Out of Africa

Whew! The last month has been one of the most hectic months of all time. It literally had the ultimate highs and ultimate lows one can experience in life. I logged a lot of miles, both in the air and on the ground, but if nothing else, it was extremely interesting! (WARNING: This is by far the longest post I've had. Don't try to read this at one sitting!)

It began with the conclusion of my school down in Oklahoma. The final week was separate from my Operational School, but we did learn methods to control a well in the event of a 'kick,' which is an unexpected release of liquids or gas from the formation. The school was by no means difficult and that final week included a sufficient amount of partying to make up for the rest of our school. And roughly 5 hours after our last class ended, I was back in the Tulsa Airport ready to fly back to the mitten to see the fam!


I got back into Detroit on Friday night July 1 and was on the road by 10:30am the next morning, after stopping in to see grandma Magoo, who had recently had a serious heart attack. Luckily she was in good spirits and was excited for me for my Africa trip. We then trekked up to Leland to see the entire Magoo fam (or at least those who could make it). Within minutes of getting there, I was lucky to be shipped out to the middle of the lake where a pontoon of family and beer awaited me. It was the perfect entrance. The whole weekend was a blast, as I got to recount some fun tales for my cousins and aunts and uncles. I learned that one of my cousins is pregnant, ensuring that the next generation of Magoos. I was also asked to be co-Best Man at my brother's wedding, a request to which I enthusiastically said 'yes!' My duties involve bachelor party planning in Vegas and ensuring minimal cold feet on the wedding day. That would end poorly for everybody.

Monday come noontime I was back in the car driving back home to make final preparations for Africa! The next day I got up early to grab some travel pills, plenty of travel toilet paper, and other assorted goodies. I set out for the airport and realized very closely upon arrival that I forgot my camera. I was quite distressed until I found that the Amsterdam airport to which I was flying has a large electronics store. So I grabbed a nice little Sony (complete with panorama view) and headed to my final destination: Nairobi.

Nairobi

I got in at about 9 at night and quickly got my visa and my luggage and met my driver Michael, who had been arranged to pick me up by a friend we had who'd already been in Nairobi for a week. Our drive out to the place we were staying (which was owned by a friend of 2 of the girls in our group) wasn't quite the Kenyan experience that I'd hoped for. I saw the industrial sector of Nairobi and dozens of prostitutes lining many of the streets, but eventually made my way into the gated apartment complex we would stay. I met one of the guys living there, Dan, who was working for a company that sells small stoves in East Africa to try to make their lives more sustainable. Really cool project and really cool guy. I also met the girlfriend of the other resident of the apartment. He knew 2 of the girls from our group, but he was back in the US taking some time off. However, his girlfriend Sakina was nice enough to take us to some nice restaurants and areas of Nairobi. Plus, she was a model. I decided to stay up until our friend Amy got into Nairobi. Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication with our cab driver and he showed up to the airport 3 hours after she got in. Luckily Amy, being the well-traveled young girl she is, didn't freak out and showed up to the apartment in good, if not tired, spirits. My friend Mahi then got in at about 8am, so I went to the airport with our driver and we all went back to the apartment to recuperate, mainly through a 4 hour nap.

So that day we met up with our friend Isra, who had been in Nairobi for a week, and went to explore Nairobi a little bit. I was definitely reminded we were in a developing country and I noticed a couple things about life in Kenya. First, people walk everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. People are up at 5 or 6 in the morning and then will walk 2 or 3 hours to work. Women still carry water jugs on their heads. Men take unnecessarily large amounts of supplies on the back of bikes and motorcycles. I literally saw a guy with 2 propane tanks stacked on top of each other on the back of his bicycle. I pray that those things weren't full. Kids always seemed to be happy and were always eager to wave at us. Most of the schools in Kenya are Christian schools, so 90% of the kids I saw were decked out in uniforms. It was tremendously cute. There's also people everywhere. Kenya had among the highest population growth rates for a long time and it definitely shows. Taxis are usually actually small minivans that shouldnt seat more than 8 people, but every one will stuff in at least double that. Apparently Nairobi also has a little bit of a reputation of an unsafe city, being unofficially dubbed 'Nai-Robbery' by some westerners. During the day, I never felt unsafe, but when Dan and I went to a restaurant at about 10 o clock, he advised that we run there, rather than walk. Also, Sakina was unfortunately mugged while walking alone in downtown in broad daylight. One of our drivers told us about a special group of police in Nairobi called the 'Flying Squad,' that travels in unmarked vans and tracks down people they suspect have been committing violent crimes. They even execute them and leave them by the side of the road. Pretty shocking to hear that and our driver even pointed out a place where the squad had executed a burglar the night before. Having said all that, the Kenyan people I met were all extremely nice people and down to earth. Extremely friendly and pretty laid back too. It was very refreshing, especially since it was my first time in Africa.

