About five years ago I had this crazy idea that I wanted to climb Kilimanjaro. Why? I was looking for a challenge and I wanted to experience Kilimanjaro as a glacier but my concern was that the glacier was melting so rapidly with global warming, that in the next few years the ‘’highest mountain’’ in Africa was not going to be as it was 20 years ago. In December 2009 I met my partner in crime, Rod Allen, and together we started planning, training and motivating each other for this exciting adventure. Seeing as we were going to be in East Africa to climb Kilimanjaro, it made sense to visit the largest intact caldera in the world – the Ngorongoro Crater as well as the endless open plains of the magnificent Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
What a feeling when you arrive at the start and there are just masses of porters, luggage and climbers all waiting to start this climb. The thing that amazed me was the weight the porters carried up on their backs and shoulders, not just strolling up but sometimes jogging past us, while we walked ‘’pole, pole – slowly, slowly’’.
The diversity of terrain was interesting – rain forest, bush shrub land with fynbos and proteas, desert landscape then volcanic shale on the summit as nothing much grows there due to lack of oxygen. We walked between five hours on the first day to 15 hours on the last day….long days on your feet and walking ‘’pole pole’’ as we tried to acclimatize over the next few days. Summit day finally dawned. We were woken at 1 am in the morning and rolled out of our sleeping bags to heavy darkness and bitter cold outside.
This for me was one of the most challenging sections of the climb as you walk for four hours in the dark following the light of your head lamp, my body was cold and stiff, my fingertips were freezing and I just couldn’t seem to warm them up, there was cold wind coming off the glacier and it went straight through me even though I was bundled up with warm clothes. But as the darkness changed slowly to daylight, the most beautiful sunrise appeared and I started to believe there was a reason to continue walking – keeping the goal of summiting at Uhura Peak in the forefront of my mind.
As we got to Shira Point which is still about 30 minutes from Uhura Point, most of the group decided they had had enough and were going to turn back. Rod looked at me and said there was no way he was coming all this way to turn back now, even though he wasn’t feeling well with altitude sickness.
We then continued with our porter, Honest, who was amazing and kept pushing us and encouraging us to go ‘’pole pole’’. To eventually stand on the summit, at an altitude of 5895 m, the highest point of Africa and the tallest free standing mountain in the world was totally mind blowing and a goal finally reached – even with a fuzzy headache !
But this wasn’t the end of our travels….the next day we flew from Arusha to the Serengeti arriving at the Singita Grumeti Reserve with its green lush rolling plains. As we drove towards Sabora Tented Camp, a huge herd of Topi, Zebra & Wildebeest were making their way onto the plains. What an amazing experience…animals as far as the eye could see! I didn’t want to leave Sabora Tented Camp it is reminiscent of a bygone era…each canvas tent offers opulent luxury complete with antique mahogany travel chests, Persian rugs and silk curtains, signifying romance, exploration and intrigue!
The following day we got up early and played a game of tennis on the clay tennis court with ball boys who seems to appear from nowhere to assist us. We then had lunch at Fara Fara Camp overlooking a large waterhole before arriving at Sasakwa which is situates on the hill overlooking the Grumeti plains. I heard that they offered horse riding safaris, so jumped at this wonderful opportunity and went for a 3 hour horse ride on a lovely horse with an armed guide. Can you believe that we sat on our horses 15 meters away from a herd of Buffalo, then galloped with wildebeest and zebra, the horses trying to race them – I could have leant over and touched the zebra we were so close – felt like I was flying! Rod, did the adventurous thing and went mountain biking and luckily didn’t come across any lion.
We arrived back in South Africa…tired, excited, challenged and realizing that we are privileged to live in such an amazing country – Africa!
Kirsty Gordon – Timeless Africa Safaris (Manager)