Holiday Adventures

Christmas really snuck up on me this year. I think without the cues I’m used to (such as snow, ice or at least freezing temperatures, not to mention christmas music non stop on the radio, etc), I don’t think it feels like the holiday season. It was hard to miss two holiday seasons in a row, but I still managed to get into the festive spirit and maintain my holiday tradition with my host family in Loitokitok. It was everything that I expected: a goat slaughter, and lots of Tusker, just my kind of holiday. I also got to spend it with a few other volunteers, so that was nice to have some other Americans to celebrate with.

After Christmas, four of us hopped across the border to Jinja, Uganda. There is a rafting company there called Adrift, and they ran a legit operation. Two of us started our adventure out by bungee jumping over the Nile. When the water is higher, you can dip your head in the water at the apex of the dive, but since the water level was down, I could only reach out and skim the surface with my fingers. It was still a really frightening and awesome experience. It was a 44 meter jump, and the way they tie up your feet was not exactly comforting. It was literally a towel wrapped in a figure 8 around my ankles, with a dog leash tied into a slip knot, then hooked to the bungee cable with a caribbeaner. I wfas really nervous standing at the edge, but there was no turning back. The jump itself was over so quickly, but worth it for the brief rush. After you jump, they lower you into a raft and take you to shore and you have to hike back up. Of course, on the path back up, we almost stepped on a black mamba (or green mamba, we didn’t see it’s mouth, thank god). Leave it to Murphy’s Law to survive a bungee jump only to die from a snake bite on the way back. The next day we all donned helmets and life vests and boarded a big raft to hit some rapids on the Nile. There were 10 of us on the raft, including the guy steering. He taught us a few things about rafting (like how to climb back in when we flip, and a few commands such as “forward, backward, and Get Down!!”) and we were off. We went on lot’s of rapids all day, ranging from class 3 to class 5 and flipped 3 times. It was such a blast, and the Nile is a really pretty river. We passed the construction of a dam that will be finished in the next year. When the dam is operational, the rafting company will shut down, or have to move down river. It’s kind of sad that the rafting at that part of the Nile will be gone, but what can you do? I guess I’m glad we got to go before they built it. We got back to the lodge and had a few celebratory beers and a shot of tequila while hanging up-side down in a kayak suspended in the ceiling. It was a well deserved wind-down relaxing night.

After Uganda, we went back to Kisumu, Kenya to celebrate New Years with a bunch of volunteers. It was pretty standard; hotel roof top drinks and dancing till the bar shut down. It was just nice to be around so many other volunteers. After that I had one day to run back to site and swap out all my clothes in my backpack and head for Tanzania.

I met some “just finished” volunteers in Moshi, Tanzania late in the evening, and the next morning we started for Kilimanjaro. We were a group of 12 Americans, with almost 17 porters. It was quite the operation. When we got to the mountain, we realized our ratio was actually less than most. Some groups had up to 3 or 4 porters per person. I guess since 4 of us (including me) decided not to hire a porter to carry our personal equipment, there were fewer of them. We set out on the Machame route up the mountain. This route takes 6 days, to help with your acclimatization. Apparently just the week before, a guy had got really sick from the altitude and died from the increased cranial pressure, so we felt better that we were taking the longer route. The first part of the climb was full of trees and vegetation. It was really beautiful and a perfect temperature. We got to see some monkeys and enjoy the shade from the canopy above. When we got to the first camp, it was chilly, but not cold. The second day, we felt like we were gaining some height. We would look back over our shoulders and realize we were above the clouds. The vegetation started to thin out a little and the views started getting more spectacular. The higher we got, the more intense it got. One minute I’d be wearing shorts, and the next a cloud would roll in out of no where and block out the sun and all of a sudden we’re all chattering and pulling on jackets and beanies. The third day started getting really cold. That night everything got covered in frost and the ground was frozen solid. The summit still looked so far away, we didn’t think we could possibly make it to the top in the next two days. It sleeted on us a little bit, but honestly we were just glad it was not rain. Sleet bounces off, for the most part, but trying to sleep in a wet sleeping bag at 4200 meters would not be fun. On the fourth day, all the vegetation had disappeared, and it was just rocks and a little ice and snow here and there. It was cold enough to start snowing, instead of sleeting this time, which was actually really pleasant. It was the closest I’ve felt to the Christmas spirit in the last two years, and we started whistling christmas carols to keep up the good mood. We knew the next night would be rough, so we were happy to enjoy it as much as we could. On the night of the fourth day, we awoke at 11:30 pm. We started hiking at midnight, to be able to reach the summit for sunrise. There was already a string of Head lamps snaking its way up the mountain when we hit the trail. It was a 6 and a half hour hike in pitch black up the last 1200 meters of the mountain, and we were all running on 3 hours of sleep or less. It was strenuous to say the least. The altitude really starts to hit you, and it is freezing on top of it. We passed a lot of people getting sick on the trail. It was a slow climb too. Hike for a few minutes, stop to catch your breath, make sure that everyone in your crew is ok. The altitude was making a few members of the group pretty sick, but not bad enough to stop or turn back, we were determined. We had to split up into two groups, since some wanted to take a slower pace, and a few of us were too stubborn and wanted to catch the sunrise at any cost. We pressed forward and made it to the top just as the first fingers of sunlight were creeping over the horizon. From the top ridge to the actual summit was another half an hour hike, but a pretty easy one. And at that point, we were still stopping every few minutes, but this time we were stopping to take another picture of the emerging beacon of sun shine bursting through the clouds, instead of to catch our breath. We made it to Uhuru peak and the sun was still in it’s glorious ascent. The glacier was beautiful and huge. You could see Mt. Meru off in the distance behind the sign declaring “you are at the summit, 5895 meters above sea level, the world’s tallest free standing mountain.” And everyone is cheering and it’s just one jaw dropping to the floor after another. After such a tough climb up, it was a really emotionally overwhelming moment finally getting to the top. After snapping as many pictures as I could without leaving my hand out of the glove for too long, we started our descent. Going down is harder on the legs, but you can go pretty fast. Your body doesn’t have to get used to lower elevation, and your lungs welcome the higher oxygen content. The next day we were back in Moshi before noon, taking our first showers in a week and downing some cold Kilimanjaro Lagers.

So that is all the adventure I have in me for now. And this week it’s back to work as usual. I’ll post the pictures when I go in to Nairobi in the next few weeks, but until then, I hope this paints a picture of my holiday. Thanks to everyone who supported me through this, I couldn’t have done it without you having my back!