That first day we went to a couple of the malls close to our apartments. They had very modern stores and apparently they were where many of the wealthy Nairobi citizens (and tourists) end up shopping. We also went out to a bar that night in the nice Westgate area of Nairobi, where I got to sample Kenya's famous Tusker Lager. It was delicious by the way. Our next day we trekked out to the Maasai Ostrich Farm, where we were told we could ride ostriches. Unfortunately it took us far too long to make it to the resort, which was an hour outside Nairobi, so the riding was actually closed. We did manage to take a tour of the grounds and even try ostrich meat, which tasted remarkably delicious despite the utter stupidity of the ostrich. We came back and rested up, since the next day we started our safari!

my room at the apartment

Delicious

Dan, Amy, myself, Isra, Mahi, and Sakina at Black Diamond

The best beer in Kenya

Saw a couple of these around town

Flat tire on the way to the Ostrich Farm

These things are idiotic, but the males always are more colorful

Looks prehistoric

Good thing Ostrich was on the menu

Not too bad

The Safari

Day 1 of the safari brought us from Nairobi to the outskirts of Maasai Mara National Park, which took us about 6 or 7 hours to drive to. We traveled with our driver William and our coordinator, Irene, who was as friendly of a woman as we could've asked for. Our trek out there gave us a 'free African massage,' which was William's way of telling us it was the bumpiest road we'll ever ride. It didn't disappoint, and we got to our camp in the late afternoon. We were the only guests in camp, but we had William, Irene, the cooks, and our Maasai guide, Ngaruiya. The Maasai are a tribe that originated in Sudan, but slowly migrated to Kenya and Tanzania. They are the prototypical African warriors; tall, thin, always holding a tall stick in their hands, and always draped in red garb.

Amy got the honor of sharing a tent with me, which ended up working out well considering Mahi and Isra had a tragic ant invasion in their tent. We went on a nature walk up the hills behind our camp and Ngaruiya showed us how the Maasai used a variety of the plants in the region. They had plants used to clean teeth, wipe sweat, and make you smell nice too! The hour-long hike gave us an extremely brief idea of what Kilimanjaro would be like, so I made sure I kept in mind how I felt. We came back, had a decent dinner composed of some Kenyan and some Western food, and then hung around the campfire until late having some grown-up conversations.

Our transport out to the park

On the edge of the Great Rift Valley

Timon and Pumbaa weren't lying! It mean's 'no worries!'

The girls before Isra got attacked by ants

Our nature walk

Got kind of tiring, but also had some nice views

Pocahontas and some cool clouds

Finally got flat

Cradle of Mankind

Day 2 on safari had us up and into Maasai Mara National Park for some serious nature. We pretty much saw every animal in Lion King throughout the 9-hour day: lions, zebras, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes, antelope, hippos, crocodiles, ostriches, rhinos, buffaloes, baboons, warthogs, meerkats, and even cheetahs! Unfortunately we missed the morning hunt, but we saw plenty of fresh wildebeest carcasses. If you've ever been to the safari in Animal Kingdom in Disney World, it was like that except 1000 times larger. The park was just enormous, and it was tremendously beautiful. We were in the Great Rift Valley, where man first walked hundreds of thousands of years ago and where the Homo Erectus first existed. There were rolling hills and escarpments and water-holes. It was really quite a special day. Naturally we went back to the camp, enjoyed another good dinner and had plenty more campfire chatter, with Irene contributing plenty of laughs as well.

Cows in the road? Standard

Antelope!

There were literally thousands of zebras

Wildebeest. Gross

Butting heads

Elephant herd

This guy had assumed attack position for us

Very rare to see in the wild - the cheetah!

Fresh kill

Fam is relaxing while mom is keeping guard

Lazy

Momma

Fresh

Checking out some more resting lions

Tastes like chicken (probably)

Enjoying the air

Sausage tree, from which locals make beer

Right on the Kenya/Tanzania border

Guy didn't move an inch for an hour

Hippos

After blatantly violating park rules and feeding the monkeys

Darwin?

Mahi's great eye caught this little guy

I guess we disturbed them

Buffalo

See if you can guess what this is

Day 3 was our final day in the park and we got to travel to one of the villages of the Maasai. This particular Maasai tribe had been at that location for about 100 years and it was easy to tell that not much had changes in that time. We were greeted outside the village by some of the Maasai men and we exchanged some pleasantries with Emanuel, who was the best English-speaker of the bunch. The men greeted us with a lively dance that encircled us and then performed the Maasai 'courting' ritual. This involved all the men chanting and each guy standing in front of the women and jumping as high as they can off both feet. Naturally I was corralled into performing and I held my own. We then went inside Emanuel's home, which was built by women using cow dung and wood. He also offered us some of their special Maasai-brewed beer, which wasn't the tastiest thing I'd ever had, but I appreciated the gesture nonetheless. Then I had my chance at making fire, which involved whittling one piece of wood into a softer piece of wood. Apparently it's also a Maasai tradition to brand yourself with the longer piece after you've heated it up to the point of fire. I was completely ready to partake in such a custom, but Mahi screamed as soon as it became apparent that I was ready and the warriors backed off. Bummer. I bought the pieces of wood though, and we all continued to buy homemade souvenirs. I even let Emanuel convince me to exchange my watch, which he had been asking me about the entire time. Then the women of the village grabbed Amy, Mahi, and Isra for a goodbye dance and song. It was a really cool experience and we even found out that that particular tribe had been 'Christianized,' which is how they learned English. We said our goodbyes, exchanged some information, and headed back to Nairobi.

Emanuel teaching us about Maasai life

He has a young daughter too

Inside a Maasai home

Getting buzzed off the sausage-tree booze

Firestarter

The women of the village

Us and the Maasai

Upon our arrival, our 5th member of our group, Brian, awoke from sleeping, where had been since morning that day. I also cracked open my email for the first time since before our safari and was hit with what felt like a freight train. My little brother informed me that my grandmother had passed away, surrounded by as many of her family members as could make it. That was absolutely tragic for me. I broke down for a very long time and was truly deeply saddened by the loss. I had been extremely close to my grandmother and she had always been so excited for me and my travels. We only lived a block away from her, so I had the luxury of seeing her more than most of her other grandchildren. She was very proud of me as well as the rest of her 20 grandkids. It was seriously the most raw sadness I think I've experienced in my entire life and the fact that I wasn't there for any of it troubled me to the core. Luckily she had lived a fantastic life of more than 84 years, raised 6 very successful children, 20 grandchildren who will no doubt be successful, and even learned that great-grandchildren were on the way. She too loved traveling and certainly instilled some of that spirit in each of us grandkids. I'll probably miss her more than either of my grandfathers, who had passed before I really got to know them. Mahi will tell you I was pretty inconsolable for a while that day, but I'll always have fond memories of her, and so will all who met her.

On a better note, the next day we left for the country of Tanzania, the town of Moshi, and Mount Kilimanjaro! We had an unnecessary long wait at the Tanzanian border and they conned us into paying 100 bucks instead of 50 bucks each. I later discovered they had forced us to pay for multiple-entry visas when I had only requested single-entry. Just keep that in mind if you ever go to Tanzania! We passed by some larger mountains that we had incorrectly assumed to be Kilimanjaro, but after leaving Arusha, I finally caught a glimpse of it out of the bus window. It was huge. 19,341 feet above sea level. A mile-wide crater at the top. A few remaining glaciers. I literally had my head out the window for the last hour of our trip, while listening to the Lion King soundtrack of course. We got into the city of Moshi, which lies at the base of Kilimanjaro and were quickly greeted by dozens of locals eager to sell us some of their numerous Kili souvenirs. The Mauly Tours company greeted us and took us to their office for our equipment rental and a discussion about our route. We also grabbed some dinner with our guide Stephen and our assistant guide Anwar. They had both been up Kili before using our route, the Umbwe Route or commonly called the "Whiskey Route," due to its difficulty. There are also the 'Coca-Cola route' and the 'Safari Lager route', both of which are apparently quite simple. We grabbed some wine at our hotel before going to bed and getting some sleep.

