Story
We did it!!!! We summited Kilimanjaro.
Thank you ALL for making it possible and for your generous donations to Diabetes UK. We wouldn't have done it without you.
Our challenge started pretty much as soon as we landed in Nairobi - a 6 hour road trip to Arusha in a rickety bus with precious little in the way of suspension over rough African roads (African massage they call it!) By the time we arrived we were tired and covered in dirt, a theme that was to follow throughout the trip.
More challenges followed as the days wore on- a shared bucket as a toilet in camp, headaches, nausea, dirt, having to stop every 1/2 hour and find a bush as we were encouraged to drink up to 6L of water a day, more dirt, crawling out of a cosy sleeping bag in -20 + at night for yet another pee, matted hair and filthy nails (despite endless hand washing and tons of baby wipes), more dirt and of course the FINAL CHALLENGE- the 9 hour push to the summit in the dark - the hardest thing we've ever done in our lives. It's difficult to describe the feeling of being at altitude. Even without suffering too badly from headaches and nausea it was incredibly difficult to force one foot in front of the other. Our bodies felt completely devoid of energy, I can only guess it would be like climbing twice the height of Ben Nevis with a really bad bout of flu and concrete blocks on your feet! Then of course there was the 6 hour descent which was only marginally less hellish!
On the plus side?
-The heart warming generosity of our friends and relations and even people we didn't know- Thank you.
-The overwhelming sense of achievement. All our team made it which was fantastic and made celebrating all the sweeter.
-The bucket loos- funny how your perceptions change, but our private team buckets were luxury compared to the communal African long drops!
-The sense of fun and camaraderie amongst our fellow trekkers who ranged from students to a banking millionaire, ages 18 to 55. We started as a group and finished as a team
-The fantastic support from our porters and stomach engineer who kept us going over the 9 days of the challenge, ensuring we were well fed and that camp was always ready for us after our long days of trekking ever higher.
-Our guides, Jez, Passian, Robson, Viviano, Crossmand, Edwardo and Stratton who did a fantastic job throughout but particularly on summit night when they kept our spirits up by singing African chants and giving us the support we needed to make it to the top.
- A coke and a SHOWER on returning to Arusha
-The superb views and strange wildlife
and for me, the most awesome of all- sitting in our frost covered tent drinking tea and looking DOWN on the clouds.
There were loads of incidents and conversations that will stay with us forever and our memories will be jogged by the 2000 photos Sandy took. Make sure you have at least a day spare if you ask to see our pictures!!
Thank you ALL for making it possible and for your generous donations to Diabetes UK. We wouldn't have done it without you.
Our challenge started pretty much as soon as we landed in Nairobi - a 6 hour road trip to Arusha in a rickety bus with precious little in the way of suspension over rough African roads (African massage they call it!) By the time we arrived we were tired and covered in dirt, a theme that was to follow throughout the trip.
More challenges followed as the days wore on- a shared bucket as a toilet in camp, headaches, nausea, dirt, having to stop every 1/2 hour and find a bush as we were encouraged to drink up to 6L of water a day, more dirt, crawling out of a cosy sleeping bag in -20 + at night for yet another pee, matted hair and filthy nails (despite endless hand washing and tons of baby wipes), more dirt and of course the FINAL CHALLENGE- the 9 hour push to the summit in the dark - the hardest thing we've ever done in our lives. It's difficult to describe the feeling of being at altitude. Even without suffering too badly from headaches and nausea it was incredibly difficult to force one foot in front of the other. Our bodies felt completely devoid of energy, I can only guess it would be like climbing twice the height of Ben Nevis with a really bad bout of flu and concrete blocks on your feet! Then of course there was the 6 hour descent which was only marginally less hellish!
On the plus side?
-The heart warming generosity of our friends and relations and even people we didn't know- Thank you.
-The overwhelming sense of achievement. All our team made it which was fantastic and made celebrating all the sweeter.
-The bucket loos- funny how your perceptions change, but our private team buckets were luxury compared to the communal African long drops!
-The sense of fun and camaraderie amongst our fellow trekkers who ranged from students to a banking millionaire, ages 18 to 55. We started as a group and finished as a team
-The fantastic support from our porters and stomach engineer who kept us going over the 9 days of the challenge, ensuring we were well fed and that camp was always ready for us after our long days of trekking ever higher.
-Our guides, Jez, Passian, Robson, Viviano, Crossmand, Edwardo and Stratton who did a fantastic job throughout but particularly on summit night when they kept our spirits up by singing African chants and giving us the support we needed to make it to the top.
- A coke and a SHOWER on returning to Arusha
-The superb views and strange wildlife
and for me, the most awesome of all- sitting in our frost covered tent drinking tea and looking DOWN on the clouds.
There were loads of incidents and conversations that will stay with us forever and our memories will be jogged by the 2000 photos Sandy took. Make sure you have at least a day spare if you ask to see our pictures!!