Mt. Kilimanjaro

Over the past couple of weeks I have been in Tanzania. I had booked the trip in order to visit Africa for the first time and also to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Rising to 19,341 ft, Kilimanjaro is about a mile higher than any mountain in the US lower 48. While not overly technical, it is a serious endeavor, and needed to be treated with planning and a healthy dose of respect. Preparation for the trip was a large undertaking. First were the shots. I got vaccinated for Typhoid (actually a couple of pills), Hep A & B, Japanese B Encephalitis, Varicella (yes, I've never had chicken pox), TD, Meningitis, Yellow Fever, and Rabies. And I also would take an anti-malarial while there. In addition to medical preparations, there was physical fitness involved. I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer to get my shoulders and core ready for carrying a pack long distances over rough terrain. I worked with the trainer once a week and incorporated weights and other core work into my schedule 3-4 times each week. Finally there was gear - a lot of gear. I won't go into the full list, but I will have a partial list of items needed/used for the trip at the end of this post.

I knew months in advance what I would be doing, so I purchased some gear and took a trip to Mt. Langley and also a trip to Anza Borrego to give it all a test run.  I ended up purchasing better gloves and a much better summit coat - both of which served me well on the roof of Africa.

I don't know that I'll post a lot about the 10 days I spent in Tanzania, or the 8 days on the mountain. I feel too close to the immensity of the undertaking at the moment. Suffice it to say, the trip was beautiful in every sense of the word - the people, the scenery, the weather - everything we encountered made me grateful to have made the decision to go on the journey.

Waterfall we encountered while hiking through the coffee plantation/cooperative

The day before heading to the mountain, a couple of people joined me for a tour of a coffee plantation that was comprised of 2,200 small farmers who had banded together to create a cooperative. We spent the better part of a day walking along single track trails on the side of a mountain looking at the farms where banana and avocado trees shaded the coffee plants. We also saw calabash, maize and quinine trees. Adults we encountered were friendly and as curious about us as we were about them. Children waved and smiled and periodically followed us as we meandered along the pathways through the fields and ended up at a beautiful waterfall.

Clemency, our coffee guide, showing us calabash plants along the way - they are in the background hanging from a trellace set up in front of the little farmhouse.

The tour concluded with us preparing coffee from scratch. First we separated shells from the dried coffee beans by means of a very large 2 person mortar and pestle. Next we roasted the beans to a medium roast. To do this, we stirred the beans over open coals in a blackened ceramic pot using a wooden spoon. That took about 20 minutes. We then put the roasted beans back into the mortar and pestle and smashed them by hand into an espresso grind. The resulting coffee was shockingly sweet and delicious.

Using an age-old technique for getting the beans to a medium roast

For the rest of the trip, my highlights were the rainforest days at the beginning and end - where we encountered monkeys and a civet. My favorite climbing day was the famed Barranco Wall - I could've gone back down and done it again. My favorite plants were found in the same climate zone as the wall - the giant senecio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrosenecio and the lobelia deckenii https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobelia_deckenii The Lobelia, in particular, is a fascinating plant. It holds a large amount of water in its open leaves during the day. So much so that, in fact, you can scoop out water with your hand. The plant shuts back up completely at night in order to protect itself from freezing. As it ages, it grows a large flowering top with hundreds of buds in little cave-like enclosures that attract bugs. The bugs in turn attract birds, and the birds both help pollenate and repopulate the plant - making for a true symbiotic relationship. 

The highlight of the trip was really the trip itself. The totality was certainly greater than the sum of the parts. However, since our group was interested in summiting, that remained the ultimate goal. It took us 6 hours of trudging from our high camp at 15,000 ft (already higher than any mountain in the US lower 48) to reach the summit at Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet. We left camp at midnight in a snowstorm and simply went up at a snail's pace (due to the altitude). Step by step in the dark and cold for hours was psychically and physically difficult. There were many false summits. There were people we passed in serious distress due to altitude sickness - some heading down the mountain with help, while others paused to question the ramifications of following their dreams any further.  Honestly, I had never seen people with altitude sickness beyond a minor headache. It was shocking and difficult to witness. All, at least, were being helped.

Making our way up the mountain

Me looking a little less than graceful with a pack and solar panel hanging from it

The summit itself was magnificent. Huge castle-like glaciers clung to the mountain's outer walls while the interior gave way to the depths of a long extinct volcano crater. We spent about 30-40 minutes going from Stella Point at the low point summit to Uhuru at the top. Once there, the clock was ticking. Spending too much time over 19,000 feet is not a great idea. Photos were taken, tears were shed (at the absolute beauty of our surreal surroundings), and congratulatory embraces were given freely. 

The summit!

                                                Getting ready for a team pic.

Sunrise at the summit

Cold at the top - see the glacier over my left shoulder

White wonderland at 19,341 ft. Glaciers in the distance.

Throughout the trip, we we helped by guides and porters. The porters did every step of the trip we did except much faster and carrying much greater weight. Our guides made sure our pacing was perfect in order to limit recovery time needed and to aid in acclimatization. The guides were also fonts of knowledge for local flora and fauna. 

While being a porter is considered a good job in Tanzania, it is certainly a job no westerner would take. I have never seen people work harder in my life. I have also never witnessed people with such amazing dispositions and life outlooks. And that is something that can be found throughout Tanzania. The people there, in large part, are very poor - much poorer than I think most of us would even consider possible. But in the midst of poverty, they seem to be proud of who they are, have a lust for life, and a real desire to learn, to meet new people, and to share what they know. They take pride in appearance. Wherever we went people always looked good - children in spotless clothing, women in colorful dresses and head coverings, men in crisp shirts and pants. It was an odd culture shock from a western perspective - where we often look a bit, ummm... unkempt. On several occasions we joined our porters and guides in singing and dancing. The performances, in which we all participated, were beautiful and done with joyful abandon that quickly spread from Tanzanians to the visitors. 

Sharing songs and dances - Amani (in the orange) is leading this song

I had gone to Tanzania with quite a bit of money to buy gifts and mementos. Instead, I pretty much gave everything I brought away to help the people who had given me such a wonderful experience. Others in our group did much more - really stepping up to provide ongoing assistance to these sweet people who can do more with a little than others could do with a lot. 

I hope to be back in Tanzania in the future and see and share more of the wonderful place that I would describe as a complex paradise.

Partial list of gear:

Patagonia Fitz Roy Parka

Patagonia Torrentshell Jacket

Patagonia Torrentshell Pants

Patagonia Capilene Middleweight Bottoms

Patagonia Nano Puff Vest

Buff - 2 buffs

Julbo Spectron 4 sunglasses - 2 pair

Salomon 4D Quest Hiking Boots

Outdoor Research Sol Hat

Outdoor Research Men's Arete Gloves

Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain High Gaiters - note: did not use - in fact no one used the gaiters    they brought on this trip.

Marmot - Never Summer Sleeping Bag - note: the zipper malfunctioned, but I was able to use the bag for the trip. I spent a little time and fixed it upon my return home.

Black Diamond Headlamp 

Go Pro Hero 4 Camera

Osprey Kestrel 38 Pack - small, good pack - most of my provisions were carried by a porter.

1 x 1 ltr and 1 x 1.5 ltr Nalgene bottles

1 x 2 ltr - Nathan bladder

Leki Trek Poles