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Published: September 27th 2009
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The big bad mountain. My first of many weeks of traveling couldnt have started off in a better way.
Joachim, a good friend who I've know and gone to school with for a few years now, and I landed late night in Nairobi on September 18th. An hour of discussions with Jackson, our driver, led to immediate departure for Mt Kenya next morning. Mt Kenya is Africa's second highest mountain, about 5000meters high. They say although it's about 1000 meters smaller than famous Kilimanjiaro, it's a much better choice. Apparently Mt Kenya is more spectacular in its panorama, is less crowded and is tougher to climb. Neither Joachim or I have trouble believing that... We had obviously packed for Africa (silk sleeping bag, jogging shoes and flip flops, shorts, only one thin sweater, etc), not for Mt Kenya (minus degrees in the valleys with no sun, at the summit and definitely at night, daily rain/hale from 2-5pm, steep slopes and so on). we got to rent some shoes and gloves and somehow managed to survive the trip with what we had. It just made us feel more ''in contact with nature''. (Yeah right...) It took us two days to get from about 2400 meters
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sunrise from the mountain top. up to 4300 and then on the third day we took on a challenge that I probably wouldnt have accepted again. At 4 in the morning we started to climb up to the peek, Pt Lenana, to catch the sunrise at about 6.20. and so we did. it was a fantastic view (of which i will also release pictures soon, when i have some more time online) and absolutely worth the painstaking climb. some people who were going up at the same time as we actually didnt even make it up there, passed out somewhere midways and had to be carried down by their guides. our guide, however, had other plans for us. He took us on the ''mountain circuit path''. We didnt really realize what this meant, but we were soon to find out: Another three mountains (each about 300-400meters high) waited for us. a bad idea especially if you havent eaten breakfast and didnt bring lunch, except for a few crackers and tea. anybody who knows me knows that i need a good breakfast to function. well, once we understood what the circuit trip included, it was too late to turn around, so we just had to continue.
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thats where we were going... I dont think I've ever done anything as demanding as this, physically as well as mentally: the tough physical challenges, the difficult terrain, and no food, all combined with the hight sickness that came upon us. But at the end of the day, we made it back to the base camp, more or less alive. And now we're both pretty proud and happy to have completed this trip and conquered Mt Kenya.
Check out more info about Mt Kenya here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt_kenya
Jackson picked us up on the other side of the mountain and took us on Safari, first to Lake Nakuru, known for its tens of thousands of flamingos, then to Maasai Mara.
We were fortunate enought to see all the animals strolling around there, including the big five: Lions, Buffalos, Rhinos, Leopards, Elephants, and many more. Pics are coming soon.
Oh, btw. we were given nicknames by the locals: Jokke was called Mfopi while I got the name Mrefu. Which means, ''small''
Now, we are in Nairobi, waiting to catch a bus to Tanzania tomorrow morning. I'll promise to take some more time to write my blog entries soon enough...
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Meghan
non-member comment
OMG!
Hey guys! I'm so glad you are doing a blog and even happier it's in English! yeah! I will be able to read it! I can't believe you are finally there! You two are going to have an awesome time! I can't wait to see the pictures! Guess what? You missed the ant infestation in our room last night at midnight! We were up until 1 getting rid of them. I have a test I should be studying for so I'm going to go! Have a great day and keep writing!