Kilimanjaro

On Saturday most of the volunteers got together to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. My kaka (brother) has a friend who guides visitors on hikes and safaris so he and three friends rented a bus to take us all to the national park. Kili is about an hour and a half from Arusha so we left at an early 7:00am. I took my coffee to-go and as a result got many stares from the people we passed as we walked to the meeting point. In Tanzania, people take time to finish a meal rather than rushing and eating on the go. So my traveler's mug further distinguished me as a muzungu.

When we arrived at the bottom of the mountain we prepared for our hike. The electronic credit card system was not working correctly and the park officials were having trouble processing the prepaid card our guides arranged for us. Two hours later, at 11:00am, we finally began our journey. The hike to the first base camp was strenuous. The incline was steep and I could feel as my body reacted to the change in altitude trying to maintain itself, but it was easy to stay motivated with a green, lush jungle surrounding me on both sides of the path. Baboons and Colobus monkeys entertained us with their presence and the aged trees never ceased to taunt me with their strong vines for swinging or thick branches for climbing. I will admit that nearly half of my pictures are of these jungle trees. At the top of our climb we reached a crater, formed over 100,000 years ago. We stumbled down to its center point where the dormant volcano lay silent beneath. What an incredible feeling to stand on top of mountain that could at any minute burst with hot lava and shower everything with ash! Of course this volcano is probably not likely to erupt for another 100,000 years or so, so flaming balls of lava was the least of my concerns.

Going down the mountain was much easier, and we made it to the bottom in just two hours- half the time it took to ascend. It was sad to leave this beautiful mountain but I can always dream of climbing it to the peak at nearly 20,000 ft (if my conversions are correct) someday. Until then, I am at peace with the 8858 ft of the majesty that I explored on this day.