Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro - Reflections by Chiedza (Chichi) Ziswa

This is an extract from my daughters climb to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro in 2021. https://arusha.braeburn.com/news/mount-kilimanjaro/ 


When I asked some of the people who went to Kili what to expect the most common answers were, porridge, hard, hell, cold, tired, sick, altitude and snow.

To sum it up, Kili was all of these things and more. From the beginning of the walk when we all had energy and sang at the top of our lungs, repeating the phrase PMA until we all got tired of positive mental attitude and had none left by the second day.

Watching Mr. Kennedy walk up the mountain in malapas until the end of the second day when the guides literally had to tell him to wear proper hiking shoes the next day.

The magic clouds that made Horombo hut appear in the middle of nowhere.

The cold that never went away at night, blue fingers, frozen unmovable toes and constant shivering.

The walk from the hut we slept in at Kibo to the bathroom that felt like an eternity and left you feeling like you had just run a marathon but was actually only 20m, which caused many people to just do their business outside the hut.

The altitude sickness that hit people at different points and caused us to need each other’s support more than ever.

The 3 days walking that left us thinking Kili was an easy mountain to climb until the walk from Kibo to Gilman’s point that felt like hell and made most of us want to give up.

To finally, the glorious walk to Uhuru point that some of us got to make and the amazing feeling when we reached the top.

Of course then there was the issue of having to ski through the sand to get down but that’s beside the point.

Kili was definitely the hardest thing most of us have done in our lives and I’m pretty sure I speak for all of the class when I say, I am thankful for the opportunity, the teachers we took that made sure things were never boring, told jokes that should not have been as funny as they were and motivated us to push forward. All we can say is If you haven’t already, you should definitely climb Kili.

By Chiedza Ziswa: