Mt. Kilimanjario, Tanzania
My most recent trip away was to Tanzania where I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for charity. At the start of September this year myself and 7 of my work colleagues tackled the ‘Roof of Africa’ to raise money for Amani Children’s Home in Moshi, Tanzania.
We climbed, what became affectionately known as ‘Killy’, with a company called Tanzania Journeys that was based in Moshi. For the eight of us we had 3 guides, one head and two assistant guides - Deedas, Sunday and Marley - as well as 30 porters which carried supplies and equipment up the mountain with us.
There are a number of routes up the mountain, we took the Machame route which takes 5 days to reach the summit and 2 days for the descent. This gave us enough time on the way up to acclimatize to the altitude.
The climb started in the rain forest at the base of the mountain, which after the first day changed to rock and mountain shrubs. We set off at a steady pace, any racing ahead resulted in our guide calling after us ‘Pole Pole’ which means ‘Slowly Slowly’. Climbing to this high altitude, 19,340 feet (5,895m), means that you cannot rush as you will more than likely by struck down with altitude sickness.
Altitude sickness can affect everyone differently, and at various heights. We all suffered at some point along the climb, whether it was a banging headache, dizziness or feeling sick. There are altitude sickness medicines but we choose not to take them - their side effects were very similar to the actual symptoms of altitude sickness! I met a lady on the way up who was taking Diamox and on top of the dizziness, headaches and sickness she was feeling she also needed to go to the toilet every hour! Which, needless to say, was not the most enjoyable experience - a hole in the floor in a wooden hut pretty much sums it up.
Camping on the side of the mountain was lots of fun, our porters made sure we were as comfortable as possible and the two cooks who came up with us were brilliant. One of the symptoms of altitude sickness is loss of appetite - which I think can have a knock on affect for the other symptoms, because if you’re not eating your body is generally more likely to feel worse from the height - fortunately all of us ate really well, having a 3 course meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner definitely kept our strength up.
At night I had to make sure I was prepared for sleep as getting up in the middle of the night for anything, for example a late night toilet, was a military mission. I wrapped up in my sleeping bag and it was freezing outside as temperatures dropped to around -15 Celsius at night!
As the climb took us further up killy the terrain turned to alpine deserts with looming rock formations and barren, dusty paths. Climbing up the sides of Barranco Wall was a real experience, with side so steep that others climbers had attached themselves together with ropes for safety - in was a case of “Don’t look down!”. It reminded me of a scene from an Indiana Jones movie.
Whilst the climb was tiring physically it was more of a mental battle to keep going, to keep a positive frame of mind as the days went on with the summit slowly closer but still seeming such a long way off. By day three, the throbbing headaches were a constant companion and sometimes for hours there was no sound in the group, where before there had been shouting and singing (though not very good).
Only the final summit day it was up at 4 am, with the aim to reach the top by around midday. The first part of the climb was in darkness with headtorches on and everyone staying close together so not lose the path or each other. The top of Killy is surrounded by a glacier which we had to navigate round to reach the very summit. Our guides encouraged us all the way up but at points we were walking so slowly that as we stepped one foot didn’t even go past the other.
It was such a relief to reach the top (5,895m), where there is a sign post all ready for many photo opportunities. Standing there surrounded by the glacier our guides and the porters that joined us started dancing and singing, it was a truly memorable sight.
We were only allowed to stay at the for about 30 minutes before we were literally run down the mountain as some of our group were sarting to suffer badly from the altitude. As fast a we got back to camp where we had a couple of hours to rest and eat before walking for another 7 hours to our next camp - needless to say it was a very long day!
The following day we were up and all feeling refreshed, we were at a much lower altitude and so headaches were beginning to fade and we were on the home stretch - by the afternoon we would be back in Moshi, in our hotel.
Arriving back at our hotels it was funny to see my own reflection - sounds strange, but I hadn’t looked into a mirror or anything for a whole week!
I’ll never forget climbing to the ‘Roof of Africa’, it was a real test for all of us and I’m am glad we all made it. This is an experience I would recommend anyone to try, and if you want any more information about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro then please get in touch - this was the abbreviated version of the climb, there lots more stories I could tell!
I'm Doug Platts and this is my travel blog from my trips around the world. On my travel blog I speak about many places I have been to and include my travel photos of what I have seen. If you have a travel blog or have travel photos you want to share please contact me. Or if would like to write a travel article for my travel blog, or would like to share travel tips or advice to publish here please let me know.
