The way this trip fell into place is like most: spur of the moment. I was covering a few stories in South Africa for some outdoor mags, mostly rod and gun stuff, and I had a nice 2 week break in the middle. Originally my thoughts were to pack a tent and just roam through the Drakensberg Mountains and the East Coast Belt around Durban. It sounded like a pretty good plan (or lack thereof, which I like) but then I ran into some friends who just got back from Tanzania, and raving about their Kilimanjaro experience. After hearing their stories, I just had to check it out for myself, but customized a little. The part about being part of a group of 50 people with porters who carried your bags and made camp before you arrived I could do without.
And, the part that really sealed the deal was their Tanzanian guide just happened to be in the States that week. So as you can guess, we hit it off, and after about an hour of broken English and sign language, we had a plan in place. That plan was sketched onto a napkin, it included a map of Arusha, an email address and the name of a bus stop, the rest was up to me. These are the kind of details that make the trip more interesting. Figuring things out on your own, making things happen, getting from ‘Point A’ to ‘Point B’ is what excites me.
So, no caravans, no entourages, just me, my camera equipment, and some hiking gear arrived to the bus stop, and much to my dismay, Ian was there waiting. The different Kilimanjaro experience started there, as we went back to his ‘neighborhood’ and spent the night in his tin roofed shack with mud walls and a dirt floor. We also provisioned the trip from the local market, ran around town sorting out permits and finally hitchhiked about half of the way from Arusha to the Machame Route trailhead. The other half we huffed it, meeting wonderful people along the way, Ian acting as translator. The whole time I was wondering, does your average joe get to experience this? Or are they dropped off at the trailhead by a Land Rover? It didn’t matter, I was having the time of my life.
So in the end, it was just three of us working our way up to the summit. Ian was the head guide ( who handled the logistics of the climb), Kingston (took care of the cooking gear and meals), and me (who tried to act like I knew what I was doing, supplied the two-man tent, and yes, we all three slept in it together). To be honest, I had the time of my life, and it was tougher than I thought, despite all of the hype about it before I arrived.
So in the end, I too joined the list of the elite masses. Yes, that was a joke, and I guess it comes from the reaction I would get when I told people after the climb. They would say: ”Sounds great, but isn’t it just a walk-up?” or “I heard an 87-year-old climbed it last year.”
Of course I was a little discouraged by some people passing it off as easy, cause it was no stroll around the lake for sure, but I do admit the mountain is accessible to a lot of people. The region is really set up for tourism, and technically you can climb Kili at any time of year, with all of these factors contributing to the 25,000+ climbers attempting the summit on a yearly basis. To put it into perspective, roughly 150 who reach the summit of Mt. Everest each year with a weeklong climbing window (give or take a few days).
So, was it a challenge? Yes! Would I do it again? You bet! Here were some of the images from the trip:
