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| 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 ability.
Our encounter with Kilimanjaro was unexpected and unforeseen, owing to the fact that at the beginning of 2021 we were tormented to no small degree by the Latvian government’s chaotic struggle with COVID-19. There was no consistency, no credible messaging about the current situation, no clear indication of what to expect in the future. That only resulted in chaos and ignorance which grew with each passing day, as well as in various forms of restrictions becoming more severe. We really wanted to get away from all this absurdity and to go on some fairly long trip, so I started to look at the possibilities of going to a country with relatively mild entry restrictions that would be ready to accept tourists. Even just a quick check showed that the most popular winter travel destinations have either banned tourists from Latvia completely or made them spend up to two weeks in isolation inside the country. That was by no means in our plans. I kept examining the world map until I realized that only a few African countries were more lenient at the time, and one of them, Tanzania, had clearly stated that it would be fully satisfied with a 72-hour negative COVID-19 test and the fact that the traveller has no obvious signs of illness (high temperature, cough) before allowing the tourist unhindered entry.
I am not proud to admit that my understanding of African geography before the trip was at a primary school level. I knew that Egypt (which we had also considered) was on one side of the continent and the Republic of South Africa on the other. I also had an established idea of huge sandy deserts and constant unrest that has been taking over one African country or another. Now I am embarrassed to talk about this “knowledge” but it is a good demonstration of the influence of the Eurocentric worldview – the news and other media sources deem only the events that happen in the Western world worth talking about, but those that happen anywhere else can only get on the TV screens if they are somewhat awful.
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| The view from the 12-kilometre altitude of the endless expanses of sand in the Nubian Desert illustrates my idea of Africa before the Kilimanjaro adventure. |
Before the trip to Tanzania, I knew next to nothing about this country. I can easily imagine that many future travellers are just as clueless about Tanzania as I was, so it is worth mentioning some interesting facts about this wonderful country, for example, why Africa’s highest peak is located in Tanzania and not in its northern neighbour Kenya.
Legend has it that in 1886, Queen Victoria of England shared African rule with her grandson, German Emperor Wilhelm II. The line between the British East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya) and German East Africa (now Tanzania) was drawn not on the ground, but on a map, with the help of a ruler, somewhere in Europe. But then Emperor Wilhelm began to complain capriciously to his grandmother, “You already have several mountains, I also want at least one”. Indeed, the territory of modern Kenya includes both the 5199 m high Mount Kenya and the 4321 m high Mount Elgon. To this request, Queen Victoria responded in a truly royal fashion, by drawing a border with a pencil around the area now called Kilimanjaro National Park. Less than thirty years later these two great powers took part in the Great War, which brought the two territories under the British rule, nevertheless they maintained a friendly border, and now that both countries are independent, this situation allows Tanzania to attract mountain tourists from all over the world giving them the opportunity to try their hand at climbing the highest peak in Africa.
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| Climbing Kilimanjaro? That shouldn’t be too hard. |
Among the experienced tourists there are several myths about climbing Kilimanjaro, mostly they create the impression that it is a relatively easy walk. One myth assures you, “It's just trekking, it doesn’t require any climbing skills”. Another myth states, “Yes, the mountain is high, but the easiest of its kind”. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, so the “collectors” who have decided to climb the highest peaks in each continent refer to it as one of the easiest adventures in their “collection”. As climbing Kilimanjaro is indeed a popular tourist attraction, almost everyone has an acquaintance who has conquered the mountain, it also gives the impression of Kilimanjaro being a leisure walk – difficult, but not impossible.
At the time Tanzania was chosen as our destination, we both practically unanimously agreed that climbing Kilimanjaro should be included in our trip. Initially our thinking was, it will be difficult, but surely we, fairly athletic people, will be able to handle it! It should be noted that neither of us had the slightest bit of experience in climbing high mountains – my highest point has been the Alpine glacier in Zermatt – 3899 m, which I descended on a snowboard. Needless to say, I made my way up using the lift, but even then the oxygen starvation was quite noticeable and it took an extraordinary effort to attach the board to my feet.
As our journey has shown, our careless approach to Kilimanjaro was completely inappropriate. The climb is very difficult, both physically and mentally, and we started having reasonable doubts about the statements of some people who claimed to have reached the summit... From my own experience I can say that Kilimanjaro could be more accurately described by a translation of its name from the local Chaga language – legend has it that after the first member of the tribe living at the foot of Kilimanjaro ascended to the summit, others asked him, “How was it?” He replied, “Kilemakyaro!” which means “difficult to climb” in the language of this tribe. Later, the English colonists changed the word to sound better in their language, but the difficulty of the climb is still felt strongly by everyone today.
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| After the first member of the Chaga tribe made the climb to the top, he answered subsequent questions about the journey with a short Kilemakyaro! |
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| Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. |
It is very difficult to assess functional ability based on a description of health and physical strength alone. Therefore, if the readers want to test their suitability for a possible mountain climbing adventure I can propose a very simple test. On the final day of the climb, you have to complete an almost 1,200 metre vertical ascent to reach the very top. It is about the same as climbing a 400-storey building. Going up to the ninth floor forty-five times (taking the elevator down) could give you an idea of just how achievable the last (hardest) day of the climb might be. Of course, it must be taken into consideration that in field conditions there is an additional factor of oxygen starvation, but this “nine-storey house test” could give you a rough idea of the difficulties you will face. That being said, from my own experience I would venture to say that climbing the top of Kilimanjaro is not a suitable activity for people with chronic internal diseases, high blood pressure or sore joints.
Once the decision to travel to Tanzania and climb Kilimanjaro had been made, I quickly found a convenient flight from Riga to Kilimanjaro Airport (located practically at the foot of the mountain) with one transfer in Amsterdam. The outline of the trip was ready – first we would climb the mountain, then we would go on a safari to see the animals, the duration of the trip would be two weeks. I found several local companies on the Internet and, based mainly on the reviews of other travellers, I chose Altezza Travel, which offered us both mountain climbing and safari. I believe that with this choice we hit the jackpot, and this is by no means a promotional article for the company – the words of praise about the service we received during those two weeks come purely from the heart. So all of us – two travellers from Latvia, beautiful Tanzania, the majestic Kilimanjaro and Altezza Travel – met and said to each other and to you, readers, the popular greeting in Tanzania, “Jambo, jambo!”