Engaged on the Roof of Africa

Written on 25 August 2010 and due to a lack of internet connection posted to the blog on 2 September 2010

Jambo. As mentioned in our last blog we have spent the last week endeavouring to conquer Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, which sits at a massive 5895 metres above sea level. This makes it the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world. So how did we get on?



We ascended via the Umbwe Route, also known as the Whiskey Route, due to its steep but beautiful terrain. During the 5 day trip to our base camp our guides reduced potential altitude difficulties by enforced a “pole pole” (slowly) regime opposed to the “haraka haraka” (quickly) that we normally like to walk at. Asides from helping us to acclimatise, this allowed us to enjoy the views of the Barranco Valley, Mt Meru, Lava Tower, Shera Plateau, Barranco Wall, Western Breach, Karanga Valley and Mt Mawenzi during our assent. There are no huts or facilities on the Umbwe Route so as well as our head and assistant guides we had 12 porters to carrying tents, food, water, a gas cooker, a toilet, tables and chairs etc. The reason for so many porters is because the Kilimanjaro National Park rules allow porters to only carry a maximum of 15 kilograms at one time.



Day 6 (well actually 11pm on day 5) had us dazed and wandering around base camp (4600m), preparing for our midnight assault on Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. Due to gale force winds pummelling our tent all evening, we started our mission without a wink of sleep but forged ahead full of adrenaline. Oddly enough, the wind actually died down as we started walking and for the first 3 hours we felt significantly overdressed. The wind returned around 3am however, which meant that as we got higher up the mountain, breathing became more difficult while we simultaneously got colder. We are sure that any of you that know us in the slightest will not be at all surprised to learn that our competitive natures shone through and we actually got within distance of the summit far too early. This meant that we were forced to shelter against rocks to try and get reprieve from the bitter cold. We started walking again to time our arrival at the summit with sunrise and to ensure that we were first to the top. While the sun was more than welcome it didn’t make a difference to the -23 degrees which berated us as we tried to take in the views from the top and have the customary photos with the sign announcing how high we had climbed. We both felt an amazing sense of achievement on reaching Uhuru Peak.



Many of you will also realise that Rodney enjoys being organised and had given our head guide the “inside word” that he may get affected by the altitude at the summit and propose to Kirsty. While Kirsty was standing by the sign admiring the views and contemplating her cold feet, Rodney got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Kirsty may have been affected by the altitude as well, as her first reaction was to utter “seriously?” However she eventually said yes. Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! Our head guide was on hand with the camera, so we are very lucky to have photos of our very special moment. Rodney has officially decided that his proposal is proof that you don’t need flowers to be romantic. Kirsty will let you know how that goes, but in the meantime we are both feeling on top of the world. Our guide and porters were also stoked for us, so much so they organised a congratulatory cake for us at the bottom.



We are now in Moshi, Tanzania about to commence 10 days volunteer work at the Amani Children’s Home we visited earlier in our trip. We will let you know how we got on once we get to London in early September.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili)
Love Rodney and Kirsty.