The Climb

Day 1 of our climb started with us driving to the Mauly office to finalize payment and grab our gear. We drove up the mountain a little to the Machame Gate to get our climbing permits and to drop off one guy doing that route solo. We then took a far less used road to get to the Umbwe Gate, where our porters were preparing our gear. We snapped a few pics and signed into the park ledger (we were only the 2nd group starting Umbwe that day, while Machame had dozens). We then started our trek through a tropical rain forest at about 5900 ft. We hiked for probably 2 hours before stopping for our lunch, which included a hardboiled egg, tiny banana, cheese sandwich, fruit juice, and a couple other things I don't remember. Hiking wasn't too tough, but our guides had to remind us to go 'polle polle' which means 'slowly slowly' a couple times because we were going too fast. Pacing oneself is critical when you get to higher altitudes, because lack of acclimatization can cause serious sicknesses on the mountain. We got to our first camp by 5 at night and we had reached a height of about 9500 ft. We had all stayed pretty warm during day 1 just wearing shorts and t-shirts. The tropical rain forest is the 2nd of Kili's 5 climate zones and we were at the transition between zones 2 and 3 that first night in camp. I shared a tent with Amy again and managed to finally pee (I literally had to pee ZERO times during the hiking itself during the entire climb and I have no idea why because everybody else was peeing every 30 minutes). We had a dinner that became pretty common on the mountain, a brothy soup, either pasta or vegetable stew, hot tea, and some bread.

Our room in Moshi

Gearing up for the climb at the Umbwe Gate

The Whiskey Route, with our guide Stephen

Through the tropical zone

Anwar!

I made a lot of fashion statements on the mountain

Crows, the banes of my existence

Luckily she was waiting outside our tent

Our meal tent

Day 2 began with a large black crow walking right up to our tent and stealing our soap. Every day the porters would bring a small bucket of hot water with a bar of soap for washing your hands or feet or face or whatever. But that damn bird snagged it before either Amy or I could use it. I also discovered that morning that I had left my brand new gloves and glove liners back at our hotel in Moshi. Add that to the fact that I didn't sleep very well because I didn't layer well enough and was freezing, and I was quite pissed off. We feasted on some Kenyan pancakes and hot tea and started off trekking. Our porters packed up our gear and  passed us along the trek (as they did every day). The vegetation was starting to change at that altitude, as the intense green was subsiding and there was more moss on the ground and trees without as much lush voluminous branches were beginning to dominate. We also grabbed a fantastic view of the peak that day, which none of the others had seen up to that point (I caught a good glimpse from the bus). Our lunch was essentially identical to the day before, except I ate Amy's egg this time. We hiked up to the Barranco Camp, which rested at about 12,800 feet. This camp was more popular, as climbers from Machame and Lemosho converged here. It was quite gorgeous as you'll see in pics below. We also learned that our guides had the card game UNO and we started playing with them. Apparently guides learn at their school to leave the guests alone and not interact too much with them, but we were way too social for that to fly, so we made sure to get them involved as much as we could.

Mossy vegetation now

Finally got a good look at the mountain

Group shot

Ditched our trekking poles for some scrambling

These trees were everywhere

Clouds crept up the mountain

We did manage to get between the clouds somehow

Almost to Barranco Camp!

Barranco

Clouds were quite chilly

Day 3 was meant purely for acclimatization, and probably for scenery as well. We headed west to a small peak called the Lava Tower, which was right around 15,000 ft. It was way windier and colder at that altitude, even though we got there at about noon. We were lucky enough to get some marvelous views of Mount Meru, a peak not too far from Kili that is 14,980 ft tall.  We descended back to Barranco shortly thereafter. I now think it certainly would have been possible to skip this day entirely, although some members of our group were convinced they wouldn't have made it to the summit without it. I'm not yet convinced, but I also had been taking altitude sickness pills that allowed me to handle the thinner air better, so I really didn't feel the effects of the high altitude. Day 3 also marked the day of the memorial service for my grandmother back in the US. I was able to shoot off an email from the mountain (decent blackberry signal up there!) to let everybody know I was thinking about them and from what they told me, it was a beautiful service; one that certainly would've made her happy.

Amy in the morning with the Great Barranco Wall to the right

Pee break

I told you it got colder!

The Lava Tower

Mount Meru

Cool

UNO time!

