The Roof of Africa

One of my all time goals has been to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and selfishly, one of the reasons I chose to come to Tanzania to volunteer, was to be as close to the mountain as is possible. A month ago I was invited by two other volunteers, Andrew & Rachael, and Rachael’s sister, Becky, who was flying in from Sri Lanka, to climb the mountain with them. As some of you may know, climbing is a bit of a passion of mine, and I didn’t hesitate to jump at the chance to go. The fact that we were going to climb over Christmas made it all the more exciting and more importantly fit in well with work.

Our climb started last Saturday morning with a one hour drive to the town of Machame which is just outside Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park. After arriving at the park, our guides (Florence and Benjamin) quickly picked out 10 porters and 2 cooks that would be responsible for carrying our packs, tents, food, as well as their own gear up the mountain. We were expecting two porters per person and were surprised that we were taking three each. We didn’t feel too bad when we found out that a trio of women who were also climbing the mountain were taking 30 porters. We would come to find out later that these ladies were on the high roller package and not the thrifty package we were on.

The first two days of the climb were relatively easy with four hour treks each day. The first day took us thru rain forest on the lower slopes of the mountain where the trail was muddy and wet. The second day had us leaving the glades of the rain forest and crossing a beautiful valley up a steep rocky ridge, covered with heather, and then camping next to a group of smaller mountains but quite stunning none the less.
The key to the first four days of the trek is acclimatization which after speaking too many of the climbers along the way would become a serious issue. We started the climb at 6000 feet and at the end of the second day were at 10,500 feet.







The third day, Christmas Day, was wet and cold. The terrain was mainly rocky as we were now above the tree line. The views of Kilimanjaro were becoming spectacular when it wasn’t covered by clouds, which was often unfortunately. Today’s hike was six hours and we would ascend as high as 16,000 feet. The picture you see is all of us huddled together celebrating our "White Christmas" on a lava wall called the "Sharks Tooth." The snow was coming down pretty good so we stopped for a quick lunch then headed down to camp at a lower elevation of 12,700 feet. This was an important day for us as it gave our bodies primarily our heads a chance of getting accustomed to being at a high altitude. The altitude seemed to affect Rachael quite dramatically as she felt nauseous and was refusing to eat or drink at camp. There was even talk of her calling off the climb and heading back down but Andrew and I were quick to nix any talk of that. She settled into her tent looking quite awful and we just hoped a full night’s sleep at this lower altitude would help. Luckily, it did along with some altitude pills she took the night before and we were up early for another six hour walk to high camp.

The walk to Barafu or high camp was actually one of the most beautiful days with a steep climb up a rocky outcropping called the Barranco Wall. Rachael was feeling much better on the climb but once we all got to Barafu Camp at 16,000 feet once again, we were all starting to get small headaches and the same feeling of nausea. However, this was summit night, and there was little time for complaining. We were fed and in bed by 7PM. The snow was falling pretty hard by this time and we were expecting a pretty miserable summit bid. However, to our surprise and good fortune, we emerged from the tents at midnight with not a cloud in the sky and about a million stars you could almost reach out and touch. We were already the fourth party on the hill by this time and proceeded to make our way up the mountain a reasonable pace. "Pole Pole" which means "Slowly Slowly" was the advice our guides couldn’t stop giving us which made a lot of sense at this altitude. We ended up passing most groups on the mountain (about 8 in all) but not without Becky starting to have her own issues. She too was having a hard go of it and would have to follow us up the mountain at a slightly slower pace.

I must admit that about 500 feet from the top I too was feeling the effects of altitude. With every step I began feeling dizzy and would nearly fall over. My balance was definitely off and my stomach was starting to get all twisted into knots. However, we all managed to push on and we arrived at Stella Point (18,760 feet) with 20 minutes to spare before sunrise. It was cold and sitting around to watch the sunrise from here was quickly dismissed and we continued on to "Uhuru Peak," the true summit.

