So here comes the last blog entry for my Mount.Kilimanjaro challenge. The last two leisurely days climbing down the mountain to Mweka Camp to sign into the official register for the very last time. A time for us to be able to fully enjoy the scenery, chat about what's come before and take in everything on offer as we come to the end of a most magnificent adventure on such a vast majestic mountain.
I learned not only things about this amazing mountain but most definitely things about myself, I truly found myself on the Roof of Africa, a version of myself lost when I started all my invasive treatments for my breast cancer, the explorer me.....it got buried in the recess of my mind as I took on my daily fight for all those months and not surprisingly with me - forgotten. I was so at peace here on Mount.Kilimanjaro, a place that pushed me to the very limits of my physical endurance.
I cannot think about this mountain without feeling so very emotional - five years in the making to achieve my successful ascent to the summit, such an amazing motivational challenge that saw me pick myself up, dust off and start the very long and arduous task of getting fit and healthy enough to take it on.
And take it on I did!
Day seven - Millenium camp
I felt so much brighter when I awoke. Yesterday's summit day climb had been so very hard and then the evacuation to Millenium camp because Bec's and I weren't recovering enough was the straw that nearly broke the camels back as it were. It was a relief to wake up minus the horrible headache I'd had for days. We hadn't set a time to get up as we were only going to be walking for a couple of hours to the next camp. But we were awake by seven anyway. I was stiff and aching, definitely from all my falling the day before.
We got ourselves out of the tent and into the mess tent after surviving a toilet run. I managed a little breakfast and a cup of black tea with sugar. Bec's was feeling much brighter too, no headache and no nausea, she was very happy to eat food for the first time in a couple of days. We laughed through breakfast the first time we'd been fully aware of ourselves and surroundings in the last few days, for those who never suffer any high altitude symptoms you'll never realise how debilitating they are and how lucky you are!
After breakfast Chacha asked if we'd like to walk the remaining five hours down to Mweka Camp and save having another night on the mountain. We all individually said no, my reasons were I wanted to fully absorb the rest of our trip down the mountain at a leisurely pace, knowing today we'd only be walking a couple of hours ( this is because of how we'd changed our Kilimanjaro climb to cover two camps in one day and our evacuation down to Millenium camp last night ) and to be perfectly honest I didn't think I'd survive walking all that time with my poor feet - especially my big right toe. Boy it was inflamed and very sore! I'd managed to get my hikers back on but it wasn't like wearing my slippers!
So we all agreed we wanted to stay our full duration on the mountain, if we were to complete our climb a day early we wouldn't have a hotel for the night booked we told Chacha and Bec's told him about the state of my toes. Chacha came back to us saying if we completed the five hour trek off the mountain today, our hotel for the night would be paid for and an emergency vehicle at the collection point would be waiting to take me off the mountain with my foot. We all still declined and said we wanted to just stick with our original itinerary.
I said to Chacha I walked onto the mountain and I'm going to walk off it too, to which he capped his head!
So off we set on our two hour walk to the next camp, I knew because of the steepness it was going to push my toes to the limit today, I was a little weary as to how uncomfortable it was going to be. It was the same terrain as the night prior - loose, rocky, slippy scree on a steep descent for a big part of the walk. I was determined I was staying on my feet today after all the falling down yesterday and I took "pole pole" to a whole new level. This was fine as we weren't going to be walking all day.
Chacha set me off leading us down the mountain to our next camp, it was fun and relaxing, we were all laughing and chatting our way down into camp. There were some dodgy moments for me, my balance still wasn't right and I did stagger a few times which were a killer on my poor battered toes, but I did manage to stay on my feet - so that was a massive bonus! There were parts where we had to scramble down some big rocks but overall it did get easier the closer to camp we got.
We made it to camp with no drama and took to chilling out. The girls sat on the mess chairs in the sunshine and I laid out in the tent with my boots off - heaven I tell you. My big toes was very inflamed and sore, so the short walk had been a godsend. I was glad it was only three hours tomorrow. I love my hikers they are rally comfy but I was looking forward to taking them off for the rest of the holiday until it was time to fly home.
We were watching people making it into camp most of them on their last legs , kudos to them they had made it all the way down here from the summit - now that's a long days climb and walk. In between people watching the girls were reading and I was writing in my travel journal, I had a lot of days to catch up on, I'd not written anything but bullet points since been hit with the altitude sickness. We were all very happy chilling out around camp.
We went for an afternoon snack of a cuppa and popcorn - yep you read that correctly popcorn!! We taught Chacha to dunk biscuits in his tea ( so much fun! ) and he taught us to play Last card. Ali did really well with the game. Everyone in our crew were chilled out relaxing sat around enjoying the afternoon sun. A great day it was.