Day 4 was a fun day. At the eastern edge of the Barranco Camp lay the Great Barranco Wall. This is where we got to ditch the trekking poles (highly recommend using these during the normal hiking) and do some 'scrambling,' which isn't as intense as actual rock-climbing, but involved getting over large and steep rocks and doing so back and forth up a significant vertical distance. It was a nice change of pace and we kept ourselves sane by playing games with ourselves. Our most effective game was simply picking a letter of the alphabet and thinking of famous people (dead or alive) whose first name begins with that letter. That game kept us busy for the final 5 days of the climb. I think we made it to 'R.' Anyway, after the Barranco Wall, we had some up and down hiking until we got to our next camp at Karangu, which was about 12,900 feet. We feasted on our usual soupy and saucy dinner, had some fantastic and competitive UNO and hit the hay. By that point I had finally figured out a sleeping outfit that was suitable: 2 pairs of pants (1 hiking and 1 sweatpant), 2 pairs of socks, shirt, sweatshirt, winter hat, using the inside of my winter coat as a pillow and the obvious sleeping bag. The only thing that woke me up in the middle of the night was some unfortunate stomach issues. That's when I learned the delicate art of squatting and aiming for a hole in the wooden floor about the size of a DVD cover to do your business into. Tough to do using only your headlamp, but I had packed plenty of travel toilet paper to make any accidents less awkward.

Sunrise at Barranco

After scaling the wall

Anwar and the men

Karanga Camp

In front of the summit at Karanga

View from Karanga Camp

Sunset at Karanga

Day 5 took us up to Barafu Camp. We had been up above the clouds since Day 2 and now there was essentially no vegetation. We left in the morning at 8 or 9 o clock and got to Barafu at lunchtime. Barafu was nestled at about 15,100 ft. It is the highest camp for 3 of the routes. We were instructed to nap for a few hours before dinner and then to nap again. We awoke at about 11:30pm and grabbed some hot tea and biscuits. This was to be our final ascent to the summit.

Porters carry soooo much stuff

Meru

Barafu Camp at sunset

Perty

Way above the clouds

Day 6 started at midnight and we began climbing at about that time. We were lucky enough to have a full moon to assist us in seeing our route, but for the most part we used our headlamps. The stars were quite spectacular at that height and with such little light pollution too. But our climb to the top was a lot of back and forth trekking. A couple of the groups ahead of us were far slower than we were, so Stephen took us on some slightly more unsafe routes in order to pass them, but as they were more physically challenging, they heated my body up quite nicely. I lost feeling in my fingers very early on, since I was just borrowing gloves from a porter and liners from Brian. The first time we stopped I tried to drink out of my camelbak and noticed it was frozen. Proper procedure is to blow back any water that is in the straw connecting the storage tank to the mouthpiece, but I guess I didn't do a good enough job and moisture built up and froze right by the mouthpiece. Luckily I had another water bottle that hadn't frozen at that point, and it was filled with water that I had added electrolyte packets too, so it gave me a little more energy. I also tried eating a powerbar because I was getting hungry but that too had frozen. I rearranged the remaining powerbars and put them inside a pocket closer to my body to keep them warmer and edible. Then we continued for another 90 minutes probably. All the porters up the mountain were singing and trying to keep loose and keep us relaxed too. We maintained a very healthy pace, passing a lot of people on the way up. We were certainly among the youngest trekkers on the mountain and we were all in pretty good physical shape too. At this point I think we switched our climbing order from our usual Amy-me-Mahi-Brian to me-Mahi-Brian-Amy because the altitude effects were starting to hit some of our group. Headaches were getting more intense, far more shortness of breath, and light-headedness. The hiking itself at this point was tough because it was fairly steep, far more cold and windy than it had been at any point in the hike, and the ground was softer, meaning every step you took you sunk in about an inch or 2, so it was more difficult to grip with your poles and your feet. I compared it to walking on the moon. Everything is dark and gray and soft and the only thing you can really see is the person's feet in front of you.

At our next break, it was probably about 3:30am. I say probably because I didn't have a watch and Stephen didn't want to tell us our progress. On top of Stephen and Anwar, we had another porter, Hussein, who had been assigned the role of 'summit porter' and he happened to bring some hot tea for everyone. I shunned the tea for the purpose of drinking, but did manage to use it to unfreeze my camelbak, which made the next part of the trek far more tolerable, as I was able to get far more fluids in my system. I also woofed down a PowerBar, which was essential considering how little we had eaten after we woke up around 11:30. Another side-effect of high altitudes is a loss of appetite. I ended up losing about 10-12 pounds in Africa and I'm sure the majority came from Kili. Dinners often weren't finished, but on summit day, the more you hiked the hungrier you got, so I'm glad I packed those PowerBars or I'm not sure I would've made it. At this point in the hike, I think everyone was getting pretty tired. No one was talking and the porters weren't singing as much. I remember trying simple derivatives in my head, just to keep my mind working (yes, I'm THAT nerdy). At this point we were also above much of the snow levels and we could see the outlines of a glacier to our west. We had seen it for most of the last 3 days but it was pretty haunting with just the moonlight shining on it and knowing we were getting to that height. But for the most part the only thing going through your mind at that height is 'left, right, left, right...' The next thing we know Stephen congratulates us for getting to Stella Point at 18,800 feet. We were now at the rim of the summit, with only a short distance to go to reach Uhuru Peak.