The one hour walk from Stella Point to Uhuru Peak could honestly be one of the most beautiful moments of my life. To the right I could see the crater of Kilimanjaro which was absolutely massive and seemed to go forever across. To the left were these immense glaciers that jutted out of the mountain like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
I had to remind myself to keep turning around every five minutes to catch the sun rising up over Africa. It seemed the views around me kept changing every minute as the sun rose higher and higher in the horizon. I walked the last hour alone and am glad I did as I started getting a bit choked up about what was happening. Getting to this point not only on the mountain but in my life was something very important for me and will be something I never forget.

When we all finally reached Uhuru Peak we gave each other big hugs and congratulations on a worthy accomplishment. The people I climbed were great and the weather for us couldn’t have been any better despite all the rain we had on the four days prior. We weren’t on the summit for more then an hour when the clouds quickly moved in and had most of the other climbers reaching in the summit without the views we were lucky to see.




So to bring the story to a quick end, the walk down was absolute HELL, enough said! Oh, and take notice of the cap I dragged up the mountain to show my support. Go Hawks!!

Happy New Year to all my family and friends! I hope you all have a good one.

Work & Kili

Its been a busy week at work this past couple weeks with Windows XP, Word, & Excel training for the staff. Some of it is very foreign for them but hopefully they will walk away with knowledge that will benefit them and those who really need it in the future. I often wonder whether what I'm doing for TCBA is helpful or not as I do not have a direct impact on a lot of the poor people here in Arusha. I guess I just need to keep telling myself that helping the people that are in a position to make a difference will eventually trickle down to those who really need it.

On a sidenote, I've made plans to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on December 23rd. I should be halfway up by Christmas day and on the the top by the 27th. I probably won't write again until I return. Wish me luck!

Go Hawks!!

Safari

Last week I spent 5 days on a camping safari on the northern circuit of Tanzania’s national parks. I was invited along by 3 other Mondochallenge volunteers (Rachel, Liz, and Helen) and Oliver, who is Helen’s husband. All four of them are from the UK including Scotland. Our guide Mashaka, and cook, Captain Karanga made up the rest of our group.

The itinerary for the trip included stops at Tarangirie, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Lake Manyara national parks as well as a brief stop at Olduvai Gorge. This was my first getaway outside Arusha and I’m not sure if there was any better way to start. It was an absolutely amazing safari not only for the unreal amount of animals we saw but for the sheer beauty of the landscape.

After about a one hour drive outside Arusha, we arrived at our first destination, Tarangirie national park. It may have been just the excitement of my first day but it felt as if I were on a Jurassic Park adventure ride. The roof of the land rover opened up fully and we were witness to huge giraffe that came within feet of the truck, and packs of elephants that were roaming thru lush green forests and valleys. Watching baby elephants about the size of a baby carriage move so gingerly between the legs of their huge mama’s was a sight to behold. Male bull elephants were not too far off in the distance minding their own business and plowing thru as much grass and shrubs as they could.

Our next stop was the Olduvai Gorge archaeological site where footprints and fossils of early hominids (upright walking) have been discovered. The three sets of footprints which date back 3.6 million years ago were most likely made by two adults and a child just following a volcanic eruption. Now that’s what I call history.

The Serengeti was our second stop and we ran across a pride of lions five miles into the park feasting on a recent kill. Shortly thereafter, we were lucky enough to come across a male and female lion lounging on a massive boulder soaking up the sun. We were told by Mashaka that they were courting and sure enough within minutes, both cats quietly mozied down from the boulder, and made off to the short grass where we saw some action. I can’t say I was too impressed with the stamina of the King of the Jungle though.



After a surreal night under a full moon in the middle of the Serengeti, we were off to visit the biggest hippo pool in the Serengeti which was home to at least 50 of the biggest fattest hippos I’ve ever seen. I think I could have spent hours watching them watch us as they wallowed around in the water doing absolutely nothing.

