Kilimanjaro Reflection

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I was asked to put something together for my high school newsletter on my Kilimanjaro experience ...which was a really good motivator for me to sit down and document the overall trip (and doubles as a blog entry! 😊 While the Safari, Ol Doinyo Lengai and Zanzibar were wonderful & added to my entire Tanzanian experience, those are all things that could be replicated. I feel like I could go back & probably get a pretty close experience. With Kilimanjaro, I don't believe that I could - it was without a doubt the most special part of the trip. Here's what I ended up with, kind of lengthy...

One of the guys in our group that summited Kilimanjaro is a high school teacher and every summer he takes a group of school kids on a week-long backpacking trip in Washington. They have a nightly ritual where they go around in a circle, each person telling the group about their apple and onion for the day - the apple being the sweetest thing and the onion being most bitter. When I reflect on my trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest peak at 19,341 ft, I have 8 days that overflow with apples. This trip was a year in the making and with every gear purchase, every conditioning hike, every Kilimanjaro conversation and every invoice paid, the excitement and expectations grew. And at the end of it all, the experience blew right past my highest of expectations.

We flew into Kilimanjaro International Airport on the evening of July 2, 2011, greeted by our lead guide Freddie who brought us to Moshi Town where we spent the next two days adjusting to the jet lag and preparing for our climb. There were 13 climbers in our group, the majority from Portland, OR. My history with them ran the gamut from a close friend to acquaintances to people I had never met before in my life. Despite staying at a hotel that had a view of Kili, we weren’t able to see the mountain for almost the entire next two days due to cloud cover. We had a final gear check the evening of July 4 with Freddie and for the first time since being in Tanzania, the clouds cleared and we saw Kibo (Kilimanjaro’s summit). It was mesmerizing and intimidating – I had no idea how I was going to get myself up that thing!

On July 5 we departed Moshi in 2 Land Rovers & headed to the Londorossi Gate to get our permits and meet our support crew. The team that got us up the mountain included 35 porters, 2 cooks, 2 camp crew, 2 waiters, 2 drivers, 2 head guides and 3 assistant guides. Including the 13 climbers, we had a total party of 61.

We spent 6.5 days going up Kilimanjaro and 1.5 days coming down. The route we took – Lemosho to the Western Breach – is the road less traveled. Fewer than 10% of climbers take this route & it was evident by the fact that we did not see a single other person on the trail for two days. In fact, there were 3 nights were we had our campsite entirely to ourselves. On day 2, on the way to Shira 1 camp, we got our first on-trail view of Kibo while hiking through the African bush – one of those moments that makes you feel very tiny in this universe. During our day 3 hike to Shira 2 camp I started to believe that I would get to the top of the mountain. It started looking more achievable by the hour – but I suppose that’s how you get up a mountain. You just put one foot in front of the other.

Over the course of our trek the terrain went from rainforest to moorland to alpine desert. Each was beautiful in its own way, and it was a trip going through the different biomes – some of which I’ve never seen before – with Mt. Kilimanjaro keeping vigil in the distance. In my daily life I’m often humbled to think of all the people who have provided me with support, opportunity, and guidance. All the people who have put trust in me and invested in me. Reflecting on this in a setting like Kilimanjaro, I was humbled on a whole other level.

On July 10, after about 5 hours of sleep, we awoke at 11pm to get ready for the summit. This included putting on lots of layers, eating ‘breakfast’, using the facilities (yes, our wonderful porters brought toilets up the mountain for us), and trying to mentally prepare for the 18 hour day ahead of us. Prior to going to sleep we had already went through our backpacks to take out unnecessary weight and ensure we had enough food, water, warm layers and supplies. We would meet our porters (and the rest of our belongings) for lunch at 2pm the next day on the other side of the mountain. We left Arrow Glacier camp with headlamps on at 12.15am on July 11 and started up the Great Western Breach, a wall of rock that leads up to the edge of Kibo’s crater. From camp to the crater took about 6 hours. It was a half-mooned, clear night without much wind, thankfully. The route was really fun & interesting – there were times where we were on all fours, scrambling over rock faces. As a general rule of mountaineering etiquette, the people ahead in the group announce things to watch out for to the people behind…at one point someone called out ‘loose rock on the left, abyss on the right!’ I’m glad it was dark for this portion of the climb! There’s an area on the Western Breach route called the ‘danger zone’ which has overhanging rock that could potentially come loose and fall on climbers – our guides announced when we were past the danger zone with a notable tone of relief in their voices.

When we arrived at the crater, we were welcomed by impressive glaciers & moon-like terrain. It was very surreal. There was a group of climbers camping in the crater & they greeted us as we passed them to start the hour-long slog up a sandy slope to Uhuru Peak. About half way up the guides from the crater camping group started cheering for us and singing songs in Swahili. And that’s when I lost it. Those moments are the ones that stick with me the most from the climb because it’s the perfect culmination of everything that got me to the summit. In those songs I heard the support from our amazing porters, cooks, waiters, camp crew and guides. People who I had never met before in my life, many of whom I couldn’t even have a conversation with because of the language barrier. But those men looked out for my well-being as though I was their family, with a genuineness that was easy to feel but hard to articulate. And in those songs I heard the voices of my family and my friends. The people who have been consistent sources of love, laughter, encouragement and light in my life. I got emotional then and I get emotional now when I think back on it.

We reached the summit at 7.13am on July 11. The weather was so perfect that, although the plan was to stay there for 10-15 minutes, we spent 80 minutes on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. All 18 members of our group (13 climbers and 5 guides) summited, including 3 climbers with varying degrees of altitude sickness. I was really proud of all of us – that last day was not an easy one.

In the midst of all of these apples, I did experience one onion on the trip which was the incredible poverty in Tanzania. Uhuru Peak means ‘freedom peak’ in Swahili and was named in 1961 when Tanzania gained its independence from the British. At the time Tanzania had 120 college graduates & the people were more or less left on their own to build their country. Portering has a long tradition in Tanzania and is a very important part of the culture. Porters are often impoverished and depend on a grueling employment to feed themselves and their families. Often they perform their job without adequate clothing, footwear and in some cases nutrition. They are dependent on the companies they work for for fair and timely pay, reasonable weight loads, proper nutrition, and medical care on the mountain (if needed). Unfortunately, many companies continue to exploit these people.

The Kilimanjaro Porter Assistance Project (http://www.kiliporters.org) is a registered NGO and was started in 2003 to address these issues. The owner of the tour company we selected (Embark Adventures: http://embarkadventures.com/) was instrumental in starting this program after he lived in Tanzania for several years. After having experienced the portering profession first-hand, it would have been a very different and much less rewarding trip if we had not chosen a responsible company. It was actually difficult for me to witness how hard these men worked to support my experience even knowing they were being treated well. I would highly recommend climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro but I would also highly recommend doing proper research beforehand to ensure you are giving your money to companies that share your values.

My 3 weeks in Tanzania was the best trip I’ve ever taken. The Swanglish I picked up on the mountain and subsequent safari stays with me even now. The natural beauty, challenge, adventure and diversity made it a really unique trip. The selflessness of the porters and crew was an experience in humanity that I needed without even realizing that I needed it. As I flew out of Tanzania on my way to Singapore (which is a world away, not only geographically but culturally), I had a view of Kilimanjaro silhouetted in a sunset. It was so captivating that I stared out that window for over 30 minutes. I couldn’t take my eyes off it – half because of the sheer beauty of that scene, but half because a piece of my heart is on that mountain and it always will be. And that was the perfect farewell.

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