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When I am back home, where the height above sea level is 300, not 5895 metres, and find myself again in the kingdom of the internet, restaurants and international airlines I will recollect my trip with pleasure and ease. I might even joke about it.
But right now in the snows of Kilimanjaro I am asking myself just one question: ”Why am I not travelling among palm-trees? Why am I not like a normal girl whose interests rest with shopping, sports cars or embroidering in cross stitch?” With such thoughts I go another 100 metres, and, of course, my movement is not level: I am going up. The highest summit of Africa is testing my strength.
What names doesn’t Kilimanjaro have! Local guides call it Kili. They climb the mountain 4-5 times a month with just enough time to see their wives and play with their children between climbs. “Big Mummy” is the name given to the mountain by those people who live in the villages at its foot. They speak of it with fear and respect and live mostly on what the mountain gives to them. And the mountain gives them a lot – the glaciers on the top thaw and fill the streams that supply all the fields and kitchen-gardens in the vicinity with water. The locals worship Kilimanjaro and dread the moment when the glaciers thaw completely – to be precise, in 2015. Tourists like us, who have come to Tanzania, the very heart of Africa, just to climb the mountain, at first consider all the fantastical fuss about the mountain inexplicable and strange. However, several days after beginning the climb it starts to make sense.
The climb usually takes 5-8 days. It is possible to do it quicker, of course. The current record of going up and down is 14 hours and 50 minutes. I must admit that only Africans can move at such speed. After you have left the camp, half an hour later you can see local carriers (among whom you might find women) go running past you with burdens of 50 kilos of luggage attached to their heads, easily weaving their way among rocks and stones, and you cannot help thinking that they are made differently.
At the foot of the mountain the weather is very good all the year round. And the snow-clad peak can be seen so clearly that you believe you could reach it by dinner-time. Our guide tells us to take light rucksacks with our personal essentials only, as the rest of the luggage will be taken care of by the carriers. Our team of 12 tourists has 35 carriers. During the first day we are to walk for three hours. We proceed surrounded by odorous flowers and unknown plants which are typical for low latitudes. The mountain has its own microclimate, and here you can find more species of flora and fauna than in some countries. In support of this fact we notice a local colobus-monkey with its long white tail, who moved past quickly in the buses.
On our first day we walk so freely and easily that unconsciously we start to hasten our steps. “Pole-pole!” can be heard from behind. It means “slow down” in Swahili. Our guide keeps an eye on us and does not want us to waste our strength. “Big Mama” requires a lot of vigour, and does not like haste. If you do not come with a group of your friends you will find yourself in a team of people of different nationalities, ages and walks of life. In our team there is a Canadian millionaire with his eighteen year-old daughter - Thumbolina, a pilot from Monaco, who is 64, a group of English football fans and a student from India. And, of course, there are several Russian female journalists. During the first three days our climb reminds one more of a stroll. We walk slowly, feast our eyes upon various flowers and watch the vegetation which absorbs moisture in abundance. It means that without even noticing it we moved from tropics into the cloudforest. In such forests trees collect moisture not from the soil but with the help of their leaves. On our third day we reach the level of the clouds. This is the moment when people usually begin to suffer from the first signs of mountain disease, and our enthusiasm vanishes little by little. You feel as if somebody was knocking tenderly on your head with a hammer, you have no appetite and you want very much to be travelling somewhere under palm-trees, not under the clouds. These decadent thoughts must be driven away, and we try to do so by drinking hot tea, sleeping and autotraining. The symptoms of mountain disease usually appear at a height of 3500 metres above sea level. I knew that on average one person out of ten fails to climb even to the third highest peak. But I was most unwilling to find myself among those “odd ones out” too soon.
In the morning I was feeling quite well and I decided not to hasten. I started to walk more slowly, drink more water and stop when I felt like it. Fortunately, it is almost impossible to get lost on Kili since the routes are very well marked out, and at the end of each group, even very stretched out, there is another guide whose aim is, perhaps, to collect exhausted bodies and to get some tips. By the way, tips form the basis of the whole system. Guides and carriers are paid very little, which induces them to do their best in looking after their charges so that they can get as many tips as possible. It takes some time to get used to such a system of payment but eventually you start to really appreciate it – being at a height of six kilometers you receive almost royal service.
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At last we come to the homestretch, with only 600 meters left to climb to the summit. |
My own method of “pole-pole” was quite fruitful: I arrived at the camp just a little later than the others but I lost less energy. It was also a good time to refresh myself by making use of energy chocolate bars with muesli - stored in advance. Gradually the vegetation around us was changing: trees were substituted by bushes, then bushes disappeared and there was only moss everywhere, and finally, on the fifth day, we found ourselves in the moon desert, where we could see neither plants nor animals. We walked through thick fog, the amount of oxygen was less than half the norm, and every step required a lot of effort.
