I am sitting in another dance studio, in another school, at the other end of the country, nearly a month after I met my Scottish group. This time I am appreciating my last few minutes of quiet before eight young men from Wilson’s School in south London, bound into Hayes Community College. They break my silent reflection and explode their rucksacks all over the floor in preparation for a kit check.
Having removed all unessential
personal kit (including Ed’s boot cleaning set), found space for the group kit
and completed all final briefings, we board the bus, then the plane to Nairobi
and finally almost 24 hours after first meeting, we land at Kilimanjaro
airport, Tanzania.
With the town of Arusha our base
for the next three weeks we make our way to a hostel and begin our orientation
phase. We have phones to buy, a city to
discover, meths to find, a week’s menu to plan and purchase and some fun to
have. The team experienced a steep
learning curve when accosted by a particularly persistent tout on their first
day visiting the market area.
After a successful summit with an
exciting scramble at the top, we find ourselves back in Longido preparing for
our project phase. The team is disappointed
to find that the playground we had planned to help build will not be going
ahead due to disputes over land ownership.
Luckily the creation of a football stadium is the centre of the town’s development
and the team help make and transport bricks, dig foundations and build walls
for it. A lot of hard work rewarded with a game of
football with the locals.
With the project phase and a day
of preparation in Arusha complete, we turn towards our main objective for the
expedition – Kilimanjaro. The team are
fortunate to benefit from an excellent acclimatisation profile with 8 days on
the mountain. This greatly enhances the probability
of success by allowing the team enough time to adapt to the diminishing quantities
of oxygen available to them as they make their way up the mountain.
The first few days take the team
through rain forest and out onto dusty plains.
Finally, we are above the clouds and get our first glimpse of the
mountain. It still looks so big and so
far away it is difficult to come to terms with the fact that we aim to be
standing on the top of it in just a few days time. As we look back down at the view, all we can
see is a sea of cloud and Mount Meru rising out of it: an inspiring view which
will stay with us for the rest of the trip.
On day 3 we have lunch at Lava
Tower (4600m) before descending to Barranco camp for 2 night’s acclimatisation. An acclimatisation trek takes us onto the
ridge above the camp. With just a few
light headaches between the team there has obviously been eating and drinking
plenty and looking after themselves in order to acclimatise properly.
The daunting Barranco wall is scaled
more easily than the team expected and the scramble to the top was enjoyed by
all though watching the porters dance up the wall with their loads balancing precariously
on their heads made us feel like we were making rather a big deal out if it.
After passing spending an extra
night at Karanga Valley we finally arrive at Barafu Camp and begin to prepare
for the summit. With the team composed of
all males ranging from 16-18 years, food has been a constant source of
discussion. Usually there is not enough
of it and fending for yourself at meal times has become a necessary survival
skill. For the first time on the trip, there
is food left on the table as appetites diminish due to the altitude. Sleep is also difficult to find but we retire
early to rest if not sleep.
We are up again at 11pm and after
a hot drink and some final preparations we set off at midnight. Luck is on our side and the moon is still
quite full providing good light and little need for head torches. The couple of hours of the walk are warm,
exciting and really quite pleasant. At
around 3 am it gets cold, very cold. And
the path steepens. Conversation dwindles
and the slow plod for the summit has begun in earnest.
Rahul is suffering with mild
asthma but is determined to overcome his challenge and continue with the
team. Andre is quietly retching, his nausea
making it difficult for him but he has also found the determination within
himself to continue. The steep path to Stella Point seems to
continue forever but we are just 1 hour away now and I can see the first
colouring of red in the sky.
The a voice from behind me breaks
the silence – ‘Jo, Kierans hit the ground’
All manor scenarios flash through
my mind as I rush back to find Kieran lying on the scree slope. Automatically working out how to descend him
as fast as possible, I begin talking to Kieran who seems strangely fine. What happened? He fell asleep. Kieran mastered the skill of sleep walking –
almost. Having checked him for any signs
of altitude illness I’m confident that he’s ok to continue and taking his arm
we walk together to Stella Point, my constant babble of chatter keeping him
awake.
The pain and achievement of
arriving at Stella Point at sunrise, gave way to a pleasant walk along the
crater rim with views that take your breath away. Everybody in the team made it to the summit
of Kilimanjaro that day and it was down to their excellent preparation and
strong determination to succeed. Each
and every one of them deserved it. Congratulations!
Ascending the mountain is only
half the journey and the 2 days of descend to Mweka hut is painful on the knees
and seems to go on forever. We finally arrived
at the gate and with showers, a safari day and some last minute souvenir shopping tempting us back to
Arusha we turned away from the mountain for the last time.
Leading for Outlook Expeditions
