The Roof of Africa: Trekking Kilimanjaro
The wind howled so loudly that I felt certain our tent stakes would come out of the ground and we would be laying in the open boulder field shivering in the middle of the night. Welcome to Base Camp on Mount Kilimanjaro. It was time to head to the roof of Africa and continue trekking Kilimanjaro.
Every 20-30 minutes even though I hadn’t drank water in the past few hours I had to get up and pee because of the diamox (altitude pills) I was taking.
Finally the clock struck midnight and the longest night of my life was about to begin…
The summit push to reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro was upon us.
Jambo Jambo, habari ya leo? (Swahili for Hello Hello how ya doing?!)
When I travel and talk to people and they share the tales of places they have gone to I often latch on to certain ones and then draw myself into a dreamy like state of going to this place for several years.
It happened with Machu Picchu, hiking Rim to Rim of the Grand Canyon, and even my first trip to Europe to visit Italy all these years ago. I remember exactly where I was when Kilimanjaro became the latest of these for me. We were hiking and rafting thru the Grand Canyon in September of 2015 and one of the folks on the trip named Brian told me tales about hiking to the summit of the “Roof of Africa” as well as the tallest free standing mountain in the world. For the next four and a half years it was on my radar and finally plans were firmed up and the trip was booked. I was excited and had been anticipating this trek for many years but I had no idea what I was in for.
To climb Kilimanjaro is to do more than summit a mountain.
It’s to go on the journey of a lifetime. It’s a trek you should be in the best shape of your life for, or at least close to it. This hiking trek is not for the faint of heart nor someone who is not interested in sleeping on the ground and foregoing showers for a week.
We chose to hire the trekking company Kilimanjaro Heroes and our guides Magnus, Arnold, and Gasper along with our crew of porters not only gave us a week’s worth of memories and connection they also enable everyone in our group to reach the summit and saved the life of one of our friends who came ill with altitude sickness post summit and spent three days in the Moshi Tanzania ICU.
There are lots of blogs and books and documentaries about climbing this mountain. I am going to share in this post six unique things that you might not realize about the adventure that awaits you on this mountain and to hopefully get you excited about your next mountain climb, hiking trek, or maybe a trip to the Roof of Africa for yourself!
Six Takeaways about Trekking Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania:
Summit day is as hard as it sounds and will be one of the most beautiful and challenging days of your life.
On the Lemosha Route we arose at midnight (not really sleeping much the night before due to the howling winds and cold temperates) and four of us went “Pole, Pole” (Swahili for slow, slow) from base camp at 1am to reach the Uhuru Peak at 7am. It was an increase in elevation of over 3,000 feet in the middle of the night with 40 MPH headwinds blasting you in your face. You don’t want to eat or drink water and your headlamp is really the only thing you want to pay attention to. If not you might become overwhelmed with what you are heading towards.
Throw in a 2-4 hour descend back to base camp that will rip your knees in half and another 3-5 miles mid afternoon after some rest and summit day is no joke!
The terrain of the trek is beautiful.
The Lemosha Route gives you rainforest, high alpine forests, desert landscapes, jungle vegetation, canyons, and above treeline the mountain country that I have become so familiar with that seems so desolate yet is so full of energy.
This is a beautiful hike that will give you the chance to wind and step through so much natural beauty it will be hard to imagine you have been on the same volcano the entire trip.
The amount of hiking is not overwhelming BUT if you have not ever gone up high in altitude nor prepared yourself for how to take care of your body on the mountains you could be in trouble.
Eat lots of food, drink more water than you think, rest/sleep, and take the Pole Pole pace of the guides. Prepare ahead of time by getting your body above 10 or 12,000 feet a few times, maybe even higher. It’s not the miles that are going to wear you down but the high altitude trekking if you don’t listen to your body, the guides, and do some research and training ahead of time.
The Tanzanian Spirit and Local Connection is REAL.
From the inefficient weigh ins of the bags to help protect the porters, to the songs and dance at camp, to celebratory Kilimanjaro beers at the bottom with the guides, to the chance you get to spend several days with dozens of people from the country of Tanzania this is about as good of cultural immersion as you can get.
Take advantage of your time with the Tanzanian people you trek with. Talk to them and ask questions and answer their questions. You will leave with a heavy dose of new knowledge, Swahili language, perspective on other people, and so much more.
Mountain trekking gives you so much long/downtime with individuals from all over the world it really is one of the most underrated ways to connect with people.
You might never do this again. Bask in it.
This is not always going to be fun. You will be cold. Tired. Possibly have headaches. No celebrations until the bottom yet you are doing something that few people will ever seek out in their lives. You will probably only do this once or twice in your life. Bask in the presence of it. It is really one of the most special and unique experiences I have ever had in my life and I’m so grateful I got the chance to do it and really enjoy each day. Let your breath be taken away, pay attention to your surroundings and beauty, and take your time…after all…life on the mountain is Pole Pole!
Purchase emergency oxygen and a toilet and tip your team well.
Your team will deserve the tips trust me. Our friend might have died without the emergency oxygen that helped him get off the mountain with our crew of excellent porters. As for the toilet well just take my word for it. Though the windy summit night I was on the pot in its little tent and thought the tent might come up leaving me in a boulder field around 500 people sitting on the mobile can. It would have made for a good story right?!?!?!
Some trips and adventures you build up so much in life that you might feel a letdown once it happens. I had this one four and a half years in the making and I was blown away by how amazing it was.
If you like to trek, if you like to climb mountains, and if you want to experience the wonderful people of Tanzania then I would say don’t waste another second and get your trip booked.
In the Swahili tradition they don’t like to say Kwa Heri (Goodbye) because it means you won’t see each other again so for now I will just say Tutaonana which means see you later/until next time.
The mountain beckons us my friend, adventure awaits in Tanzania.
Thanks for reading, comment with any questions about this trek below!
Pole Pole,
Mike R
