To Great Heights (Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar)

WOW, what an amazing week an a half! I made it to the summit of Kilimanjaro, and I'm so happy and so proud that it happened. The whole experience was just incredible. Let me tell you about it.

After I flew out of Uganda, directly to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, I was met by George, who was going to be one of the two guides (along with Robert) to lead my group up the mountain, and Justin, one of my fellow climbers from New York. We went directly to Moshi, a town right in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, where we would stay for a couple nights as we prepared to climb. Moshi is a great town, enlivened by the tourism that Kilimanjaro brings. I met my fellow climbers, including two other Stanford students, Karen and Sean, who had heard about George through Stanford friends, just like I did. It seems that George gets a good number of his clients from Stanford, just by word of mouth. I know why, too - I'd reccommend him to anyone wanting to climb the mountain. Him and his team took incredible care of us. There's no way any of us would have made it without them.

The day after our arrival we spent mostly preparing, gathering equipment (I had to rent a ton of warm clothes since I didn't pack for this kind of thing). We did, however, get to go visit George's family, and cook a meal with them. On our way over, we picked up a couple of trees that we planted on their property as well (one orange, one avocado):

Cody and Eve with the new trees to plant...

A kid at Geroge's house

Hopefully someday some climbers up Kilimanjaro will visit George, like we did, but they'll get fresh avocado and oranges from those trees. The meal we prepared was traditional and delicious. Ugali (maize flower and cooked cabbage), chapati (a type of fried bread) and fruit.

The beginnings to Ugali

After a good night's rest, we were ready to tackle the mountain (so we thought). We arrived at the Machame Gate to Kilimanjaro (5718 ft) in the early afternoon, where we would start our ascent. We met our porter team, which consisted of 21 porters, a cook, a chemical toilet porter, and our two guides. I never imagined how many people it would take to get 6 americans up the mountain, but let me tell you, I was so happy for every single one of the come summit day.

The crew at Machame Gate (Me, Karen, Eve, Sean, George, Justin, Cody)

The Stanford 3 (Karen, Sean, Me)

We began our journey from Machame gate, and hiked only for about 4 hours that day. Most of the time was through dense rainforest, where we caught glimpses of Colobus monkeys and lots of vegetation, before we arrived at our first campsite just as the sun set.

Our first camp was Machame Camp (9927 ft), and it was situated just above the rainforest level, in the beginning of the Moorlands. It was cold at this first campsite, but little did we know it was just the beginning of a few very cold nights ahead of us.

The next day, we started hiking early and climbed for five hours through the Moorlands (a weird kind of a mix between desert and forest), breaking out over the first layer of clouds early in the day. We would be above this cloud layer for four days straight - one of the coolest parts of climbing, in my opinion.

Every morning, before we started hiking, we warmed up by singing and dancing in a circle

Above the clouds

Shira Camp

Sunset from Shira Camp

We ended day 2 at Shira camp (12,355 ft), which was much colder than the first camp, since it is exposed on the side of the hill. We got an amazing sunset that evening, though, which made the cold a bit more bearable. We all slept like rocks that night, and woke up early for another long day.

Day 3 took us up to Lava Tower (15,000 ft) to have lunch, through some really amazing alpine desert landscape and fog, before decending down to Barranco Camp (13,066 ft). At first we all disliked the idea of climbing all that way only to lose the height again, but it was obvious that some people were starting to feel the altidude (I, luckily, was doing fine). The "climb high, sleep low" motto is a good one for acclimitization, and I think some people definitely needed just a small taste of higher altitude to get their bodies changing.

Lava Tower from a Distance

At Lava Tower (15,000 ft)

That night was the first night that some people started to get a bit of insomnia (a common side effect of altitude). I, again, slept like a rock, which was nice. The next day took us up over Barranco wall, a 1,900 foot vertical ascent that took both hands and legs to get up and over. After that, we had to go down and up through a number of canyons, continually losing altitude that we had just worked so hard to gain. Eventually we made it to Karanga (13,230), realizing that we had gained less than 200 feet in altitude since the morning, even though we had been climbing and descending constantly. We pushed on from Karanga, and went straight up a ridge on the mountain for 2,000 feet before finally arriving at Barafu camp (15,239 ft), the camp from which we would attempt to summit that night. Day 4 was a long but rewarding day, and we were all happy to get into camp.

At the top of Barranco Wall

View from Barranco Wall

Our first little glimpse of the summit!

At this altitude, a few of the party were in pretty bad shape, and I was asking myself if they were going to make a summit attempt. I knew I was game to try, since I still had my appetite and felt like I was able to sleep. Besides having to breath more to get oxygen, I felt like I was in pretty good shape. We had an early meal that night, and got to bed with the sun still well above the horizon, because our wakeup time was 11pm...