Tradition is for the climbers to do a ceremony on last night on the mountain where you give a thank you speech to all the crew and hand over the tips for the trip for all the boys. Our gang said I was to do the thanking ceremony - lucky me ha!
We asked Chacha to get everyone together and I said our speech, Chacha was translating into Swahili for those who didn't fully understand English. I thanked them from all of us on their hard work and great efforts carrying all the equipment, tents, food and of course our main packs up and down the mountain. I thanked them for their enthusiasm each and everyday, for singing songs each and every morning with such gusto, for laughing along with us at our early attempts to join in and our dancing skills. I said we couldn't have made a successful ascent to the summit without each and every single one of them and we had no doubt we had been with the best climbing crew on Mount Kilimanjaro. And lastly a big thank you for all the encouragement, fist bumping, cheering and hugs we all received from them all at the end of every day.
I then presented Chacha with the money for each and every crew member, we gave the recommended daily allowance for all, they didn't know what we had given Chacha but they were all smiling and thanking us. As they were about to go I asked Chacha to call them back. I told Chacha we three girls were so very impressed with our crew and all the fun and smiles they had given us we wanted to give extra tips which we wanted to be split equally between them all. Chacha said thank you and pocketed the money to sort out later. The crew went off about their business and we were getting ready to go to the mess tent for out tea. We were really giddy as we had asked Job our chef for chips and homemade bread ( bit like chapatis )...we were hankering for a chip butty!!
The extra tips we girls had decided to give was what we originally would have paid for just the three of us doing the climb. Then Mussa had emailed asking if Dom from Italy could join us on the climb to which we said yes no problem, so with him joining it lowered our total we would give in tips to the crew. But like I said we stuck to our original budget which gave the boys extra spending money. We were really happy to do it.
After our meal where we showed Chacha to make chip butties he told us thank you for the tips and we girls for the extra - he said the guys were over the moon and it would benefit all their families with the extra. We were so happy they we happy with what we had given.
Day eight
So our final day on the mountain! - what a bittersweet day.....we would finally make it to Mweka Camp and so officially completed our epic climb and would get our certificate which was amazing but it also meant we'd be leaving the mountain and this part of the adventure would be over. I knew all along I was going to find leaving it behind hard but it was going to be.
So we set off on our final climb down the mountain, it was a three hour climb. My right big toe was very,very sore and was causing me some right grief. Only three hours but I figured it was going to feel much longer, I had managed to get my hiker on but it definitely not comfortable.
After breakfast we gathered with our boys for a song. They we full of it and sang loads! - it was amazing, vibrant and full of life. Other companies were singing a song or two, but not our boys. We were partying! Bec's recorded around ten minutes of it. They were using empty plastic containers as drums...we were singing our Jambo song together, we danced and laughed it was truly electric. Other climbers stood around watching us and our boys - I think wishing they'd been with the best on the mountain with us!!
If I ever have the funds to climb Mt.Kilimanjaro again I would use no other company than Chacha's climbing company which is Chacha Tours Africa and Mussa's company Wild Secret Sarafis for safaris and anything else I wanted to do in Tanzania. I wouldn't use anybody else and I recommend to each and everyone of you.
We said goodbye to our crew with enthusiastic hugs and fist bumps and set off on our last walk. Chacha once again invited me to take the lead and again we were talking major slow pole pole! The pace was very slow but I wasn't falling and I was making it down under my own steam. A way into the walk Ali and Dom went off a it faster, Chacha had Pete go with them, I said to Bec's to go with them....she was no I'm happy to stroll down with you through the forest.
Bec's, Chacha and I strolled down laughing and chatting and telling each other stories. We had such a blast, the time passed on so quickly, the American Doctor who'd been telling them to get me down lower on summit day recognised me and stopped in front of me ( I didn't recognise her ), she said it was great to see me and she was checking me over and said I looked much better than when she'd seen me last, she then carried on down the mountain.
We were getting close to the end of our last walk - a couple of the lads came to meet us and I knew it wasn't far to go now, my toe was absolutely killing me, I had stubbed it a couple of times on little tree roots and stumps that were sticking up on route. I have to tell you I felt so nauseous! I did manage not to be sick but had both Chacha and Bec's cringing for me when I caught it.
We had laughed, sang all they way down, what a brilliant last walk on the mountain....we literally strolled our way into camp.
We finally made it - Mount Kilimanjaro climb completed! Our whole team had reached the summit and that was down to Chacha and the boys and of course our own personal determination - you cannot do this epic mountain as an individual, it's teamwork or bust for sure!
