Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania - Noah Makes it to the Top of Africa

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show

The picture to the left is a photo of Noah at the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro. Noah is sitting at 5,895 meters (19,335 feet) above sea level. The reason why Jennifer and I are not in the picture is that we didn’t make it all the way to the top. We both battled upper respiratory infections while climbing and our bodies eventually gave out. 7 hours prior to the final summit sitting in the Kibo hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet), I was sent back down to a lower elevation due to a headache and a fever. Jennifer made a valiant effort to make the final summit with Noah, but was sent down at 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). Noah rallied on with our lead guide, Richard. Jennifer, Noah, and their guides were the last to leave the Kibo Hut for the final ascent, but Noah and Richard were the first to reach the summit and the first to return to the Kibo Hut.
Noah is a hiking, climbing warrior! He is one of the younger people ever to reach the Mount Kilimanjaro summit. After starting the final ascent at midnight and reaching the summit, Noah and Richard came back down to the Kibo hut to retrieve Jennifer. Normally, the next step is to hike down to the next hut and stay overnight. Our guide decided it was best for us to go all the way down the mountain, so Noah spent the rest of the day hiking all the way down, arriving at 6:00 pm. Midnight to 6:00 pm is 18 hours, the total number of hours that Noah hiked that day.
Hiking up Kilimanjaro was a 4 days up and a 1 day down adventure. Looking back, Jennifer and I underestimated the toll this hike would take on us while we were sick. It would have been nice to try to reach the summit while healthy. The following is a summary of each day that we spent hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro.
Day 1: After going through the park gates at 1,700 meters (5,576 feet), the first day was spent hiking through rain forest. We all felt strong at first and enjoyed the lush vegetation. We were able to get to know our guides Richard and Aaron who were brothers. Having a guide named Aaron felt right since we were often thinking of our son, Aaron who was not with us on this trip. Hiking up Kilimanjaro is a group effort. Helping the three of us on this trip were 2 guides, 1 cook, and 7 porters. The porters carry all the gear up the mountain on their heads at a very quick pace.
Richard and Aaron are from the Chagga tribe. They shared many stories of Tanzania, including the dowry for a wife. The groom's family gives the brides family a goat, a cow, a blanket and an amount of money to be determined. The only mishap of the day came when Jennifer used the hole-in-the-ground "bathroom" that had a slippery floor. She slipped and fell - not good. After hiking for 4-1/2 hours, we reached the Mandara Hut at 2,700 meters (8,856 feet), where we spent the night.
Day 2: We started the day with a short hike to Maundi Crater, where we were able to see the snow capped Kilimanjaro peak. I am not sure that this view was a good thing since it looked like it was a thousand miles away.  Noah was healthy, Jennifer was starting to feel better, and I was coming down with the infection that Noah and Jennifer had been dealing with. We worked our way out of the rain forest and spent most of the day walking through smaller trees and plants as we continued to reach higher elevations. As the day went on, we all were focused on climbing and less and less words were spoken.
A killer, steep hike right before sitting down for lunch took a lot out of Jennifer and I, while Noah and his lanky 13 year old body was relatively unfazed. We hiked for 6-1/2 hours and arrived at the Horombo Hut exhausted. The Horombo Hut is at 3,700 meters (12,136 feet). Noah was good enough to get some math homework done in the hut. My fever shot up and I wasn't able to eat anything at dinner. Richard told me that if I still have a fever in the morning, I will have to go back down to the Mandara Hut. I spend a sleepless night worrying about abandoning my family and the climb after only 2 days.
Day 3: The good news in the morning is that my fever had gone down and Richard agreed to let me stay. Fortunately, day 3 was an acclimation day. We only climbed up 1,000 feet and then went back down to the Horombo Hut to stay another night. We were tired and cold and had a lot of time on our hands, so we spent much of the day laying fully clothed in our sleeping bags trying to get as much rest as possible for the final 2 days. Many of the pictures from this day are of the Zebra Rock, the spot where we climbed to help acclimate. Noah spent all three meals trying to come up with the optimal combination of hot water, chocolate powder, cocoa powder, sugar, and powdered milk. We considered this a chemistry experiment and gave him some science credit.
Day 4: We left the Horombo Hut realizing that we have made it half way and every step that we take gets us closer to the summit than we are away from it. The landscape has now gone from rain forest, to smaller trees and brush, to desert. The climb is steep, dusty, and exhausting. As we got more and more tired, there were very few words spoken while hiking. Our guides did a nice job of moving us along, trying to get us as much time to rest at the next hut as possible. The food became too familiar and it was difficult to eat even though we needed to in order to keep up our strength. Steep inclines were more difficult due to the higher altitude. It was also getting colder and colder as we climbed. On the way, Richard pointed out the wing of an airplane that crashed in the area a couple weeks prior.
The final, steep hike to reach the Kibo Hut at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet) was grueling for Jennifer and I. Noah once again cruised up with little difficulty. This was the end of the line for me. Richard looked at me at dinner and said, "Jim, you can make money, but you can't buy life." In layman's terms, that meant that I was done and I had to hike back to the Horombo Hut, the same hut that I spent the day hiking from. After a tearful good-bye with Jennifer and Noah, I hiked back in the dark with Aaron. Leaving Jennifer and Noah was very difficult. A guide mentioned something about a lion in the area, which made the downhill hike in the dark a little more unnerving.
Day 5: Jennifer and Noah were woken up at midnight in order to begin their climb to Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Jennifer and Noah were both strong as they began the steep incline. Richard kept them moving at a decent pace in order to minimize their time at such high altitudes and the cold. At 5,000  meters (16,400 feet), Jennifer stumbled and blacked out momentarily. She wanted to keep going, but Richard sent her back to the Kibo Hut. As mentioned above, Richard and Noah continued on at a quick pace and made it to Uhuru Peak. I am so proud of Jennifer for making a strong attempt all the way to over 16,000 feet and for Noah to make it to the top of Africa!
There will be time in the future to analyze what we learned from our 5 days on Kilimanjaro. For now, we are off to a nice hotel in Arusha to recover for a few days. At a minimum, Noah now knows how to push himself physically and mentally to achieve a goal. That alone is a great life lesson that can be used in every facet of his life. That's all for now, a hot shower is calling!
To see our slide show of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, click on the following link ==> Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Slide Show.