Day 6 - Finale
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 Day 5 was crazy. We started at 1am and hiked for over 13 hours. After we returned to Barafu camp (4600m asl) from Uhuru (the summit, 5850m asl), we were told that we should take a 1hr nap, wake up and eat and prepare to hike 4 or 5 hours to Mweka camp (3100m asl). I already did the math, so you don't have to... that's 1250 of ascending and 2750 of descending. After dinner I barely wrote a blog on my blackberry and emailed it to my mom to post before falling asleep before 9am. I slept better than I had in days, likely because we were lower than we had been since day 1. We woke up early, ate David Mange-Mange's breakfast of eggs with cucumber (you know when you've got weird stuff in your fridge, and you make recipes up?), hot dogs and "oatmeal". I used my last via coffee pack, put on my MEC EOS pack and joined the pack for our final descent, Day 6.
Our crew informed us that the terrain would be really simple, since Day 5 into Mweka Camp involved 7km down a dry river bed with a really trecherous rocky decline. Day 6 was a lot like the first day, a steady groomed muddy trail with few obstacles. It stayed dry for us, and as we descended below 3000m, the flora and fauna returned to jungle-style as the bushes and shrubs turned into ferns, palms and giant camfor trees. We spotted monkeys and birds that we hadn't encountered yet. We saw a big beautiful moth, bigger than your hand with two big eyes elegantly painted on it's wings.
It was about 4 hours down to Mweka gates. We arrived to our porter and guide team singing and dancing a congratulatory routine in mostly Swahili, but with enough English and now-familiar Kilimanjaro terms (Mambo, Jambo, Poa, Pole Pole, and the names of our camps)... that we got the jist. It was so awesome to be welcomed back by the guys who made our journey possible. They seemed so genuinely thrilled for us, and I feel like we really shared the adventure, despite many of the guides having been up the mountain over 200 times. Kidori and Praygod, who are only 24, have been up to the summit more than 100 times. Kidori first summitted when he was 14, and his older brother is in the Guinness Book for the quickest roundtrip at 8 hours. Kidori plans to beat that in the spring.
After our celebration we had a champagne lunch in the garden, bbq chicken and fries with Kilimanjaro Beer (after you climb it, drink it). The champagne got sprayed around so we didn't really drink any. I've got some video of the dancing, I'll post it soon. If Mange-Mange's belly dance doesn't make you howl then you are simply dull and boring.
It feels so good to be back close to sea level, but somehow I already miss the adventure. 5 nights in a damp tent, 75km of hiking with a heavy pack, nauseating altitude, bone chillingly cold mornings, and the rain. As nice as the view was, the challenge was really the only reason to go. If it was easy, then it probably wouldn't be so rewarding. Another example of my "life-thesis", the inherent value in hardwork, was illustrated in full colour, once again. I made 6 new Canadian life-long friends in Jason/Jansen (ok, he's actually a yank), Mr. James, Jo-Jo, my tent mate Kev, Jamie and Danielle and a bunch of amazing Tanzanian ones too in Alex, Kidori, Praygod, Patrick, Osman, Sarah, Solomon, Mange-Mange and all the fellas that worked so hard breaking down and setting up camp everyday. Thanks for the memories team... this is an adventure that I won't soon forget.
Pictures and video are coming soon... I'm late boarding my flight to Frankfurt from here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A quick stop in Khartoum, Sudan, another longer one in Frankfurt, and I'll be back on Canadian soil by lunchtime tomorrow. Headed to Vancouver for the last Gold Medal Plates Qualifying event for the Canadian Culinary Championships... I get to emcee and refresh my appetite with the best food Vancity can make. See you soon west coast... bye for now Africa.
Thanks for reading!
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure. Big congrats to you and the team on this amazing feat - all for RTP, an amazing program! Thanks also for the Swahili lessons. FYI, Lion King 1/1/2 has a karaoke version of Hakuna Matata. : )
Safe Travels,
Jen
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It is really neat to hear both the humorous and challenging aspects of the hike, the ups and downs. Plus you have a great writing style.
Keep up the great work, and keep being an awesome role model.
Asante!
Your stories of training, dedication and hard work as an athlete continue to inspire many of us. I made the summit of Uhuru Peak in July of 2007 and felt that the whole journey up was the most difficult and challenging physical feat of my life. Thanks for your story and for your work with Right to Play. We salute your commitment to helping others around the world.