“The memories of a man in his old age

Are the deeds of a man in his prime”

• Pink Floyd

Taking a summit hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro was nowhere on my radar when I came to the United Arab Emirates, but the opportunity came up, the timing was good, and the price was right, so off I went.  Lynn considered.  Is hiking Kilimanjaro hard?  The hike to Kilimanjaro is a popular hike in part because it is not a technical hike. Anyone of reasonable fitness has a good chance to succeed.  Overall, the hike is just a pleasant walk in the east Africa plains, but the summit day is anything but trivial, and she deferred.

This trip was organized by Trekkup Dubai, one of two Meetups I belong to here that I have taken trips with. I signed up to hike with complete strangers. I have done this several times and have always had splendid adventures with new friends from all over the globe.  Eleven folks made this trip, nine men and two women, ranging from late 20’s to late 50’s. Two from USA, 2 Polish, 2 Indian, and 1 each from Oman, UAE, Greece, Indonesia, and UK. But even that doesn’t paint a true picture. For example, the lady from Oman was born in Zanzibar and attended college in Australia. The lady with the UK passport was born in Dubai, has lived in Lebanon, Cyprus, the US, the UK, and currently lives in Oman.  One of the Indians has lived in Dubai for 36 years and owns his own company.  This was a truly international experience.

First, a few details about Mount Kilimanjaro and the surrounding area:

• Mount Kilimanjaro is about 3° south of the equator, in northeast Tanzania just south of the Kenyan border. At the summit of 5895 meters (19,314 feet), snow is present year-round – for now.  About 85% of a once continuous ice cap has disappeared in the last 100 years; 40% of that since 2000.
• By elevation, Mount Kilimanjaro is a distant runner up for highest peak – well over 200 are higher. By “Prominence” (a measure of the elevation relative to surrounding area) however, Kilimanjaro ranks 4^th, rising solitary from the east African plain.  It is the highest point on the African continent.
• The mountain is comprised of 3 volcanic cones.  Mawenzi and Shira are extinct; Kibo, the highest, is dormant and could erupt again. The last volcanic activity was 150,000 to 200,000 years ago.
• Kilimanjaro generates around $50 million dollars a year from about 16,000 hikers. I expected a higher figure for the revenue.
• Studies have shown about a 60% success rate for summit attempts (trekking groups advertise much higher rates), with 75% of those experiencing acute mountain sickness (headaches, nausea, vomiting,diarrhea, etc.). More severe forms can be fatal. Sources indicate about 10 people per year die, most from altitude sickness, lesser numbers from trauma, heart failure, pneumonia. The same source indicates about 1000 evacuations each year, but there don’t appear to be good records for any of these numbers. Seven out of 11 of our group hit the highest summit (63%), and one of the seven was evacuated on the return hike.
• Uhuru summit (meaning ‘freedom’ in Swahili) is the highest peak at 5895 meters.

There were several pre-hike preparations to take care of.  First was the trip cost.  I thought this was quite a bargain for 7900 dirham ($2150).  That included round-trip airfare from the UAE, 5-hour bus shuttle from and returning to the Nairobi airport in Kenya, two nights hotel in Arusha, lodging, meals, and guide/porter service on the mountain.  All payments were made to Trekkup Dubai by bank transfer. That is a simple matter of entering their bank account details into my bank website as an authorized payee. Next, I applied for a Kenya visa on-line.  For US citizens (and most others I am aware of), this is a simple process that delivered a visa to the Kenya website within a few days at a cost of $52.39.  It is more complex for some nationalities, and we lost one Syrian lady who had signed up due to visa difficulties. A second visa was necessary to enter Tanzania.This was paid for ($100 for a 12-month visa) at the border crossing. The border crossing also required a yellow fever vaccine. I had taken care of this in Abu Dhabi a few weeks before. I’m not sure why, but neither the doctor visit nor the vaccine cost me anything.  I suffered no ill effects from the vaccine and was told these are now good for life. No other vaccines were required, but I considered two anti-malarial drugs based on CDC recommendations for the area.  I ultimately decided against taking both of them based on potentially significant effects for a hike that already is physically challenging and has limited mosquito exposure after the first day. I decided to just use a 30% DEET spray for the first day.

