From the Writing Desk to the Top of Kilimanjaro

Here we are, the main characters of this story – Brigita and Viesturs Tamužs. Smiling happily after our Kilimanjaro adventure. The reason I want to tell more about us is so that the readers could roughly evaluate themselves and their potential teammates, if they are also planning to climb the highest peak in Africa – Mount Kilimanjaro. We gave it a shot in March 2021, at the time of the climb we were 58 years old, and now, from experience, we can confidently state that age matters. I think our age is almost the upper limit of when one can embark on such an adventure. I say this keeping in mind our relatively good health, having been spared chronic illness or inflammation. The only serious drawback was that between us we had a few extra kilogrammes on top of the optimal body weight calculated by dieticians. Other than that, we are quite mobile – we walk a lot, participate in orienteering competitions, exercise every morning, so we seemed to have no reason to worry about our physical abi...

No one knows exactly how many companies are involved in the Kilimanjaro tourism industry but there are certainly dozens of them. Even a quick glance at the offers will let you know that they can be divided into economy and business class services. Economy offers were for large groups of tourists, up to 30 people, but the cost per participant was significantly lower. Our finances allowed us to choose a relatively expensive but by all accounts high-class company Altezza Travel, which organizes groups of no more than 10 people. There also exists an even more exclusive offer to provide the complete service to only one climber or a couple, but even the guide companies themselves recommend climbing in a small group.  Although the people in the group often do not know each other at the start, they share a common goal and interests so there is a high probability that they will make friends and support each other. That is exactly what happened in our group, and by the time we left Kilimanja...

Although we had never climbed higher than 2,500 metres and had never gone hiking in the mountains, we were quite confident in our knowledge of how to select proper equipment. Many years of experience in long-term physical activities such as orienteering, rogaining and adventure racing have given us the impression that we were well acquainted with our bodies and their needs when it comes to exposure to natural conditions, such as heat, cold, wind, rain and the like. In competitions such as 24-hour rogaining, where it is not possible to get outside help, you have to be able to anticipate unexpected events before the start, and everything has to be prepared in advance including tech, which you have to take with you in a small and light bag. Therefore, after reading the list of mandatory equipment sent by Altezza Travel, I decided a little arrogantly that our experience and equipment would allow us to almost entirely forgo the rentals offered by the company. With my current knowledge, I wo...

 As soon as the tourists make a deal with the agency to organize their adventure in the Kilimanjaro Park, as far as the travellers are concerned, everything from then on can be described by a Swahili expression used in the East African countries “hakuna matata”, which means “no worries”. After the tourists have packed the equipment into 120 l waterproof bags and handed them over to the porters in the hotel lobby, for the next seven days they have to rely entirely on the guide team. Everything will be provided for the tourists that week – the guides will take care of food and water, rest, medical care, as well as many other things. The tourists will not need any money during the whole week as there is simply no place to spend it. Communication with the outside world is also very limited since cell phone reception was only available in a few places. Also, phones and other devices can be charged only in some camps. The rules of Kilimanjaro Park are such that tourists should never be t...

We had never spent more than two or three consecutive nights in a tent before, therefore the practical aspects of living in extreme conditions for an entire week seem worth mentioning. Our tents were two metres long and wide enough to accommodate two mats and two 120 l hiking bags. The tent also had a small porch where you could place dirty shoes and the dirtiest clothes. The tent was made of a double-layer synthetic material, which was supposed to be waterproof, but during heavy rainfall both the roof and the lower layer were getting soaked and the floor became wet at the corners and edges. We only experienced having water drip from the ceiling once and it was particularly unpleasant. The height of the tent was such that it was possible to sit comfortably but it was impossible to stand up. As a result, all activities mainly called for the use of abdominal muscles so I happily recalled my daily morning exercise routine – 100 abs exercises. You can only sit or lie down in the tent. And ...

In everyday life we rarely think of our body as a self-regulating system. Most of the time we are only conscious of our physiology when there is a need (hunger or thirst), when we enjoy something (consuming alcohol or smoking cigarettes), or when there is something wrong with the body (pain or other symptoms of disease). High-altitude conditions force us to think of our body as an interconnected system where any deviation from the norm can have consequences that might get in the way of normal functioning of the body and reaching your goals. I will start with the well-known fact that oxygen concentration in the air in high-altitude conditions is lower. The molar mass of oxygen is 32 g/mol, nitrogen – 28 g/mol, so the greater the distance from the Earth’s surface, the fewer heavier oxygen molecules necessary for biological processes can be found in the atmosphere due to the influence of gravity, while the number of inert nitrogen molecules increases. The concentration of oxygen in the at...

Mount Kilimanjaro is a long-extinct volcano, for the most part its slopes are relatively gentle. The most coveted point for tourists is Uhuru Peak – a place on the southern side of the volcanic crater which has eroded the least over time. According to the precise measurements taken by the geologists this is the highest point of both Kilimanjaro and the entire continent of Africa, and its altitude is 5895 m above sea level.  Uhuru Peak can be reached from four different camps by four different routes, all of which can be traversed without mountaineering equipment , but the climb on any of these trails is very steep. Our guides went for a relatively gentle and therefore longer option. It was estimated that the climb from the last camp to the edge of the crater would take about five hours, and then about another hour along the very edge of the crater, with a steep slope on the outer side and an equally steep slope towards the centre of the extinct crater on the other side. I don’t rea...