BEHT Kilimanjaro Challenge 28 August to 2 September 2011

In March of this year, a group of us initiated by Shaila  and spurred on by Hitesh who had climbed Kilimanjaro 3 years earlier , decided that we wanted to undertake this challenge for BEHT. 

 At  5,895m , Kilimanjaro, or  Kili as it is affectionately known, is Africa’s tallest mountain and the world’s highest walkable mountain. And what a walk! In 3 days you walk  through 5 climactic zones with temperatures ranging from +30 to -30!After we had fixed the dates, we realised that we would actually be ascending the summit on one of the most auspicious days in the Jain calendar – the last day of Paryushan. 

 Our 20 was an eclectic mix of people ranging from 17 to 60 plus coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and also countries,  the whole group only meeting up the day before the climb! There was also a group from the US  raising money for the same cause but climbing the day after us. 

Behind the scenes, a lot of hard work and preparation had gone to ensure everyone was well prepared , well kitted and raising lots of money for a great cause.  And so finally it was the eve of the climb. We were introduced to our head guide, Amani who inspected our kit to ensure that we had all the right gear.

We left Ameg lodge early in the morning to head to Marangu gate, a hype of activity.  A whole team of  40 porters, 7 guides, and 2 cooks was just for us!  All had to be registered and the luggage weighed. Their maximum load was 20kg, 12kg of our bags and 8kg of their own stuff as well as communal food etc. They put a plastic covering on all our bags to protect the bags from rain and dust.  All we had to carry was our own backpacks with some snacks, 3 litres of water and rain wear. 

Just after 1.30pm we were ready to set off. This first day was walking through tropical rainforests. The vegetation was lush and green, the canopies of towering trees providing shade and making for a pleasant walk. Lunch was provided en route – plates, paper napkins and metal cutlery were laid on the picnic tables already in situ and we got hot cucumber soup along with sandwiches and fruit.-a veritable feast!

Today we would rest at 2,700m, having started at 1,800m   Everyone was in a buoyant mood. Dinner was yet more cucumber soup and some rice and vegetables -our food was all prepared to the lowest common denominator,  vegetarian, no eggs, no onions, no garlic and no red chilli powder so Bakul’s garlic chutney helped to enhance the flavours. 

The next day’s walk to Horombo is about 15km, ascends another 1,000m to 3,720m and should take around 6 hours. The trail passes through a short stretch of forest and then becomes moorland.  Here you get giant lobelias, cactuslike trees with pineapple heads. Suddenly you’re  above the clouds! The day had been sunny and warm but the evening got really cold. We were going to spend an extra night here to acclimatise so the next morning was going to be a leisurely walk up to Zebra rocks and then down again – around 6 km in total. I got up early and was greeted with the most wonderful view of the sun just peeping out from the thick blanket of clouds – the sunrise was absolutely amazing and then when I turned to the left I saw Kilimanjaro – until today we had not been able to see it. The previous night some of us had been greeted with a spectacular view of the stars glistening in the night sky.  

So with a beautiful day in front of us we walked at a leisurely pace to Zebra rocks –so called as they resemble the black and white stripes of the zebra. This was about 300m higher than  Horombo and most of us were coping well with the altitude , however a few had started feeling the effects- headaches, nausea , fatigue etc. 

At zebra rocks, Amani our head guide made us practice for a while walking in line really ‘pole pole’ to get us familiar with how we would need to walk on the summit night. 

The next morning was an early start- it was a long dusty walk to Kibo. The vegetation got more and more sparse  and it was quite hot during the day, so you need to drink lots of water. The last bit before the lunch stop was the saddle – effectively a plateau between 2 mountains, Kilimanjaro on the left and Mawenzi on the right. Mawenzi is a formidable looking mountain with jagged peaks. 

After lunch the walk to Kibo was only 1 km but it took us over an hour to get there due to the thinning air. Kibo was a big dormitory type building – there is no running water at Kibo so water carried by the porters was strictly for drinking and cooking not to be wasted on frivolities like washing. 

Before and after dinner we rested as it was going to be a long night, but for most of us, sleep was elusive. We left for the final ascent around 11.45pm and started off in a single file watching the footsteps in front of us with our head torches. It was a comical scene – like a walk on the moon with our padded gear and carefully taking a single step at a time very slowly. Even this slow pace was quite exhausting for some and so after the half way point, he separated some people with their own guides and porters and then quickened the pace. By this time it was really difficult to walk on the terrain which was scree and every time you took a step forward , you slipped half a step back. You had to really plant your poles and pull yourself up. It was exhausting work . We’d been climbing for over 6 hours and now the sun was about to rise. Amani pointed out Gilman’s – it still looked a fair way up but now the scree had given to huge boulders. We finally got to Gilman’s point completely exhausted – we had made it – we had climbed Kilimanjaro! A few more minutes of rest and Armani said ‘Uhuru’! and so onwards we marched. No questions to anyone as to whether they wanted to continue or not and not a murmur of objection from any of our group. We obliged by trudging along like zombies, on autopilot. The walk to Uhuru was not as difficult as the last few hundred metres up to Gilman’s but when your body is tired, your legs like jelly, and your eyes are ready to drop off to sleep , each step is a mammoth undertaking. The views from Gilman’s onwards were becoming more spectacular as you started seeing the icecaps and what had appeared like a thin layer of snow from the distance was actually almost 2 story high blocks of thick ice. Nonetheless, it is receding at a frightening rate. We finally got to Uhuru – most of us totally exhausted and ready to drop. We all hugged each other took some photos. Finally, we set off back down again. It took us a good 3 hours to come down around 1.30pm – totally exhausted only to be told we had 10 minutes to eat and pack our bags and get down to Horombo – another 3 hours walk down!

We got to Horombo at about 5.30pm – about 18 hours after we’d started our night climb! No wonder we were exhausted. Finally we could wash our faces – some even took cold a shower! At dinner time everyone was too exhausted to be feeling any type of emotion, let alone elation- it was a big anticlimax- no celebration. 

The next day we walked for around 6 hours through the moorland and then the rainforest – over Finally we got to the gate (over the 6 days we had walked over 100km) and then set off for Ameg Lodge, where Amani presented us our certificates – 15 of us had made it to Uhuru, 3 to Gilman’s and 2 had got to around 5,200m. It was an astounding success and all of us briefly shared our experiences at the alternative awards ceremony.

The next day we had a celebratory breakfast – jalebis, gathias and parathas, after which we all parted our different ways –It was barely a week since we had all met but in that time we had bonded, had encouraged each other, gone through tough times together and pulled through. 

So if you are thinking about undertaking such a challenge – think no more – just do it! Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. 

BEHT would like to thank the following people who undertook the above challenge and in the process raised over £60,000 towards the equipment for the hospital project 

Ajay , The Accomodater, Hitesh , The Don, Shaila , The Instigator, Hasu , the Smiler, David , the Cowboy, Bakul , The Medicine Man,. Kishore ,  On Top of The World, Babu (Bob ), The Boss, Satish,  The Diplomat, Shirley, The Sweet gal, Jyoti, The Tortoise, Kiran , The Timekeeper, TM Lee ,  The Invisible man, Roopa ,  One of the lads, Bene,  the Son in law, Jaimal, The Cheeky bugger, Himesh,  The Stripping gigolo, Bhavik , The Smiley one, Sahil ,  The Junior Diplomat, and Sam , The Silent achiever