At last we come to the homestretch, with only 600 meters left to climb to the summit. The top of Kili is covered in snow and ice, and the only opportunity to reach it is at night when the gravel mountainside is frozen solid. Blizzards howl in our last camp, everything inside the tents is wet from condensation. We seemed to be chilled to the bones. Our sleeping bags prove to be unsuitable. The guides from the Masai clan supply us with their traditional woolen blankets which they always had in stock just for this case. I could not part with mine even after the ascent. We have to put on every piece of clothing we have with us, wrap ourselves in the blankets and sleeping bags, and try to get to sleep. The wake-up time is at midnight, and after a cup of hot cocoa we are in for a 10-hour ascent. It is clear now that not everybody will be able to make it. I have a feeling that I have only just fallen asleep when it is time to get up. The thermometre shows 20 degrees below zero. Is it really Africa? Ahead of us there is pitch darkness which is broken only by the light of lanterns. Somebody is being carried back downwards - mountain disease is no joke. You make a step thinking that it might be your last. Your whole body cries to you that the task is beyond your strength. There is absolutely no energy left, but you cannot eat a thing as your stomach brings everything up immediately. The only thing you can take in is some glucose powder dissolved in hot water. It helps a little. Oh dear, what am I doing here? Why am I not on the beach?
The thought of turning back seems to flash through my mind three times a second but I go on walking with my teeth clenched. I am almost sure that I will not be able to get to the summit but I made a deal with myself that I will be moving up until the last drop of strength leaves me. At last dawn begins to come, and the second peak of Kilimanjaro, Mawenzi, looms ahead. The sun rises right from behind it. With the sunrise it has become much easier to walk. It turned out that we are not that far from the summit. I have reached Gillmans station. The distance from the station to the summit is only 200 meters but it is going to take us about two hours to get to it, and it is only one way. Someone from our group has decided that taking a photo in front of the notice “You are standing at the second highest peak of Kilimanjaro” will be quite enough before turning back. But I seem to have got my second wind and I make up my mind to carry on. Some exhausted looking travelers are coming in the opposite direction, but their faces are lit up with such happiness and glow that it becomes clear to me - I will reach the summit by any means. We turn some rocks and see a view that no camera nor words could describe. Centuries-old glaciers stand magnificently in bright sunlight, snow sparkles and shimmers under sun rays, and below all that beauty there are clouds floating at our feet. It was much higher than a bird’s-eye view, it was a cruising altitude for airplanes! On board the plane on my way back home, casting a farewell look at the peak, I will hardly be able to restrain myself from giving out a cry: ”I have been there!”
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Blizzards howl in our last camp, everything inside the tents is wet from condensation. |
But I am not inside the plane yet… It is becoming more and more difficult to breathe, and the air seems cool and fresh. One hour later, almost out of my mind with happiness, I am being photographed on the summit. In front of me there is Africa. Somewhere 5895 metres underneath, below the clouds peasants are plowing their corn fields, and tradesmen are displaying their goods. At this very moment I am standing on top of Africa. However, it is not a good idea to stay at the top for a long time: our strength may run out, and our guides, apart from all the tents and rucksacks, would have to carry down their hapless charges as well. I glance over the top of the “sleeping” crater, which in some distant future might blow up. They say it is not just a mountain but a volcano, though it has no record of erupting yet. We have a four-hour descent and a fifteen-kilometer sprint to the camp ahead of us. It is not completely clear how we are going to manage it after the 12-hour night ascent. Apparently, the realization of the fact that you have done it helps a lot. After having gobbled up all the food we were offered, you sleep like a log. The adrenaline rush is so intense that you feel you could walk on and on. I believe this is the explanation as to why we endured those 16 hours of “Army training” in the dreadful cold. Well, I did it. Without any special preparation but for short jogging sessions, without ropes or climbingirons, armed with my sleeping bag and trekking shoes only, I did it. I had never been to Africa before. I had never climbed any mountains before. But since that ascent to Kilimanjaro I have been in love. I am in love with the mountains I have yet to climb.
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It was much higher than a bird’s-eye view, it was a cruising altitude for airplanes! |
How to subjugate Kilimanjaro
- You should start training 3- 6 months before the ascent: cardio-training, running, climbing the stairs, cycling.
- Do not economize on guides. The difference in price between a professional guide and a beginner is a maximum of 200 dollars, but a really good guide will wake you up with a cup of hot cocoa, help you to adjust, and pick up your rucksack when, on coming closer to the summit, its weight becomes unbearable. Frankly speaking, it is due to the guides that many tourists manage to get to the top of Africa!
- It would be a good idea to take warm clothes with you, which you wouldn’t regret leaving to the carriers – twice a week they climb Kili wearing just thin sweaters.
- The most important thing is not to lose your spirit – things are rough for everybody on Kili, but only those who lose their heart give up.
- The main rule is to drink a lot of water and to walk as slowly as you can.
- It is worth getting yourself familiar with the symptoms of mountain disease in advance, so that you can recognize it at the slightest discomfort and inform your guide about it. Although it is not Everest, of course, 100 successful ascents have one fatal case.
- Choosing your route, bear in mind that every extra day helps you to acclimatize yourself and gives you more chances to reach your goal. The route of average difficulty is Rongai – 6 days (5 nights).
- There are 10 routes on Kili, among which three routes go to the very top. You ought to choose a route that suits you as they differ a lot in terms of the difficulty of the landscape.
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