Next was the matter of packing.  An avid hiker co-worker was a big help on this one (big shout out to Mark Sharp), loaning me well over half of what I needed. I have all the gear – on the wrong side of the Atlantic.  Trekkup Dubai provided a nice preparation checklist with clothing, personal first aid items, and gear recommendations.  They provided briefing sessions that I couldn’t attend, but this wasn’t my first rodeo and I didn’t suffer from missing those. Trekkup Dubai also provided rental sleeping bags I took advantage of for $68 that included a cleaning fee (that seems more expensive converting it to dollars instead of dirhams 😊).  The bag was rated for 20°F and was just fine for the trip.  Most of the hike is at comfortable temperatures except the summit day which is well below freezing and can include brisk winds, so most folks bring lots of layers for that.  For me a wool base layer, light overshirt, fleece jacket, and a light down jacket were just fine. I had gloves but didn’t wear them, I was a definite outlier on that one.  We were limited to a 15 kg pack for the porters (mine was 12 kg), plus carried our own day packs with water, snacks, raincoat, etc.  One key to light packing for me is merino wool.  Just a few shirts and socks you can wear over and over without stink, wash in a sink, dry in no time.  I consider everything from the point of “do I have to have that?” instead of “I might need that.”  I also look at everything I didn’t use on a trip when I get back, then consider that on the next trip.

Finally – physical preparation. By far the hardest aspect of this hike is the steep climb to a high elevation on summit day. At the summit, the thin air has less than half the oxygen content it does at sea level.  There is no way to know if you are prepared, and each person is different.  I have been an avid hiker in the past, but not for the last year – and – I have spent most of that year at sea level. Plus, I am now 58, not getting younger. So, what to do?  I am not a gym rat, I look at most of the machines in there and just scratch my head. I took a decidedly low-tech approach. I rode my bike for 20-25 km rides, did push-ups, sit-ups,and walked the treadmill for 60 minutes at a shot in hill climber mode.  My pace on the treadmill is 5.8 kph, enough for a fast walk without running.  My joints don’t need that impact.  If the pool was relatively kid-free, I would swim laps. For the last six weeks or so, I also climbed stairs in our apartment. I think that piece was as productive as anything else.  In the end, my efforts proved to be enough.

On November 30, the other US expat (Mike Hamer) picked me up in Abu Dhabi for a carpool ride to Sharjah airport. We met the rest of the group except for two that were arranging their own transportation from Oman and had an event free trip to Nairobi, Kenya. We met our trekking group lead (you can only climb Kilimanjaro with a registered agency, ours was “Top of Africa”), and loaded onto our 18-passenger bus for the trip to Tanzania.  We drove through the outskirts of town into the countryside. It wasn’t a prosperous landscape but there were several small businesses that seemed to be doing okay – lumberyards, grocery stores, electronics shops.  Hair salons seemed completely in unnecessary supply. There were also many roadside stands of people selling anything and everything. The largest enterprises I noticed were several cement factories.  I also noticed an Arab influence – a few small mosques, signs in Arabic, women in abayas/hajibs, and heard a call to prayers at least once.  Another statistic I always look for is the price of gas, equivalent to $4.34/gallon. Expensive by UAE and US standards, but quite a bit cheaper than we saw in Europe.  Rooftop cisterns were everywhere, I wondered about the public water supply.  Later research indicates water supply and quality is a major concern in Kenya and Tanzania.  We were warned not to use the tap water for anything.

