John and I got up, put on some more layers of clothing, got everything we needed ready for the night time assault and had a cup of tea, in nervous preparation of what was to come. I took my second Diamox tablet, as prescribed by the doctor, as I felt the dizziness coming back. I was unsure whether it was sensible for me to even try to go for the summit, but got ready nevertheless. At 11.30 the first group set off, and at midnight it was our turn. Wearing walking boots, good walking socks, gaiters, 3 bottom layers, 6 top layers, scarf, balaclava and fleece hat, double layered gloves, head torch and walking poles, I started what was to become a very long, arduous, steep, dark, cold and seemingly never-ending ascent to the top. I still managed to have alternatively numb and cold fingers and toes, especially whenever we had to stop for refreshments, a quick drink and a snack, or a very fast toilet break. We never stopped for more than 5 minutes every hour or so, otherwise hypothermia would set in. In the end, drinking was to be impossible, as the platypus (water bag) in my rucksack and the drinking tube became frozen solid. We were anticipating overtaking the first group at some stage, but we were surprised when we did so after less than one hour already. We were making good head way and at about 4.30am we reached Gillman’s Point (GP) at 5685m. By then I had forgotten about any dizziness, probably as I was just feeling the pain and the cold more by now, but at least I was steady on my feet. Reaching GP was a great moment, as this meant we had officially climbed Kilimanjaro, and we would get a certificate saying so. Still, for most of us there was only one goal, and that was to get to the famous sign on the real geographical summit, for our photo to be taken for prosperity. Unfortunately, this was still a further two hours away, then two hours back again, before our descent off the mountain. We struggled on. Those last two hours of ascent were, by far, the hardest two hours of my life, ever, and, I’m sure, for most of the others too. We had to continuously stimulate and support each other, dig deep into our physical and mental reserves, take some very deep breaths, decide to continue, and then take some more steps towards our ultimate goal. When we reached Stella Point, at 5756m, we noticed that it was time to take a break and look backwards at the enormous spectacle which was unfolding before our eyes. Sunrise over Africa! We saw Mawenzi peak, sticking its head through the blanket of clouds, below us. We saw the yellow glow of the sunlight trying to pierce the horizon, which even seemed to be slightly curved from up there. We saw the early morning sunlight lighten up the vast glaciers just to our right, below where we were standing. We saw each other’s faces, glowing with pride, happiness, wonder and excitement all in one small moment in time. It was a fantastic moment, never to be forgotten. When we had all taken some photographs, reality sank in and we had to move on again. On we went, step by step, breath by breath, till we finally saw the sign in the distance. This suddenly made us step up a gear, which we didn’t know we had, and in no time at all we were at the actual summit of Kilimanjaro, Uhuru Peak, at 5895m, at about 6.30am on Sunday 20th September! We hugged, kissed or cried, from emotion and exhaustion, and we all took our planned photographs in time, individually and as a group, before thinking of going down again. This is no place to linger. It’s too cold, windy and lacking in Oxygen to stay for too long, so we started to make our way back to GP soon after. I quickly sat down and had John shoot a short video diary on my camera, which I had been doing all week, on a daily basis. For me it was a very emotional moment, saying to camera what I had prepared to say there and then. I, like many others, felt, literally, closer to lost loved ones, than ever before. Two hours later we were at GP again, now in full sun light, and then we started our ‘scree-skiing’ descent back to Kibo Hut camp. This was a pure vertical descent, stepping deep into the by now thawed out scree slopes. It required some nerve, as well as thighs of steel. Finally, at about 10am I made it back to camp, where tea and biscuits were waiting for me. I had a feeling of great achievement, pride and satisfaction, underneath a deep feeling of total and utter exhaustion. This was a climb never to be repeated!
And on we go!