Headlamps guided the way

At the rim of the crater, very close to the summit

At this point, our group was feeling pretty crappy. Very light-headed and headaches were getting more intense. Nausea was starting to settle in a little bit. We took a slight break to get our bearings and it was still very dark out. There weren't very many people at Stella or ahead of us, because I think we had passed most of the other groups on the mountain. But despite the difficulties, we pressed on and pushed ourselves the final hour to get up to the summit. The glacier to the west was getting far closer to us and much more defined. I'd never seen a glacier that close and it was a very cool experience. We trekked very slowly up the final 30 minutes, but we could see a couple groups coming back down, reassuring us that 'you've only got 15 more minutes' and 'you've only got 10 more minutes.' By the time we got to the summit, we were all pretty tired, but I think my adrenaline lifted me because I was really excited to be at the top. Two of our climbers were feeling really crappy and didn't really have any interest in hanging around at the summit. The combination of coldness, windiness, hungriness, and general fatigue definitely took its toll. We took our obligatory pictures in front of the wooden sign that indicates 'You are now at Uhuru Peak.' We had actually beaten the sunrise, so I really wanted to stay at the top for an extended period of time, but everyone else seemed pretty intent on going down. Hussein hung out with me for another 5 minutes while I snapped a quick video and tried to get some pictures of the onset of the sunrise that I had waited so many months to see. But after trying to soak it in, me and Hussein headed down to catch up to the group. Someone had also mistakenly grabbed my trekking poles, so I in turn grabbed ones that looked like someone's from our group. Luckily I found that Brian had made a simple error and grabbed mine and I had, in turn, grabbed his, so no harm no foul.

We made it! The Roof of Africa!

Sunrise from the summit

The crater at the top of the mountain

Enjoy the glaciers while you can

We got back to Stella Point and rested for a little while, took a pee or 2, snapped some pics of our group, and then some pics of the sunrise that was now showing us its full array of colors. The next hour was an extremely fun descent, because we were almost skiing down the mountain. The trail was so grainy that it was easier and more efficient to just keep your trekking poles way in front of you and just kind of slide and hop back and forth down the slope. It's apparently called 'scree sliding.' We had to try to avoid kicking up tons of dust for those people who were just finishing their own summit ascent, but it was fun to have a change of pace once again, even if it was fairly tiring too. We got back to Barafu Camp and seriously passed out. I was out cold for probably 4 hours. We had a late lunch and a late start down to the Mweka Gate, where we would spend our final night on the mountain. Our route down the mountain was way different than our route up and we covered the same amount of vertical distance in 24 hours as we did in the previous 5 days. It was far more 'tiered' as there were more steps made out of stone or root that had been set up by the park to assist people going for fast descent. We reached Mweka (9500 feet) by the late afternoon, had one last final dinner and of course, our friendly game of UNO with our guides. We all took some time to gaze at the stars for one final time.

Sunrise kept getting more pretty

Our whole group at Stella Point

Mawenzi Peak

Finally got some more vegetation on our way down

Stephen taking a much-needed break

I had a great night sleep and the next morning (Day 7) we were greeted by a final goodbye song from all of our porters and guides. It was very energetic and it was nice to finally see exactly who was carrying all of our stuff. I had only recognized maybe 5 or 6 out of the 13 people that came on the mountain with us up to that point. Plus porters are generally a little crazy. Their jobs are tremendously unsafe, as they often carry huge amounts of equipment up the mountain and move at a speed greater than we, the climbers, and always with inferior gear of their own. A handful die every year and apparently they lost one the week before we climbed. They are the most essential people in making the climb possible and their working conditions are pretty shitty. If you would like to help them out, please visit the KiliPorters or if you have equipment you would like to donate, Amy is trying to organize a drive to send equipment back to our guide Stephen, who will then make sure the porters get it and not the touring companies, who would probably use it as rental equipment for climbers. Just send me a message and I can give you Amy's contact info and information about her drive.