We continued through the country side, passing small herds of cattle and goats along the way, with the constant buzz of small motorcycles zipping in and out of traffic. The border crossing at Tanzania went smoothly enough, and we had our first introduction to the crush of helpers looking for handouts.  We moved on to the town of Arusha, a town of 416,000 just south of Kilimanjaro National Park. This was a rough looking town with lots of street vendors, pedestrians milling about, and the ever-present little motorcycles. They rolled back a massive security gate for us to access our hotel, the three-star Merves Hotel. These were small, simple rooms with no amenities, but they met our needs (read: bed, shower, toilet). After dinner, we met at the lounge for a pre-hike beer and our briefing from our chief guide, Antold.  This rather stern fellow went over the hike details with us, including the directions for our altitude sickness medicine, acetazolamide (Diamox). We took a full 250 mg tablet the day before the hike, then a half tablet each day thereafter.  At the advice of a doctor hiking buddy in the US (Dr. Bill Ramsey), I also took a 4 mg dexamethasone at breakfast and dinner each day we were hiking.  I don’t know if that pill was what made the difference, but I was the only one to summit with no altitude sickness symptoms.  I would recommend anyone trying a similar hike to consult with their physician on that as well.

We had breakfast the next morning then boarded our bus for the drive to the park. I watched the people along the road.  Lots of people walking, including ladies clad in the brightly colored local garb balancing loads on their heads. Bikes, cars, and motorcycles urgently pushing from one spot to the next. People pushing wagons and wheelbarrows. Some people just sit and stare.  Hard life for these people. I am struck by the wealth and waste of my homeland when I see these sights.

After picking up our last two trekkers from Oman, we pressed on and arrived at Kilimanjaro National Park shortly after noon. We were greeted in the parking lot by desperate locals trying to sell you anything they can. You feel sorry for them and may make a small purchase or two, but its hard to believe you are changing their lives much. We met our guides and porters for the trip (a whopping 3 porters per person for dragging all our personal gear, cooking supplies and food, and that heaviest of all packing supplies – bulk water), registered at the visitor center and officially started our hike.  There are six routes you can choose from to summit Kilimanjaro. Each offer pros and cons. We hiked the Marangu Route, the only route to offer huts instead of tents (pro), but you hike up and down the same trail (con).  The trek for this route is 34 km one way, or about 42 miles round trip. 

We headed off to our first destination, Mandara Hut, 8 km away and 835 meters higher (2720 meters). This was a hike through lush Montane forest with Yellow wood, Junipers, Olives, Figs, and Macaranga; ferns, streams and waterfalls.  Our lead guide, James, set the pace we would all become accustomed to, the “Pole – Pole” pace (slow – slow in Swahili).  James is a member of the local Chugga tribe. My age, he was a calm, mild mannered hiker that has summited Kilimanjaro 150 times. A slow pace is a critical aspect to conquer the altitude, and as James informed me, “The mountain likes slow steps”. The slow pace would have been unsettling to me in most other hikes, but I deferred completely to their expertise for this adventure. We arrived at Mandura Hut about 3 hours later.  Oxygen here is about ~71% of sea level, no ill effects on any of the team members so far.  The hut complex was much larger than I expected, with accommodations for 100 hikers and 200 porters. The simple huts with a small solar panel for lighting were first opened in 1942. The small A-frames had accommodations for four on each end of the hut.  After a dinner of fried fish, potatoes, mixed vegetables, and the first of many outstanding soups (lentil on this night), we called it a day.  The night was filled with all sorts of bizarre noises that I tried to assign to an animal. The next morning, we saw several large monkeys (30 pounds maybe?) at the fringe of the camp that must have been the noise.  We cleaned up just a bit with the jugs of hot water and soap they left by our door about 6:30 in the morning.  After a breakfast of porridge, fruit, toast, and eggs, we packed up and headed off to our next destination.  I have not the foggiest notion what the porridge was made of.