I had stood on the Roof of Africa!!
I handed my walking poles to Chacha and said can you give them to someone in the crew who wants some? He passed them to the lad carrying my backpack who happily took them, job done! As we slowly made our way to where Dom & Ali were waiting for us, over to the left were all our crew who were shouting and waving to us. We happily waved back to them, it was a brilliant feeling knowing they were so happy to see us finish our climb. Mussa and Alphonce came over to greet us and congratulate us, I said we are stinky and sweaty, they just laughed and gave us a hug. The smile on my face was permanent and a mile wide, we made it under the shelter and Ali said Mussa had bought us soda, which do you want. I looked and said a Fanta please, boy those bubbles were amazing after all the water we'd had with the water purification tablets in it! I sat down and said I've got to check my toe, it's killing and I kept banging it. I loosened my boot and slowly took it off, I pulled my sock off to check it....man! it was a real mess! it was very swollen, inflamed and I could tell the nail was nearly off now! it had the biggest blood blister at the base of the nail, I touched the top of the nail and it rocked....the only thing holding it on was the skin at the side of it. It wasn't good at all and looked infected. As soon as we hit town I needed at least a trip to a chemist. I managed to get my sock back on and my boot which I left loose and unlaced. I sat downing my Fanta - Bec's said Tracy your toe is a right mess, yep I agreed but even with it like that, I'd traveled down the mountain walking on it around twelve hours and it had hurt a lot, but I'd made it all the way on my two feet and this made me very happy!
I slowly made my way to the bathroom, on my way out I saw the American doctor and some of the women who were with her when I passed them after the summit climb. They literally surrounded me and were asking how I was ( obviously had left an impression when they'd seen me ), I told them much better, they said I looked a lot better than the last time they'd seen me. The doctor was really scrutinizing me while the others were talking. I asked if they were going home or onto a safari, most were with one or two going home. One of the women asked where I was from, I said Yorkshire England.....they were all, Oh I love your accent!. I wished them the best for the rest of their holiday and a safe journey home and left to go back to the others.
We went and joined the line to sign into the register at Mweka Gate - our last time. I feel very proud to know my name is in every record book at every camp on Mount.Kilimanjaro. We were asked if we wanted a drink while waiting to sign in, so we got a Kilimanjaro beer- it had to be for sure!! Peter from our crew came over while we were drinking our beers to say goodbye. We all had a hug and then Peter and I sang the Jambo song, at the end people were clapping ha ha - rock stars!! We signed our names and made our way back over to Mussa and the gang.
We were finally leaving Mount.Kilimanjaro behind and making our way back to Moshi and our hotel. I had said to Mussa and Alphonce that I needed a chemist for my toe and that it was bad. They said we are booked into a restaurant and would take me after our celebratory meal. We girls were a meal before shower????? they laughed and said yes.
We got to the restaurant and we gang of climbers insisted on sitting outside - I reminded myself of the character in Peanuts who carries the blanket and has flies hanging around him ( we stank bad after only wet wipe washes and a bowl of water for the last 8 days!! ) We had a beautiful meal and champagne to toast our success - thank you Mussa and Wild Secret Safaris for that, a wonderfully thoughtful touch from yourself and your company!
It was decided to drop the girls off at the hotel and then take me to the chemist, I'd have preferred it the other way round, boy it was throbbing! Eventually I was off to hopefully get something to give me some relief after shouting to Bec's to save me some water!! We went into a chemist where Alphonce translated for me, they said I needed to see the doctor around the corner upstairs, so Chacha, Mussa and Alphonce escorted me up to the doctors. I paid the fee to see him and went it practically straight away. He examined it and after congratulating me on my successful climb prescribed anti inflammatory tablets and antibiotics, I was told to try not burst the blood blister and keep a very close eye on it for infection. So after picking up the meds I was finally on way to hotel for a shower - a much needed and wanted shower!
I told the guys we'd see them at seven am as were would be leaving Moshi to travel to Arusha for the next stage of this adventure in Tanzania.
Next time - our Osiligi Orphanage experience.
So five years after setting this challenge and all the set backs with my health that kept seeing me have to delay - it finally happened, the toughest endurance challenge I have done to date by far, but the one of the things I am so very proud of accomplishing. Putting out a positive message not only to others newly diagnosed, going through treatments or surviving like me with cancer but any illness that we can set ourselves personal challenges that will test us and push us to our personal limitations. We can all challenge ourselves to our own personal Everest if we set our minds to it. Go challenge yourself and see the pleasure you will feel at the end.
I came, I climbed and I conquered - Mount.Kilimanjaro February 6th 2015.
Until next time
Tracy