Having said that, we finished our trek through the rain forest again, although this time in actual rain. We got pretty lucky that we didn't have any rain during our ascent, because we were always warned that rain could strike at any time. Our last day was only about 3 hours of hiking and we finally reached the Park gate. We then walked a little more to meet up with our van, which didn't have 4-wheel drive and couldn't make it up to the gate. We got back to the office and turned in our equipment and got some money so we could tip our porters and guides appropriately. Stephen also agreed to go out to lunch with us, but after we had all had a chance to shower and recuperate. Those 7 days without a shower were probably the filthiest I've ever been. I ended up wearing the same underwear far too often, my hands had a very thick layer of grime and dirt that turned it many shades darker, my feet smelled like death, and my contacts were anything but clean. That first shower and shave at the hotel was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

After having some time to think and comprehend our climb, I realized just how proud of our group I am. They all fought through the effects of the altitude far more than I had to (the pills worked, all things considered I felt pretty decent on summit day). We all got to the highest peak in Africa and made memories that will certainly last a lifetime. Anyone in even decent physical shape can make the climb. Go slowly, try to eat, drink enough fluids, get sleep, use the right equipment and the proper clothing. That's all it takes. It would certainly help if you're younger, in better shape, and more prepared, but this was the first mountain I'd ever climbed, so if I can do it, you can too!

Anwar leading the porters in a farewell song

Luckily the rain waited until our last day to show up

Most unsafe I felt was on the last 4 hours. Steep and wet

Moshi

We grabbed our lunch with Stephen and inhaled pizza and pasta and salad like the famished folk that we were. Stephen even signed our diplomas that said we had reached the summit. The rest of the day consisted of getting to more ATM's to get more cash out (as a reference, about $500 per person covered the tips), and then trying to get our bus situation figured out. The only downside of doing the 7-day route was that it pretty much guaranteed we wouldn't make it to Zanzibar. The logistics of traveling there from Kili were too time-consuming and flying was too expensive. We made the decision to go back to Nairobi after another day in Moshi and have fun there. Definitely a disappointment, considering how unique and beautiful Zanzibar is supposed to be, but I can certainly imagine myself going there some other time. Hopefully. That night we decided to go out with Stephen and his friend, who also acted as our driver. We made sure to have some shots of whiskey in order to celebrate our conquest of the 'Whiskey Route,' and we even found a couple bars that climbers went to and danced the night away, and even met some nice locals too.

Our next day in Moshi we asked Stephen to show us around a bit. He took us to some of the huge markets that most people don't get to see (we were definitely the only white people there). He also took us to a couple of his trusted souvenir shops where we bought plenty of items. We also were hounded by a group of a half dozen guys trying to sell us their souvenirs too. We even saw guys making flip-flops out of car tires. Props to Brian for actually purchasing some. That night I took it easy while everyone else made one final hurrah with Stephen out on the town. I was just too damn tired, but apparently there was a huge group of British people who had just finished the climb and were a bunch of fun.

Our next day we were on the bus by 6:15 am and got back to Nairobi by about 1:45 in the afternoon. There were very few issues at the border, as our Kenyan single-entry visas had actually worked as multiple-entry visas. Apparently this is quite normal too.

Our first post-Kili meal

Whiskey!

Checking out the rubber tire flip flops

Some of the persistent salesmen of Moshi

Back in Nairobi

We met up with Isra in Nairobi as she had unfortunately not been able to go on the climb with us. We grabbed a nice dinner at AboutThyme, a nicer restaurant in Nairobi. One of the things that surprised me about Nairobi was the placement of restaurants. You would literally be driving and on one side of the street it would be; nice house, nice house, gated house, nice house, restaurant, nice house, gated house. And that was for a lot of the restaurants. Very strange. But we finally enjoyed some nice food and spirits and even managed to avoid the subjects of poop and sex for the first time in about 9 days. Very refreshing.

The next day was our second to last in Kenya, so we all wanted to try to go out with a bang. What better way to do that than a casual bungee jump? We drove a couple hours outside of Nairobi to go to what we thought was a bridge over a river for our jump. However, there was definitely not a bridge. It was far more of a crane-looking structure over a small stream. It was allegedly 200 feet up, but I'm not sure I buy that either. Anyway, the sketchiness factor was very high for this jump and since I was the most experienced jumper of the group, I had to go first. We had to climb up the crane ourselves to the basket at the top. The climb was easily the most difficult part because it seemed like it would never frickin' end. but after getting to the top, my heart finally slowed down, as did my breathing. I got hooked up and given a few instructions as Brian got up to the basket too. I decided to go for a backwards jump, which was really more of a backwards fall. Either way, it was a pretty cool jump, but not nearly as intense as the 450-ft jump I did in Switzerland. Luckily, my successful jump convinced the girls all to go. Brian did an absolutely silent plunge but did very well. Isra was about as loud as I was however, and then Amy and Mahi did a very awkward tandem jump to finish our jumps. It was Brian's, Amy's, and Isra's first bungees, and I was very impressed. Advanced warning, I still can't figure out how to straighten some of these pictures.