Our third stop was the incredible Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is about 7000 feet above sea level at its highest point, with the crater floor being around 5900 feet.
The crater itself is about 18 miles long and is teeming with the most wildlife you could ever imagine. This includes wildebeest, gazelle, monkeys, water buffalo, lions, elephants, giraffe, zebra, and the last few remaining rhinoceros’s in the world. We were only able to get within about 200 feet of this monstrous creature but considered ourselves lucky at having seen a rhino at all. In another stroke of good luck we also came across a Cheetah which is a very rare sight in the crater as well. It looked as if it were putting itself in position for a possible hunt. Due to the constant water supply and nutrient rich grazing, there is an abundance of animals in the crater all year long. However, neither pictures nor words can describe the majestic views of the crater with it continuously changing weather patterns and the abundance of wildlife that live here. It truly is the circle of life in action and a must see for anyone ever considering coming on safari.

The highlight of Lake Manyara, our final stop, was the pack of elephants that were literally10 feet from the truck and the bull elephant that scared the crap out of everyone as it came rushing out of the bush. It bypassed our truck and forced a rover behind us to back down the road for some time.

From the lush green valleys of Tarangirie to the short grass plains of the Serengeti, I don’t think it could have been any better for a first trip out of town.

Daily Life

Going on my fifth week in Arusha and I’m getting into the swing of things. My day usually starts around 6:30AM and as some of you know, this is definitely not my preference. However, Tanzania is an early to bed and early to rise country and when in Rome.....


I have a wonderful homestay family that I get along with really well. Baba Zamanya, the man of the house, is a shopkeeper and is always very curious about all things western. Mama Zamanya runs a vegetable stand and might be the hardest working woman I know, next to my mum of course. There are two boys; Boniface who is 18 and Allen who is 12. They are both very well mannered and so eager to learn English. We often go on walks or sit around listening to music and just chatting about anything that comes to mind. Baba has asked me to talk about the bird's and bee's with Boni which should be interesting. It's supposedly an uncomfortable discussion for a father to have with his son from what I'm told. The sad and unreal part is that two of Baba's sisters have already died of AIDS. It makes me wonder what else needs to happen to convince the people here that talking about sex is a matter of life and death.Every morning I’m brought a bucket of warm water which along with another smaller bucket is used for my daily shower. The key here is that it’s warm and although it takes about 20 minutes to heat by either charcoal or kerosene fuel, it’s a real treat. The alternative is a very cold shower which gets my day all off on the wrong foot.



The food here usually consists of a couple slices of bread in the morning with a cup of Chai. Chai is essentially tea but the locals love to mix it with lots of milk and lots of sugar. I refrain from the latter as it would take 5 heaping scoops to match anyone around here. Lunch and dinners always include either rice or Ugali. Ugali is similar to mashed potatoes but made with maize. The maize is boiled with water and constantly stirred until it becomes dough like. When its finally done cooking - the stuff is so thick that it needs to be cut with a knife when served. The typical way of eating it is to roll it into a ball in your hand (right hand of course as no one eats with their left) and then dip it in whatever sauce is provided. This is certanily not my favorite food but it’s served so often I’m almost forced to like it or starve. Fish, chicken, and beef are available but I’ve decided are not to my liking. The fish usually comes from Lake Victoria which is many miles away and who knows how long it sits out in the sun. The chicken is so bony and after seeing what these things eat around here, I’m not such a chicken fan anymore. The beef is so tough that 10 chews are not normally enough to feel good before swallowing. So that leaves rice and beans with a veggie or fruit thrown in for good measure. I can get a decent meal around here but that costs me some extra bucks so it is usually a treat.

As you can see the toilet is another story. I try to avoid going as much as possible but if nature calls, my bombadeering skills are quite good. However, my knees will never be the same.

One last thing to make note of and that’s the noise. From 5:30AM until 10:00AM, there is such an onslaught of noise I almost want to pull my hair out. From roosters, mosques, the 14 people I live with who know only one volume which is LOUD, to every car in the city honking at you before they try to run you over, its enough to drive anyone insane. How I long for the Paradise deck sometimes and those moments of absolute silence.

Some of the sights from my 30 minute walk to work every day.