Conquering Kilimanjaro!

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin

Jambo Rafikis,

I write this blog from a completely unique environment (and new country) to where our group has become so accustomed to living in in the past 2.5 months. Tsavo has been home to us for the past couple of weeks and we will be here until returning home or traveling onwards in only a few days time. Our conversations this week have centered around our best memories at camp and the things we are most looking forward to coming home to. Most popular include munching on tacos and slurping chocolate milkshakes, seeing if our dogs remember us and not having to sleep tangled in a fly net.

First and foremost though- Mount Kilimanjaro. Literally the biggest achievement of my life: 5895m of achievement- to be exact! On the Monday, Lauren, Rozi, Beardo, Ella, Rory and myself said a gut-wrenching goodbye to our Mwambani family. We knew it would be hard to bid farewell to the local boys, the Indian Ocean and the amazing staff at the camp but it was almost incomprehensible to the seven of us exactly how hard it would be to not return in the foreseeable future. I am 100% positive that myself and the others in the group plan to return to Mwambani village at the next given opportunity.

I don't have enough time to give a break down of the seven-day trek to the summit, but I can say in short that we all made it. (Hurrah for no awkward side note!)

Summit night was without a doubt the toughest challenge. Trying to hold our cold, underprepared bodies together, we each mustered the strength we had to keep team moral high. I have to admit I spent 75% of the 12km hike alternating between silent and bursting tears. We each had a very different experience that night. 2 hours into the trek Lauren began throwing up. Determined to reach the top, she took a much slower pace and was accompanied by our angel of a guide Robinson who stayed beside her through all 8 vomits to the peak and back. 3 hours into the trek Ella was vomiting, Beardo's fingers had reached a piercing level of cold and Rozi's mental breakdown had her more than ready to accompany anyone back to base camp.

We were told by one of our guides before leaving that night that long breaks would be our demise, and by this rest stop I could well and truly feel myself coming undone. Our third guide Nestory- the cheeriest, funny and cold-resistant guide- stayed with me as I fell behind due to my low level of energy and the intense cramps I felt all over my body. Nestory carried me part of the way up and I know if it weren't for him I would not have made it all 5895 meters. At 5.30am, Annabelle, Rory, Ella, Rozi and Beardo had reached the summit. Due to the cold the group only spent enough time for a couple photos at the summit. At 6.10am (perfectly timed without even knowing) I reached the summit in tears and watched the sun rise above the clouds by myself- the most spectacular and well-worthy view of my existence. 10 minutes later Lauren and I crossed paths and instantly all our emotions welled out into a heartfelt embrace. I could not be more proud of my fellow mountaineers (its official) for getting to the top and for being the most amazing bunch of people to do something so difficult and life changing with.

Tuesday morning was similarly emotional and relieving as we were the first group of the day to get to the bottom. Showering was magical, heat was wonderful and sleeping in a real bed was too good to be true. In the late afternoon the rest of the group (Sarah, Hannah, Matt, Calvin, Elles, Toby and Laura) and leader Eliphas met us at our hotel where we shared our stories of what had happened on the mountain and at our old home. We went out for dinner that night, where I had two main meals and fell asleep at the table.

The next morning we all got in our much-loved bus and crossed the boarder into Kenya where we are to spend the remainder of our trip. We are the first official group to stay in this new camp- erected in March of this year. The camp in many ways is similar to the one in Tanzania, with the two main differences being the spectacular change of landscape (Indian Ocean to vast flat plains) and our two-man mattress on floor tents.

Our itinerary here is very different from the continuous work on the house in Mwambani village, Tanzania (which I failed to mention earlier was completed by half the group while we were climbing Kili). In the short time we have participated in a variety of activities based mostly around construction and animal conservation. We have finished building a long drop toilet for the local primary school, made elephant determent fences with oil and chili, dug a trench in a wildlife sanctuary, made 'elephant dung' paper and spent time with local women's group making bracelets and leaning about what they do in the community.

Leaving Africa is going to be a very bittersweet experience, and we won't forget the incredible memories we've had here anytime soon.

Xo Sybilla