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My dear lovely friends, I’VE DONE IT!!! I’ve climbed the highest mountain in Africa!!! It’s been an absolutely mind-blowing, amazing but extremely tough experience. Throughout the trip, my body has been able to adapt smoothly to the high altitude which I believe is a huge part due to my yogi breath I was doing (honestly, I’ve never done so much Ujjayi breathing in my life, lovely yogis!!) and so I was lucky enough to not suffer heavily from any of the AMS symptoms I was so dreading. A slight headache and breathlessness by only walking 15m uphill to the next loo tent was the only trouble I had.   6 long days of hiking leading up to the summit night/day took us through absolutely stunning landscapes, jungle, rainforest, wide-open land to moon like-looking areas. At points I honestly thought we had been catapulted into some Tolkien fantasy film! We all got to know each other, it was a fantastic team of 14 hikers. Fun, interesting and genuinely kind and lovely people who have really made it the probably most exciting trip I’ve ever done in my life.   And suddenly there it was: Summit night/day. Later on that night I realised that these previous days had been nothing compared to that last trek up to the top. We started off at 11:30 last Wednesday night, the sky was crystal clear, a big huge full moon was lighting up the mountain, a dream one could think. However, the temperatures kept me right there in reality, little me on the mountain – erm, what the heck was I doing here?! Fierce winds and freezing temperatures must’ve made it to -20C/-25C (more in my eyes...) and a rather scary looking cloud was slowly trying to cover up the top of Kilimanjaro, looking like there was rain in the making...   The pace as always was ridiculously slow, but we wouldn’t have been able to make it any quicker. It was incredibly busy as the camp where we were staying at, because it was the point where most routes came together. So not just our group was mad enough to attempt to climb to the top that night.   Still I did not have any headaches and also my breathing was fine, though then it started when after a few hours I started to feel my fingers and toes going really cold and my lovely Raynaud’s kicking in. Those of you who know me well have probably seen that my fingers go strangely blue at times (even on warm summer nights...) as if I had clumsily played with ink. That night they didn’t even have any colour at times and just went numb, same with my feet. Geez, I would’ve rather had have a headache! I was running on the spot, making 3steps whilst everyone else was taking one, shaking like a Polaroid picture... There was just no way I was getting any warmer <span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L One of our amazingly funny guides said, we’ll just have to chop them off if it doesn’t get better. Oh really?!? I decided to cross him off the list of my “funny” guides. At least for that night...   The last 3 or so hours before we got to the top seemed to me like a movie: I was in such pain that everything around me just seemed very far away. I turned around a few times to look at the gorgeous absolutely stunning amazing colours and views of the sun rising. Africa was covered in clouds, and we were just so far above everything. It took so much effort to keep going, stepping one foot in front of the other, let alone turning around to soak in the moment before then trying to find the energy to get going again. The trying-to-get-warm-part of that trip had taken up a whole of precious energy ...   At 07:15am then we finally finally made it to Stella Point (5756m amsl) where all the efforts and pain and freezing cold hands and feet just melted into one big bundle of a crying mess which was lil’ me *sigh*   I had actually made it!!?!!   I sat down (i.e. collapsed onto a rock...), drank a cup of tea which the guides had prepared (and carried up for us Oh I love these incredible men), looked to the left where Russell got down on one knee and proposed to the lovely Alex (as you do), and oh my goodness, that just gave me the rest... I did not join the 6 peeps that went on to the 1hr and a bit walk along the crater to the famous sign at Uhuru Peak (5895m) which you may know from pictures and what not. I also didn’t take any pictures myself that day as I was unable to hold the camera *boo*, but someone did take a picture of me at the Stella Point sign and once I remember who did, I will post it, so you really believe I was there – it seems like a blur to me and so I am also wanting proof!! To get down we hiked for another 4-6 hours (??) that day, beautiful hot sunshine, not a hint of the drama and dark freezing cold of the night before. On Saturday morning we visitied the kids at Mkombozi which is a project that the Railway Children are supporting. Mkombozi works with street-involved children and children at risk of migrating to the streets in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions of northern Tanzania. They work actively with vulnerable families, community members and the government to promote child protection and address the root causes of child migration to the streets. The visit was truly inspirational and really wrapped the whole thing up and put into focus the reason we all embarked on the trek in the first place.   The kids were so much fun and it was so good to see them so happy in that environment. They have so many amazing talents which are brought out by the project. One of the kids went to the US (!!!) last year to go ahead to win a rope-skipping championship, amazing he was!! A few of the boys were super artistic and happily walking through the room on their hands and, lol, the child inside me made me join them (must admit I used a wall and wasn’t walking around...). 4 of the kids have been able to set themselves up in business as artists and are now running a gallery where they publish and sell their works and also teach kids of the community how to paint! Have a look at their facebook site “Hard Life Artists”.   And at this point I want to send out a big huge massive Thank You to my best and gorgeous Kili-mates Lee, Gwyn and Josh who’ve encouraged and put up with silly-me so incredibly well (I love you so much!), Marcia and Emilie and Martina for being there with me in spirit, as well as to the rest of the fantastic Kili-team, all the guides and porters. I really could not have (or maybe rather would not have wanted to) done it without you!!!   It’ll take me another few days to really digest the whole trip I should think, but once the memory of the pain has subsided I would definitely (I think haha) do it again; so my dear friend Emilie (as well as Martina, Margit and Jo!!!), do let me know your plans!!   Thank you all so much again for your generous sponsorship money’s and mental support and for always being there for me. Big huge heartfelt thanks to all of you!   My justgiving website will be open for another couple of months I think, so if you feel like it, do keep giving or even better: register for an event with the Railway Children!! I’ll come and do it with you!! <a href="http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/events.asp">http://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/events.asp</a>   Love & light, Eva xxx   Tue, 18October 2011     ~~~~~~~~ My lovely friends, Thanks so so much for taking the time to visit my JustGiving fundraising page. It is just 4 days from today until I - together with a group of 11 other Railway Children supporters will climb up the breathtakingly (literally...) beautiful Mount Kilimanjaro. My friend Emilie who I've done my training with, is unfortunately unable to come which I'm really sad about. But she'll be there with me in spirit, every single step of the way :-) The training has gone well, however, there's still the altitude I'm concerned about. I was speaking to my dad yesterday and said that well over 50% of travellers develop some form of AMS (symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness). My dad said, well, then just focus on being in the 40something% that does not. Easy, right. Lol, we'll see. As we've been told, on a climb itinerary with adequate time for acclimatisation and rest, the symptoms will reduce or disappear completely for most people, so please keep your fingers crossed for us! At 5,895m, Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the largest volcanoes ever to break through the Earth's crust. Our challenge is to reach its summit. If we make it or not, that's still to be seen, though we'll give our very best, as it promises to be the experience of a life time. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. Please dig deep and donate now! Thanks a million in advance for your generosity! Warm wishes, Eva xx

Eva's Kilimanjaro adventure

Eva's Kilimanjaro adventure

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