Much Ado About Nothing

Path to Kibo hut

After another sleepless night, we started our hike towards Kibo Hut (4703 m/15430 ft). An hour into the hike, we stepped into the beautifully eerie Alpine desert environment where bitterly cold clouds swept through the lunar like landscape. My iPod just quit working at this altitude & the temperature dropped a good 30-40 F in under 15 mins. We reached Kibo after 7 hours of hiking. While I welcomed the hot tea, smelly porridge, and biscuits, Preeti had to run out of the hut after a spoonful of dinner to puke it all out. A classic sign of altitude sickness. My attempts to convince Preeti to abort the summit attempt (due to begin at 11 PM that very night) all failed. I was both saddened and impressed to see her courage and determination. And, she was doing this all for me! After 4 hours of tossing & turning in a crowded hut, we put on 6 layers of winter clothes and stepped out into this most gorgeous star-lit night we’ve ever seen. We could easily discern the milky way. Preeti was felling a little better and braved the cold, fatigue, and mild nauseating feeling; very frequently taking a break to catch her breath and sip some water. Approximately 3 hours into the climb, Preeti and I realized she wasn’t feeling good at all at which point (5200 m/17060 ft) we decided to turn around. No point taking chances, we figured. I was relieved until Preeti started begging me to go up to the summit with the assistant guide. I somehow managed to stay adamant (this never works here at home, BTW) and began the walk down to Kibo. Would you believe if I told you that we came back down in just 45 minutes?! It was around 4 AM and Mndeme, our guide, suggested that we rest for a few hours before heading back down to Horombo Hut. We enjoyed the great views even more on the way down. Two hours into the downhill walk, seeing a girl stricken with sickness that looked like signs of HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) convinced me that we turned back around at the right time. We all helped the girl down the mountain to Horombo where a stretcher awaited her to take her all the way down to a hospital.

Back at Moshi Springlands hotel, over Kilimanjaro beer with friends we made during the climb, we exchanged great stories and e-mail addresses.

We now looked forward to the:

Safari
There are probably not too many moments in life where one wonders “Is this really happening”? We probably experienced a dozen such moments during the Safari - Buffaloes and Hyenas right next to our tent, a herd of Lions basking in the sun right next to our Safari Van, a Lioness hurt during a hunt,

Elephant @ Serengeti

Zebras and Giraffes silhouetted against majestic mountains, a lone two-horned Rhino on the lake shores, an Elephant charging you… I can go on & on. I don’t feel words do justice to what our eyes saw. So, go on and see the pictures.

BTW, Mambo is “Wassup” in Swahili. Jambo is the more formal “How are you?”.

See pictures here