My goodness how time has passed since my trip to Tanzania, as is too familiar we hit the ground running and disappear up the road memories of a fantastic holiday fade all too quickly into the past. Time now to grab those memories and to carry the achievements forward with me, I would like to share some of these treasured memories with you as a small measure of appreciation for your support and generous sponsorship.
Support
From the outset of the challenge to raise £3,000 for Climb Your Mountain and climb Kilimanjaro if I was a little overwhelmed. However, the response from all my supporters at home has been absolutely incredible. Whether it be teaming together to organise the fund raising gig or the moral support of the round of applause from a spin class after the climb. I have even had strangers approaching me in the gym asking me how I got on. Putting aside the challenge represented by Kili itself for one moment I personally can take so much away from this challenge.
I have been forced to put aside my natural shy nature to approach people to sell my fundraising efforts for the charity. I have been very pleasantly surprised to find that community spirit lives and amazed by people’s generosity in backing a good cause. And as if it ever needed re-enforcing preparation is everything!
I have embraced new technologies that I have shied away from: blogging, You-Tube, photo web sites. If you have not viewed these, can I recommend you watch the video on You-Tube, see the link below:
Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iF-mVCGmrM
Photos - http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JSKChurch/JamboJamboKilimanjaro2009#
Sponsorship - www.bmycharity.com/jezontopofafrica
Charity - http://www.climbyourmoutain.org/
Africa
Africa is such a fascinating continent to visit, as anyone who has visited there can testify. Every building, hut, road, person, animal is so different not just to home but each other. There are no standard designs or modularisation of buildings. Everything is so vibrant in colourful and character from the orange soils to the tribal colours. In so many ways at home we are used to bland fashions whether it be clothes or housing. Yes, they may be poor but we can also learn so much from them too. Their resourcefulness, recycling or family values are a lesson to us in lost principles. I had been fortunate to visit Malawi eight years ago, but Kenya and Tanzania are wealthier nations. One thing all African countries do appear to have in common are awful roads, whether it be unmade roads, by this I mean dirt roads, or tarmaced roads riddled with pot holes. I am not sure which was worse! These are long and uncomfortable journeys, thankfully my mind was distracted from this by the fascinating variety of scenery and life which characterises these roads.
There are so many truly memorable moments, may I summarise some of the highlights: -
Possibly two hundred children descended upon us in a screen reminiscent of news reporter in an aid camp when one of Land Rovers broke down.
We are very rarely experience being above the clouds, so walking for days looking over the African plains blanked by soft woolly clouds was a magical experience.
The somber expeience of coming across a plane which had crashed killing four Australian passengers three months prior. The plane had exceeded its maximum height at 4,000m and simply fell out of the sky. This put into perspective the altitude to which we had climbed and the lack of oxygen effecting us all. We were still climbing…
The sky at night. Without the light and air pollution of human development we were afforded views of distant galaxies which appeared to be within touching distance. Thousands upon thousands of stars sparkled brightly sparkled like jewels.
The absolute glee of the porters on receipt of our gifts. These items ranging from air beds to fleeces are things that they can not buy there. I kid you not Nigel’s porter was in tears.
The Challenge
The Challenge itself? My first siting of the mountain will most likely be my long standing memory of Kili. Why? It’s shear splendour rising above the African plains, words nor photos quite do justice to either the scale or height of this beast. May be figures can provide a better feel of scale. Here stands a mountain in front of me rising some 5km above the surrounding savannah to a total of nearly 6km. To a lot of people a good walk on its own, let alone vertically! So why do I dwell upon this point? Most likely because I had not visualised the shear size of the challenge.
Climbing Kilimanjaro was more a test of mental endurance than a physical challenge. To manage the altitude and the effects of lack of oxygen – at the summit just 40% of what we are used to at sea level – the pace was incredibly slow. Unfortunately altitude sickness struck me early, on the evening of day 2. I had gone down with a cold on arrival in Tanzania, one of the worst things that can effect you at altitude, blocked sinuses impedes your ability to adapt to the changes of pressure with altitude. For three long days this turned into a battle of mind and body. Our doctor, Clemence was never far from my side monitoring my condition. I experienced the worst headaches that I have ever had. I can only describe the pain as if your head is about to explode! During the climb I focused on my breath to manage my heart rate, there was no need to measure my pulse here, I felt every heart beat… This soon turned into a drunken sensation, nausea and eventually a total loss of appetite. You know I am not well when I loose my appetite! So this soon turned into a test of visualisation, determination and strength of mind. All the time Kilimanjaro loomed rising well above us high in the skyline like a cathedral spire does over a city centre skyline.
Sadly for me the climb ended at Kibo Hut, at the base of the summit climb. Day 5 and its five hour climb up and across the Saddle had taken its toll. I felt weak, struggled to remain conscious and ultimately was physically sick. I knew that I was in no condition to complete the last and by far the hardest section of the climb. I was offered diamox, a drug which masks the symptoms of altitude sickness but also hides signs of other serious conditions but to me that would be cheating. I was happy in the knowledge that I had reached 4,700 meters, well above the recommended maximum of 3,000 meters for anyone suffering from a cold. Believe you me I have had many regrets since my return home.
The experience was so much more than just a climb. Camping for seven days with temperatures plummeting to minus ten degrees at night, protecting your skin from the fierce equatorial sun, washing only from a bowl of luke warm water and drinking water collected from streams. It felt great to be a one with nature and enjoy basic values of life, even if we were all a bit dirty and smelly by the end! This is a small price to pay for the priceless treasure of treading our path on this splendid mountain.
This paints a picture of almost of torture, I would argue that this is living. It is amazing our ability to forget pain and remember the many wonderful experiences. It is easy to forget the sheltered lives that we in the western world live. We worry about trivial things by comparison to people living in poverty who scrimp and scrap a living from the land. These people have little or no support structures, no social security, education and health care are at best limited. It was an honour to experience a little of Africa and its people for an all to brief nine days.
The Purpose of the trip!
So let me finish by returning to the purpose of this trip, to raise funds for a fantastic charity called Climb Your Mountain. Through YOUR generous support and sponsorship I have raised £4,300 for the charity. If those of you have promised to donate in recent weeks do so may be we could break the £4,500 barrier.
Thank you for you over whelming support both through you emotional support and sponsorship donations. Without this none of this would be possible. The next challenge? Geneva to Nice across the Alps, I can’t help myself!
Jez