After a break of a few hours, whilst the remainder of our group trickled into camp, one by one, we had some lunch and a further rest period, before we had to clear our tents and pack our things again. All in all 14 out of 20 people had managed to reach at least Gillman’s Point (13 of those all the way to the summit); the others had to turn back at some stage, due to either exhaustion or altitude sickness. This was a fairly normal success rate. In the early afternoon we started walking again, reluctantly. The target for the afternoon was Horombo Hut Camp site, three more long hours walking, to an altitude of 3660m. We took the Marangu route down the mountain, one of only two descent routes possible. This route is also called the Coca-Cola route, as it is the most popular and busiest route, and there are huts on the route where you can actually buy Coca-Cola! As we got ever further down the slopes of Kili, headaches started to fade, oxygen was easier to get into our lungs, and dizziness was a thing of the past. Horombo Hut couldn’t be reached early enough though. When we finally stumbled into camp, we were all utterly exhausted, after walking for about 19 out of the last 32 hours, without sleeping for most of us. The first thing we did was to buy some Coca-Cola and Fanta, as this was far better than iodine-sterilised water. We were also re-united with Ed, who had gone down to this camp after having had his fit. Horombo Hut camp also had half decent toilets, with running water to wash your hands, a pure luxury. After dinner everybody went to bed really early, still completely exhausted. I slept right through the night, not getting up for anything, a first during the entire stay on the mountain.
Hakuna Matata!
Monday 21st September was our last day within the Kilimanjaro Park, but we were not quite there yet. First we were to have a six hour walk further down the Marangu route, before a coach transfer to the hotel in Arusha. However, after an early breakfast we first said a big thank you and goodbye to the many porters, guides, cooks and other helpers who had made it possible for us to do this trek in the first place. We had all chipped in for a big tip, which had been divided fairly amongst the various helpers. Some of our group were given the task of handing out the ‘pay packages’ to the different groups of people. After that the entire group of helpers performed a couple of songs for us, whilst dancing at the same time. One of the songs was ‘Jambo, Jambo’, which has the famous words ‘Hakuna Matata’ in it, meaning ‘no problem’. We all sang with them. This was absolutely fantastic to see and hear. Most of us were in tears, from both emotions and exhaustion. It was a sight never to be forgotten. Soon after that we started our long descent down the mountain towards the Marangu Gate. When we had walked for a few hours, Nick, our leader, told us all to find a quiet spot for a few minutes, to sit and have a think about what we had achieved on this trip, to think about our family and friends back home and to reflect on the whole thing. We all had our ‘quiet moment’ separately and then walked on as a group again. On the way down we saw ‘forest cows’, a couple of hyrax and some ferocious ants, as well as ever increasing lush vegetation. When at the gate, we all signed out of the park, filled in the paperwork for our certificates of a successful climb of the mountain and bought some souvenirs in the little shop, as well as a well deserved cold drink. Finally we boarded the coach, for a further 3 hour transfer to our lovely hotel. We arrived at about 6.30pm and were given only one hour to clean up and get dressed, smartly, for the celebratory Gala Dinner. Not easy after a week of not washing, but even harder for the girls, whose hair was almost dreadlocked due to the dust, wind and lack of brushing for a week! Most of us probably did a ‘Herbal Essences’ advert impression, when taking our showers, it felt SO good. I made a quick phone call home, to tell my wife I had safely arrived in the hotel and that I had indeed reached the summit the day before, which she didn’t know till this moment. It was another emotional moment.
Game of pool, anyone?
Later that evening we had a lovely meal at the hotel, shared between people with clean and shaven faces, nice dresses, clean shirts and a feeling of real relief after a job well done. I did a short thank you speech for the AtD and local staff and congratulated everyone on their achievement, whether they had made it to the top or not. Everybody had made a huge effort just getting there in the first place, raising money for their chosen charity and trying their hardest to get to the top. Later on Nick handed out the certificates to those people who had reached the summit. After that everything became a bit of a blur, probably helped by the copious amounts of alcohol being drunk. Allegedly some people ended up in the hotel’s pool, wearing other people’s clothes, or nothing at all. Suffice to say that by the next morning some people had to go and look for their clothes, somewhere near the pool side, and some people never got to their hotel room in the first place.
Goodbyes
On Tuesday morning, when finally everybody had emerged from their rooms and had some breakfast, we had a few hours to spare, before our transfer to the airport for our long trip home. Most of us spent some time hanging around the swimming pool, having a drink, eating lunch, or doing some reading. Some people left early to catch a flight to their destination other than the UK, but most of us got to Kilimanjaro Airport as a group for our flight home, via Nairobi. Everybody was kind of sad at this stage, having made some very good friends during the last 10 days or so. We had shared an adventure of epic proportions, sharing everything with people we had hardly known beforehand, seeing things we couldn’t have dreamed of, and reaching a truly magnificent achievement together.
Of course it doesn’t stop here. I’ve now done 4 very different treks, all special in their own way, and next I’m walking (part of) The Great Wall, in China, in April 2010, for yet another charity, Cancer Research UK. Fancy coming?
Pete van Dongen
.
