Scaling Mount Kilimanjaro was a combined test of skill and endurance
I am sure if you have a free spirit residing somewhere deep inside, you must be carrying with you a list of to-do adventures.
For me, the list only came into being over the last few years after I relocated to Canada, where I discovered my love for camera and the heavenly scenery around me. The quest to find that next best shot or the view from the top led to hiking.
The feeling that you get when you go around an outcropping rock and the lookout opens to a vast valley leading to snow-capped mountains or clouds swirling below, or that first look at the sun as you sit at the top of your trail – that rush cannot be described, only felt.
After a while, I grew more adventurous. Denali, Machu Picchu, K2 Base Camp, Gondogoro La, and Kilimanjaro were my next targets.
Having done the K2 trail last year, the coin was flipped and the call for 2017 came from Kilimanjaro, the tallest free-standing mountain in the world and Africa’s highest point, standing at 5,895m above sea level.
Kilimanjaro is also the highest dormant volcano in Africa, consisting of three volcanic cones: Kibo, at the highest altitude, then Mawenzi at a lower altitude and Shira, the lowest cone.
In September this year, I booked myself in for the six-day Machame route to the top of Kilimanjaro. The customary reminder for such adventures is a must here as well: Know your group, guide, route, climate, your limit and, above all, plan for the trip.
Even more importantly, you will hear the wisest chant time and again during the trek: do it "pole, pole" (slowly, slowly in Swahili).