Beginning
My friend asks me one day: "Do you fancy climbing
Kilimanjaro?". "Yes, why not" is my answer.
I have very romantic attitude about this. Words
"India" and "Tibet" spring into my mind. My
friend is organising the trip and I start to
read literature about it. I very quickly realize
that Kilimanjaro is in Africa, not India. The
more I read about it the more terrified I become
- Africa sounds like a very hostile place, not
fit for Europeans, place where deadly diseases
are swarming and vibrating on every corner.
I don't want to go there - but it is too late
now.
Flight
I look out of the window. There are no clouds.
I can see a desert and a lake. But it looks
very hostile, I would feel more comfortable
flying above the surface of the moon. There
is no signs of life and I know that I would
not survive even one day in this environment.
I realize how lucky I am to be "European" -
to live in a mild climate which significantly
slows down the evolutionary process of survival.
Europeans are not fit for Africa unless they
take multiple injections and disgusting malaria
tablets - their bodies are easy pray for multitude
of viruses and diseases waiting on every corner.
First time in my life I humbly accept that I
am not a "citizen of the world", that there
are places on Earth which are not suitable for
my body.
First Survival Lesson
We arrive in Nairobi in the evening. Nairobi
is a dangerous city, even during day time. Guide
book recommends that one should never walk the
streets of Nairobi at night. So we do just that
in search of the restaurant recommended by the
book. And regret it straight away. The streets
are unlit and every 10 yards we meet a group
of men with baseball bats. It is too late now.
We walk past those groups of "baseball players"
trying to be invisible. It works. Not only we
find the restaurant but we also return safely
to the hotel.
Baseball bats are very popular item in Nairobi,
on every floor of our hotel we met few friendly
guys with baseball bats, wearing a metal baseball
helmets. This I supposed to reassure us that
we are in safe hands but somehow it does the
opposite.
On our way back home we read about Australian
man who got beaten up during day time, ended
up in hospital, got out of hospital and was
beaten up again!
Facts
Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania. It is the highest
peak of Africa and the real peak is called "Uhru".
It is 5895m (19,71O feet) high and it is said
that climbing Kilimanjaro is like going from
equator to Africa - through desert, savannah,
rainforest and icebergs. It is a volcano, which
has not been active for a "while" although it
still emits a lot of gases and stuff. It takes
3 days to get to the top and 2 days to come
down. The whole trek is quite good value for
money, particularly if bought locally. We met
people who did it for $200. That includes accommodation,
3 meals a day, people carrying your bags and
a guide. There is no climbing involved - the
whole trek (apart from the last day) is a pleasant
walk. The last day is a walk as well. But it
is not necessarily pleasant.
Careful ignorance is our most powerful protection
There is no point in denying that terrible diseases
are part of African life. There is no point
in denying that our bodies are not used to them.
At the same time there is no point in admitting
it, there is no point in thinking about it.
One has to take all the advice guide books give,
act on it and ignore it at the same time. This
illogical policy becomes much clearer when one
is up the mountain. There are no ambulances,
helicopters can't fly that high, the nearest
hospital is at least few days away. It is a
not a good idea to get sick and ... that is
all! This realisation has very terrifying and
wonderful effect on my psychology. It is only
us and nature, no supportive systems stand by
in order to protect us. I start to understand
why mountaineers climb the mountains until they...die
there. Why people sail around the word on their
own...Facing the death is an important part
of our lives because we do it everyday. Life
is about dying, every day brings us closer to
our death. Facing a nature, in its pure, spontaneous
and threatening state is a refreshing experience,
it allows us to go through our death and live
afterwards!
Base
Our base from which we are supposed to start
our trek is above 2,000m. I get mountain sickness
already which is very worrying. I have to do
something about it - can't climb the mountain
if I am sick of it already! The only thing I
can do is to let my body to adapt to the new
environment. I meditate a lot and let my body
adjust...I think a lot about the word "acclimatisation"
in order to trick my body into actually performing
the action as well. And I try to ignore the
sickness as well...let it know that is it is
not welcomed! This is, for me, a practical implementation
of martial law philosophy of "point of no resistance".
"Don't give your sickness anything to hang on
to".
Up it is
We are going up.
The bases are made by North European people
(Finland I believe) - we live in sheds powered
by solar energy. This is unreal - we live in
total wilderness and at the same time we use
the most modern technology available.
Reason
We meet people coming down. The whole point
of climbing Kilimanjaro is to see the sun rise
from the top. Apparently this is the most wonderful
experience and well worth the effort. Unfortunately
it depends on the weather but we are lucky...the
weather is brilliant so far.
Last base
Last base is above 5,000m mark. It is a place
of suffering. Everybody realises there how precious
the oxygen is and how lucky we are that we are
supplied with it in the exactly the right amount.
