The time was fast approaching.
I made the connecting flight in Nyrobi and landed in Kilimanjaro Airport just before midnight on Sept 1. I had been able to sleep a little on the airplane but I couldn’t get the pending climb out of my mind. I was tired but I could feel the adrenaline rush starting.
I was able to get to the hotel in another hour and attempted to sleep before my scheduled morning briefing with the tour group.
No such luck. I may have dozed a little but the morning came pretty quickly.
Once up, I grabbed my gear and met Seamus, one of the owners of the Marangu Hotel. He went through the details of what I was about to experience. So many people have come through this briefing to successfully climb the mountain. I was hanging on his every word.
They have been running trips out of the Marangu Hotel for a long time. In fact, I talked with a consultant at IMA who had successfully climbed Kilimanjaro in 1964. I found out that he climbed the exact same route and stayed at the exact same hotel.
Seamus was very thorough, he told me exactly what to expect each day and how to handle it. We spoke for about 30 minutes and his last words of advice to me were this…
“I know you’re excited, you’re probably going to forget most of what I just told you. But remember this, Drink 3 liters of water a day, take your Diamox (meds to help me handle the altitude), and go slowly. There will be times when you feel like stopping, don’t quit... keep going.”
With that, I was out the door and loaded into a van with my equipment. This is where I first met my guide, Ernest and the rest of the crew.
There was Abraham, the cook and assistant guide and two others… Elisa and Godwin, both porters to help carry equipment and food.
It seemed like a lot of support for one person. But again, who am I to question it? They know what they are doing.
Once we got to the trail, Abraham and the others grabbed their packs and set off to Mandara Hut at an incredible pace. There was no way I could keep up with them.
But the combination of adrenaline and pride made me push the pace despite Ernest’s best wishes.
“Pulli Puli” he would tell me. Pulli Pulli is Swahili that translates to slowly slowly… he knew I was going too fast.
Ernest stayed about 3 steps behind me while we were hiking. If I slipped on a rock, he would grab my arm and apologize.
I quickly realized that Ernest was my bodyguard on this climb.
We talked a lot that day. His English was much better than my Swahili (I know about 6 words) and I found out that he was 44 years old with 4 kids.
He grew up near the base of the mountain and he and his brothers all work as guides helping tourists reach the top of Kilimanjaro.
He also told me that he climbs the mountain about every 2 weeks in the busy season. Again, I’m with someone who knows how to get to the top.
At one point I joked with him a little.
“You think I’ll make it to the top?” I asked?
“I’m a good Ernest, you make it to Uhuru.” He replied.
It was reassuring knowing this guy had my back.
We made it to the first base camp, Mandara Hut, in about 2 and a half hours mostly due to my early burst of energy.
The area around Mandara Hut was very lush and green. There was moss on the trees and I could hear the occasional monkey flitting around in the trees.
It was still early in the day but I grabbed some dinner and quickly headed off to the bunk house. I knew I had to catch up on my sleep or I’d never make it.
That night I slept for about 14 hours. When I got up I felt like I had washed away the exhaustion from past two weeks. Leading up to the climb, I had not slept in the same bed two nights in a row as I visited IMA supported sites across Tanzania and the DRC.
I finally felt like I was ready.
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