The summit attempt to Uhuru Peak (19,341 ft) takes place at night. We woke up at 11pm to a brilliant full moon. It was so bright that we didn't even use our headlamps for the first 5 hours of our climb. We ate a meagre breakfast of biscuts and hot water, bundled up in every layer we had, and started toward the summit.

For the summit attempt, each climber has their own porter who carries basically everything for them. Water, extra layers (or layers you shed), and snacks. It seemed excessive to me in the days leading up to the attempt, but during the climb towards the summit I couldn't imagine having to carry even a few extra pounds. The air was so thin, and so cold, that it took most of your energy just to concentrate on walking up the steep slopes. The altitude definitely began to afftect me on our 4,000 foot climb toward the summit. I had to breath much harder to get oxygen into my blood, and even though we were moving at a slow pace, the exertion was shocking. In the dark of night, with just moonlight around you, with no way of knowing how far exactly you've gone, or still had to go, it definitely became a mental game. Keep moving, slow but sure, gain altitude, don't think about the cold. That was what you ended up chanting to yourself as you climbed. After a couple hours of climbing, we began to see people moving the other way, helped out by their porters, who had to turn back because the altitude was too much for them. Our water bottles all began to freeze.

All the way up to the peak I felt lucky, because the altutide was kind to me. Sure, I was breathing hard, but other people were in total agony. Headaches, hallucinations, overwhelming desire to lay down and go to sleep even though it was well below freezing outside, frozen hands and feet. People were literally being fed and propped up by their porters. I actually had some positive reacions to the altitude - I got a pretty strong sense of euphoria as I was climbing, which was augmented by the fact that we were so high up above the horizon and everything around us, that when stars began to rise on the horizon, you actually had to look downwards to see them starting to rise. I felt like I was in space, and I had a huge grin on my face for a solid 2500 feet of ascent. The euphoria eventually faded, but by then we were so close to the summit, just having reached the crater rim, that it didn't matter. We were all so determined to make it, that practically no change in our physical state could have stopped us.

Finally, eventually, gloriously, we made it to the summit. After 6 exhausting hours, we were rewarded within 2 minutes by the sun breaking the horizon. It was incredible.

The crater, from the summit

The crew - all 6 made it!

The last of the once great glacier of Kilimanjaro

It looked huge when we were there, but in reality is just a small fraction of what it was just 20 years ago. Thanks a lot Global Warming. Jerk.

We remained at the peak for about 20 minutes. Taking pictures, high-fiving, crying, you name it. Everyone was so loopy from the altitude that afterwards we all wished we had gotten pictures of this-or-that, but it's all right. The memories are all we need.

As if the ascent wasn't enough, we spent another 7 hours that day hiking down. From the peak, we made it back to Barafu camp in just a couple hours. Took a nap, ate some lunch, and then packed up camp and started down the mountain. We decended another 5,000 feet that afternoon, until we got to Mweka camp (10,204 ft), which felt like we were swimming in oxygen. It was an exhausting 13 hours of climbing and descending that day, but totally rewarding as well.

Celebrating back at Barafu Camp

The next day, we hiked the final 3 hours off the mountain, straight down a ridge, back into the rainforest, to Mweka gate (5423 ft). Needless to say we were all exhausted and sore.

We drove from Mweka gate to George's house, where we had a celebratory meal with all the guides and porters. They awarded us with our certificates that we made it to the top, and then we drove to Arusha, a town on the other side of Kilimanjaro, where we would stay the night.

That night, we had the pleasure of being invited to Karen's former host family's house, where they had prepared a traditional Maasai barbeque, which roasted goat, beef in sauce, chipati, pasta and plenty to drink. It was a great way to end our trip together, and I think we all slept like rocks that night.

The next day, I hopped on a flight out of Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, which is famous for it's spice plantations, white sand beaches, amazing snorkeling, and historic monuments where the slave trade used to boom. I spent my birthday sleeping on the beach, reading, and eating great seafood in Nungwe, on the northern tip of Zanzibar. It was truly the perfect way to celebrate. Later, I made my way to Stonetown, the biggest city on the island, where I met back up with the Kilimanjaro crew, who had just arrived after a 2 day safari following the climb up Kili. We went out for celebration drinks, and the next night visited the night market.

Since it is Ramadan, and 95% of Zanzabar is muslim, there's not a lot happening during the day. At night, however, there's an explosion of street vendors that sell amazing food. We stuffed ourselves with fresh grilled seafood ($3 for a huge pile of spicy lobster? yes please), and then, perhaps against our own better judgement, went out for a second dinner at an amazing little restaurant that fits about 15 people, but served fresh, authentic Zanzibari cuisine.

I woke up this morning and caught a cheap little puddle jumper off Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam, where my flight out of Africa leaves later today. I'm sad to leave Africa - this place really gets into you - but I'm so excited to begin my SE Asian adventures, starting in Malaysia. Next time you hear from me, I'll be somewhere around Kuala Lumpur. CAN'T WAIT!

Love always,

Clay

Me, at the top!