Isra enjoying the drive to the bungee

Our sketchy crane from which we would jump

The women gearing up

Climbing up it was easily was the worst part

Never ends

Isra's jump

Amy climbing it well (again, sorry for the sideways pictures!)

We headed back to Nairobi after the adrenaline had worn off and almost everyone passed out. I decided to go grab some Ethiopian food with Dan for my last dinner in Africa. I'd never had Ethiopian before, so it was quite a little experience. They brought out a large circular tray, probably the size of an extra-large pizza, and on it was like 7 different little food item areas. They had a lettuce clump, an egg clump, a beef clump, a spinach clump, and all of them were on top of a thin layer of sourdough-ish bread that covered the whole tray. It was surprisingly good and extremely filling. We did have to run there, as we went through some slightly sketchy areas, and 2 white guys walking alone in the dark in Nairobi just in general isn't a good idea.

Our final day in Africa, we started out early to get to the ostrich ranch and finally actually ride them! We lucked out and avoided any serious traffic, so what was at one point a 2.5 hour trip, was now done in a little over an hour. We arrived at the ranch and quickly learned that the weight limit was 60kg. Well shit, that eliminates Brian and I, as were weighed the previous day for bungee. The girls were propped up onto the ostrich and led around a small yard in the back of the resort a couple times. It looked extremely uncomfortable, but still fun. They also led Brian hop on the back and led him around once, but it was clear that the weight was extremely difficult for the ostrich, so I didn't even ask to go. We then headed back closer to Nairobi to an urban park where we got to feed giraffes. They were quite tall in person. A 2-week old giraffe is still about 6 feet tall. They also had extremely slimy tongues, as I kind of expected. Our final meal was a great meal at Java Hut, a place at one of the nicer malls in Nairobi. We even met back up with Irene, our coordinator on the safari! We also shared some time with the Sudanese family that Isra had been staying with. It was a great way to say goodbye to everyone at the same time. We finished packing up and all headed to the airport in the evening. Along the way there was actually pretty bad traffic and we got one final remind of what kind of country we were in. As we were stopped, there were a lot of walking vendors selling everything from Kenyan flags to machetes to toilet paper to Kenyan passports. Yes, Kenyan passports. I was half tempted to snag one. We then all headed home after saying our goodbyes to each other. I was also lucky enough to have some good plane conversation with a woman who'd been working in Burundi for the United Nations trying to get their government on board with some sustainable alternatives for a lot of careers out there. It was pretty cool to hear about.

The chauffeur for the morning

Getting the saddle on

Very natural

Ditto

Feeding time!

Me and Jock

At the Junction in Nairobi

Ass?

Back in Michigan

Once I got back to the mitten, there was plenty of change happening all around. I came home to a house that had nearly been vacated, as about 90% of our possessions had been moved out west already. I spent my first night back home sleeping in my sweats on the floor of our family room. Not exactly the return I'd expected. I helped move out the rest of our stuff to grandma's house, where we'd camp out until the big move. Lucky (or unlucky) for me, my visa would take a few days to get in order, so I was able to see some old friends, grab meals from all over town, and even make it up to the U.P. to see my cousin get married!

I've had my fun and am now ready to get back to work and 'break out' as an engineer. My return to Saudi will be extra-interesting because the holy month of Ramadan has just begun. It is supposed to be a month of cleansing and the means by which that is achieved is intense fasting. No drinking (including water), eating, or sex from sunrise to sunset. Smoking, eating, or drinking in public during those hours are strictly prohibited. That is also enforced, as one of my Nigerian co-workers told me a tale how he was stopped by police for eating a candy bar by the side of the road during Ramadan. Eek! It also is tremendously hot out there (heat index over 100 even in the middle of the night), so I haven't yet determined how I'm going to handle it. I'm sure I'll adapt, but it'll certainly be a new challenge.  I apologize for the novel I just wrote, but I wanted to make sure I covered everything before I head back to the Middle East. It'll certainly be intriguing to see how the political situation is viewed, since Syria has continued their bloody crackdown on protesters. I'm sure I'll have a lot of new responsibilities and our management is changing as well, so I'll have to get used to a lot of new people telling me what to do. It should be fun, it should be interesting, and I'll make sure I keep you all in the loop!