Last base does not have enough oxygen and every
activity takes enormous tall. People are just
lying in beds and "dying" - even walking few
steps is exhausting exercise. Even eating and
digesting takes a great effort - and myself
and my friend out of our arrogance did just
that. He will never eat popcorn ever again!
We are lying in beds waiting for 2am "kick off"
- sleeping is impossible - it takes too much
energy!
Last climb
Last climb is steep so we do it in zigzag fashion.
The weather has changed. We have electric storm
above our heads. This is amazing and I have
never seen anything like that before. It is
not thunderstorm, it is not lighting or thunderbolts
- it is electricity zipping and zapping. I have
metal pole in my hands but I don't care. The
whole sky is virtually sparking and I want to
be hit by one of them to get some rest. My friend
tries what I used to do in Poland - climb the
mountain quick and then get some rest and breath
back. But he does not realize that there is
no "breath" to get back - the higher we go -
the less oxygen there is. It is the case of
one step, rest and then another step. And keeping
the breath steady. Looking up is a big mistake
because after an hour of torture we are not
an inch closer...
Some girl from another group collapses and they
will have to take her down. It will take a day
or two before they bring her to environment
her body is used to. But at least her condition
does not sound life threatening.
Break. We are "dying" and our guides smoke cigarettes!
At this height I know it would kill me, or at
least take all the energy I have left out of
me. And then we "go" again.
6 hours later we are at the top. This is not
the top of the mountain, this is the "scenery"
top, people see the sunrise here and decide
whether they want to climb the "real" top which
is 45 minutes away.
It is snowing heavily by now and we can't see
anything! My friend collapses and starts to
have blissful hallucinations. Still, the electric
storm was absolutely something out of this world
- much better than sunrise!
We decide to get to the "real" top (Uhru) and
the crater. The snow was really heavy so every
step means drowning my leg in the snow, pulling
it out, and drowning another one.
Half a way through I decide that I had enough,
I don't want to go anymore, I want to go back.
This is quite funny because all this time I
was afraid that my guide will turn me back.
Now I want to go back and my guide is shouting
at me that I can't, I have gone so far so I
have to carry on. I don't have energy to argue
so I do carry on.
We get to Uhru 2 hours later. It is still snowing,
we can't see the crater, we can't see anything
apart from the wooden sign saying that we reached
the top. And we don't care either. My friend
is "out of his mind" and I am reaching that
point as well. The terrifying thought is that
that there are no lifts, no help, we have to
find energy to come down now if we want to survive.
Nobody is going to do it for us. We want to
collapse and rest but we have to find extra
energy to come down. The rest is few days away
and we used all the energy we had already.
Coming down
My brain blocked the image of the return journey
to the "scenery top". I am not quite sure how
we got there, but somehow we did. My friend
is still in a state of "happy hallucination"
and after small chat with the guide he lets
me to go down on my own.
I am excited about it and want to get down as
quickly as I can. This is not easy. I walk down
for 2 minutes and then have to take 1 minute
break. And I carry on with this pattern, trying
to be sensible. I keep walking down and down
and down and....start to panic. Surely I should
be in the base by now! Did I get lost? The fear
is growing and hallucinations start - I see
houses and chimneys in the distance - yes -
I went wrong way but at least I found some other
base! When I get closer I realize that it is
just stones - no houses or chimneys around!
I try to be calm - at least I have a direction
- down - and I keep going and I do get to the
right base at the end! I try to lie in bed and
rest - but there is no rest - no oxygen - after
few hours I decide to pick up my last reserves
and go down again - down enough so there is
enough oxygen to get some rest!
My friend and our guide arrive - thank god for
that - I felt guilty about leaving them alone!
He collapses in my bed and I am off down below
4,000 so I can get my breath back!
It is wonderful coming down - I feel better
and better - my energy is coming back - I can
breathe again!
Rewards
I got my face sunburnt and bite-frozen at the
same time. It took over a week to restore it
to its normal, ugly state! It is weird going
to Africa with all this "snow" kit but it was
-20 up there.
We did not see the sunrise. But we saw electric
storm, which I believe was well worth seeing!
And on our way back to UK, when the plane raised
above the cloud level we suddenly heard an announcement:
"Ladies and Gentlemen - You can now see the
mountain Kilimanjaro on your right". And there
it was - sticking above the clouds - and the
fact that I have actually, physically been there
was the biggest satisfaction and award for me!
I have walked beyond the cloud level. I have
been in "no-man's land", where one has a very
simple choice: "survive or die", where "nanny
state" is taken to its opposite extreme - one
has to recognize one's strengths and weaknesses
if one wants to survive, one cannot afford to
be sick or tired because the nearest help is
few days away!
This was wonderful and refreshing experience
and I would recommend it to anybody and everybody!
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| From: |
LISA MIDDLETON | Subject: | 2002-10-09 12:38:31 |
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