Climb Mountains Not So The World Can See You, But So You Can See The World

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I did it!

So as most of you know, I hiked up Mt. Kilimanjaro with my friend, M last week and I am proud to say that we both made it to the summit at Uhuru Peak! Kili stands at 5,895 metres above sea level making it the highest mountain in Africa, and highest free-standing mountain in the world. I have to admit that it was one of the most challenging experiences of my life, and there were a few times on summit day that I didn’t think I would make it to the top. Thankfully our guides, Max and Winger from KiliClimbersandSafaris kept us motivated and were determined to get us to the top!

My trek was 5 days long with 3 days leading up to summit day and 2 days to summit and descend. I opted for the Marangu route which is known to be one of the easier ones since it is a shorter distance; however it has one of the lowest success rates for that exact reason. Since the route is much shorter than some of the others, we had less time to acclimatize. Lucky for us, we made it to the top and back with no severe injuries. We chose this route because it was affordable and fit within our timeline for the remainder of our time here in Moshi. Another reason is that Marangu is the only route that offers accommodations in wooden huts, and since it is now rainy season we thought it would be more comfortable than camping.

Here is a brief summary for each of the days leading up to Uhuru peak:

Day 1 – We had a nice and easy start to our journey with 3.5 hour hike from the front gate to our first camp site at the Mandara huts. It was a warm short hike through the forest where we got to soak up our last little bits of heat before the cool breeze started to set in. After about 2 hours of hiking, we took a break for lunch at a the rest stop. Our first dining experience on Kili was an eventful one because our lunchboxes were infested by ants. But, after 6 months of living in Moshi, M and I have both become accustomed to having ants on just about everything all the time, so it didn’t really faze us. After dusting them off and enjoying our lunch, we continued our hike for 1.5 more hours and reached Mandara hut for our first sleep on Kili.

Day 2 – We left Mandara to head to our next stop over at Horombo hut. Our second hike towards Kibo hut was about 6 hours and was slightly chillier than the first one. We had some great views of Moshi and other surrounding towns of the foothills in addition to really great views of Uhuru peak and Mawenzi cone. Our trek to Horombo was much rockier than our first but it was good practice for summit day…and thankfully our lunch was ant free!

Day 3 – This was our last hike before summit day, we set out for Kibo hut around 8:00 am. We did a 2 hour acclimatization hike before heading towards Kibo. We saw some great views of Mawenzi cone and the Zebra rocks, we also stopped to build a little inuksuk out of the stones near the Zebra rocks. Day 3 was far more challenging than the first 2, as it was a much steeper hike up to the huts. We arrived at about 3p.m, and had a little bit of time to freshen up and eat dinner. We finished dinner at about 5 and then headed straight to bed because we were scheduled to start our ascent at 12:30 am so that we could see the sun rise from the top.

Day 4 – The big day! Getting out of bed was a bit tough for all of us, we didn’t get much sleep because our hut was freezing cold and I think we were all a bit anxious about summit day. Before starting our ascent, we packed our kits with water and a few snacks and had some tea and biscuits for breakfast. I wore basically every single article of clothing that I brought with me in preparation for the cold. After living in 30+ weather for the past 6 months, I thought I would be very sensitive to the sub- zero temperatures. After about 20 minutes, I became very hot and took off most of my winter accessories; I guess my Canadian blood was keeping me warm. Reaching the summit was one of the hardest experiences of my life. I had pretty bad altitude sickness the whole way up and struggled to stay motivated. Despite of how I was feeling, I was determined to make it to Uhuru and would not have done so if it weren’t for my guide, Winger. I reached the first checkpoint, Gillman’s point at about 6:00 am and was able to see the beautiful sun rise. Reaching Gillman’s point was the most challenging and painful part of the entire hike, I was extremely overwhelmed by time I reached the checkpoint and couldn’t help but shed a few tears once I finally made it. I took a little bit of a break for a snack and a short nap between Gillman’s and Stella’s point and then continued on my way to Uhuru peak. After a very long 2.5 hours, I reached Uhuru peak at 8:30 am. I sat down by the sign as soon as I got to Uhuru just to absorb the beautiful scenery and to reflect on what I had just accomplished. M joined me once she made it and we hugged for a good 5 minutes and shed a few more tears. By that point we were both so exhausted but still very proud of ourselves and each other for making it to the top.

The descent was just as challenging as the ascent, especially since we just wanted to be finished once we made it to the peak. It took us about 3 hours to get down, and the majority of the time was spent sliding down the loose rocks all the way to the bottom. Since we were both very low on energy and incredibly exhausted, our guides had to hold us up most of the way. We both made it down safely without any serious injuries and were greeted at the bottom with Mango juice from our porters. When we got back to our hut, we were able to have a quick 1 hour nap and then had to quickly pack up and eat lunch so that we could begin our descent. We hiked for another 4 hours back to Horombo hut where we slept for the night.

Day 5 – We completed our descent on day 5 with a 7 hour hike from Horombo hut to the Marangu gates. I felt completely fine when I woke up, which came as a surprise considering how bad my altitude sickness was on summit day. After breakfast on descent day, we took photos with our guides and porters and were given a small celebration ceremony from them with song and dance. It was a great feeling to make it back to the gates safely and soundly, it was a long 5 days but I am so incredibly proud of myself for achieving this goal.

I’ve done a few hikes here and there, but nothing has even come close to the Mt. Kilimanjaro. As excruciating as summit day was, reaching Uhuru peak was one of the greatest feelings I have ever experienced. I wanted to give up so many times, but managed to keep going. I know I would have regretted it forever if I didn’t make it to the top. This whole experience has been symbolic of life in general. No matter how close we thought we were to the top, there was always some sort of obstacle in the way, every time we thought we were almost there we set back. Although it was very frustrating it was very rewarding to overcome a struggle with perseverance.

Summiting Kili was the perfect way to end an incredible 6 months in this beautiful country. Today is my last day in Moshi, I’m off to meet my sister in Italy tonight so hopefully I will be able to post some updates while I’m there.

Thank-you all for taking the time to read my posts over the past 6 months!

Last Swahili phrase of the day: Maisha Marefu which means Longevity it’s basically the Swahili version of “Cheers”.

Peace&Love

- Lisa

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Photos

The start of our journey at Marangu gate
From left to right: Winger, M, me, and Max