Our destination for the second day of the hike was Horombo Hut, 11 km away and another 1000 meters higher (3720 meters). We slowly left the montane forest and entered a vegetation zone known as Moorland. The large trees disappeared, replaced by grasses, shrubs, and flowers.  A tree known as the Giant Senecio was present near water sources in this zone, an odd-looking tree that made us think of the Lorax in Dr. Seuss’s books.  The landscape opened, and we had our first clear look at the extinct Mawenzi cone. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife from here on but did see a nice-looking chameleon. We stopped after a few hours and enjoyed lunch of chicken, sandwiches, bananas, hard boiled eggs, cookies, with the highlight being an absolutely amazing hot cucumber soup. Much of the food on the trip was ordinary at best but they definitely served up some delicious soups!  Clouds moved in on us as we hiked on towards Horombo Hut.  This collection of huts was similar to Mandura.  Upgrades are in progress with some new buildings.  A large solar panel array in the center of the complex provided power for the administrative buildings and a small kitchen.  Oxygen concentration is at 63% of sea level at this elevation, still no ill effects on our group. We rested a bit before dinner (the porters arrived late with the food).  Popcorn and peanuts were served up as an afternoon snack each day when we arrived.  The popcorn was an unexpected treat.  A few of our folks and one of the porters showed off their dancing moves on the deck of the dining room for some fun entertainment.  After admiring a beautiful sunset, dinner finally arrived, including some Tanzanian dishes at the request of one of our team members. This included a ‘porridge’ that seemed to me like a very stiff mashed potato (I was told a very thinned version of this was the porridge we had at breakfast), some cooked greens that looked like minced collard greens that were intended to be spooned over the porridge, a mincemeat sauce, vegetables, papaya, and another outstanding soup. Antold came to brief us on the next day’s hike and lectured us on eating more.  I had a little trouble sleeping that night and went out to gaze at the stars around midnight. There was no moon and all the camp lights were off, so I was treated to a truly dazzling high mountain galactic display.  Even old familiar Orion seemed a bit crowded with a few extra stars packed in.  Moments like this are the payoff for all the work, preparation, and expenses. The unexpected, unadvertised ones like this are my favorite.

We woke up to a beautiful morning, a bit cooler than previous by maybe 5°C. From here we gazed down on the top of the clouds in the valleys below. After a breakfast of porridge (seriously, what is this stuff?), sausages, watermelon, toast, and tomatoes, we packed up and moved on towards our last hut, Kibo, 9 km away and another 980 meters higher (4700 m).  The trees were mostly gone now except for a few of the Giant Senecio along water runoffs, but there was still a lot of green vegetation. The Kilimanjaro summit is in clear view now, with the remnants of the snow cap. Around 4000 meters we left the Moorland behind and entered the Alpine Desert vegetation zone. Very little vegetation existed here, only the occasional tuft of grass and stray flower.  Still, this lunar landscape is beautiful.  We stopped for a lunch of fried vegetable pies, chicken, boiled eggs, vegetable soup, cookies,and fruit juice. A few people were starting to show symptoms of altitude sickness – nausea and vomiting.  We are at less than 60% of the oxygen at sea level. We continued towards Kibo Hut. Although we can clearly see it on the side of the mountain, it is still a couple of hours away.  We arrive about 3:30. Other routes meet here, and there are several tents around the complex from other tour groups.  Our Kibo hut accommodations have all 11 of us in a summer camp type room with bunk beds. Just one big happy family piled in on each other for a brief stay.

At 4700 meters this was a new altitude record for me by nearly 1000 feet, and a few members are showing clear signs of altitude sickness.  We have only the afternoon to acclimatize before beginning our serious summit attempt. Our goal for the afternoon is to check all our gear for the summit attempt, eat early and get as much rest as we can before beginning our climb around midnight.  Dinner was pasta, vegetables, and fruit.  Antold lectured us again about eating more.  This time I think he was right.  About 12 hours later I was wishing I had taken another few forkfuls of the pasta.  This is the time of the hike when you should eat when you are not hungry and drink when you are not thirsty. We went to bed around 6, with plans to be up at 11 to prepare for a midnight departure.

I set my alarm for 10:45. I was awake shortly before that and got dressed. A thick pair of long johns under my hiking pants, a smartwool base layer under my normal hiking shirt, a fleece jacket, a down jacket, a nice warm cap – I was ready to go.  I had rain pants and raincoat in my day pack for an additional layer and wind protection,and although the clear air outside was quite crisp – perhaps 20° F – I was confident I did not need them, at least to start.  You certainly don’t want to get cold, but you don’t want to sweat either.  A new method I tried this time was putting toe warmers between my socks and liners in the arches of my feet.  I had no difficulties with temperature.

Breakfast was advertised as biscuits. My hopes for a fluffy, bacon and egg stuffed biscuit were dashed when I came to the realization I was only getting the thin little cookies that are served with tea.  I blame the Brits for this gross misrepresentation.  I downed a few and made my thermos of coffee for the summit.

We gathered with our headlamps. The guides carried even our day packs here to maximize our chance for success.  The sky was clear and the stars bright as we started. Pole-Pole took on a new meaning as we barely took half steps on our way up the mountain. The ascent is better than a 21°grade with just under a 1200-meter climb in 6 km, and the oxygen will be only 47% of that at sea level. Most people have no experience at this altitude and do not know how their bodies will react.  All this runs through your head as you climb.  After about an hour, the clouds moved in and the snow started. Also about this time we suffered our first casualty as our trip organizer started to suffer severe symptoms. The only smart move under these conditions is to turn back, and he did. Other members started to suffer as well but continued on at this point. The breeze started to frost us over with the falling snow, making quite a sight in the dawns early light. Our visibility was limited, all we could see was a continued steep incline over increasingly rocky terrain. Our guide Isaac sang us songs in Swahili, interspersed with the cry “Wayla!” Symptoms among the group began to increase, and we decided to split into two groups.  Seven continued on, with four others continuing at a slower pace with more frequent breaks.  Gilman Point is the first goal, on the rim of the crater (5685 meters).  The four members in the trailing group made the smart call to end there. Uhuru Peak is still 2 km away, 210 meters higher, and another hour of hiking away.  Symptoms will only get worse.  The remaining seven pressed on through the wind, snow, and clouds to a destination that never seemed to arrive.  Ultimately it did, and right on cue the clouds began to disperse, unveiling the crater around us and the African landscape below.  We took all the high-five climax photos we needed before finally beginning our blessed descent.  We still had another 15 km hike to our stay for the night at Horombo Hut.

We cruised down the mountain at a much brisker pace, shedding layers as we went. We made it back to Kibo Hut where we took a much-needed break before eating lunch and packing up to continue on. The break helped but true relief was further down the hill. About three hours later we made it to Horombo Hut, relieved to find our organizer in much better shape.  Dinner was served an hour or two later, but most of us were in bed for the night after a 21 km day that included the highest peak on the  African continent.

We got up the next morning to leave the mountain, another 19 km hike.  Our Omani was still suffering from the day before and plans were made to evacuate her. So, the final number for our hike was 6 of 11 completing the entire hike. Not the result everyone was looking for, but I believe everyone was proud of the accomplishments made.

We headed down the mountain. As we passed a nondescript pile of brush shortly after leaving Horombo, our guide said that was a memorial to the seven porters and climbers who had died the month before on a summit attempt. He had no details but to say it was with another trekking group. Statistics like these are not heavily advertised.  We pushed on and said our goodbyes to the mountain. After some delays, we boarded our bus and returned to Merves Hotel in Arusha for a much-needed shower.  There was more fun planned for the next day but that is another story.

I made some good friends on this hike to share the experience.  We promise to meet again for another adventure.  This is a fine thought and although it will likely never happen, the memories from this week are planted, to be aroused in the future when we gaze out on some distant mountain.