Jambo, jambo bwana!
Habari gani? Nzuri sana!
Wageni, mwakaribishwa!
Kilimanjaro? Hakuna matata!
I still have this song popping up in my head many times every day. Even though it is more than a week since we arrived at the Mweka Gate, the last time the whole team sang it together. I rate this hike up to the roof of Africa as one of the best experiences in my life. It was such a trip. One of these journeys where you love every meter and every minute of your day. Why you might wonder?
As always, the people on the journey made the difference. This was a genuinely happy trip. Full of jokes, laughter, love and comradeship. I have made friends on this trip who will be with me on these last years of life. The best of the best. Africa makes a difference.
It starts already when you step of the plane. Those welcoming smiles, the kindness and the ability to laugh at any possible joke. And for someone who comes from a country which has everything, but no smiles, it is a bit of a shock.
Let me take it from the beginning. In the beginning of November I got an email from MJ, who I had met quite a few times through Kensington Tours and Jeff Willner. He said that he and a couple of friends were wondering if they could join me on one of my adventures. It would be him, Norm and Richard, who I knew well. I felt very happy that they asked. I have never ever met anyone at Kensington Tours, that I did not like. So I told him I have Everest in my head and my plan was to climb a few peaks over 6000 meters, a few over 7 and 8 and then go for Everest. Plan is 3-5 years. And that I would start in Ecuador in September 2025. They said yes to this, but before we started to plan, MJ had mentioned this to Jeff, one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met, a real brother to me, said that the company where heading to East Africa for a midyear review and why don´t we climb Kilimanjaro before the meeting? And check out if the luxury option of climbing Kilimanjaro worked. Of course, we said yes. What a chance!
I sent the guys a training schedule, even though I knew that Richard and MJ had young families, in the middle of their career, and that they could stick to it a 100%, as I imagined Norm would. And I knew that training is the difference, especially the long endurance days needed. Sure, there´s some proof that genetics can make it impossible for some people to climb at altitude, no matter how fit they are, but this is for the few. If you’re a fit and trained you will definitely enjoy your journey more. And I was sure all of us would get up. Though it might be like me two previous climbs, a tough job!
Read the previous climb https://www.mikaelstrandberg.com/2025/03/27/climbing-kilimanjaro-in-the-year-2000-bestigning-av-kilimanjaro-ar-2000/
We all met in Nairobi late evening the 31st of March. Norm and Richard had been there 2 days earlier to acclimatize and done a walk in the Ngong Hills. Which had left Norm with a head looking like the rear end of a baboon. Most likely to look like a bronze tanned Greek God to look even more handsome to his Nadia, who would meet us after the trek. Norm had done the trek in the classic Ngong Hills without a hat. MJ and myself arrived late. MJ jetlagged from a long journey from Toronto, me from a way easier no jetlagged trip from Copenhagen.
Next morning in a humid Nairobi we got picked up by a very friendly driver and we turned South-East on route to Oloitokitok, which I knew well after my Maasai journey back in the year of 2000. I had decided that we wanted to the Rongai Route. For three reasons. Since it was the monsoon season, I knew it would be drier if we started on Kilimanjaro East. Rain is no fun, ever. The second reason was that the Rongai Route doesn´t have as many hikers as the more popular ones on the southern side. Thirdly, it wasn´t a steep route, but gave the hiker time to slowly acclimatize.
There´s a paved road all the way to Oloitokitok nowadays. I came here on a bicycle 1989 and passed through the last part of our trip, walking with two Maasais from Masai Mara. Back then it was a rolling, dusty dirt road. We all enjoyed this trip. MJ had loads of medicine in his bag, so did the rest of us. Quite a bit of it would come handy on the trip. Richard was set up with a lot of gadgets checking pretty much everything how the body reacted. Me too. Norm seemed content with life as he was touching the top of his head, figuring out how bad the sun had gone down on him. We were still checking the Iphones continuously. Still in the West.
The border crossing was easy and about midday we stopped at the Nale Moru Gate at 1950 meters. We met a smiling head sherpa, Moses Yohanes, which on top of all joy, turned out to be a Maasai from the il-arusha clan. This fact would be of great joy for both of us and we would talk a lot about his life, my life, the Maasai and challenges of the modern day. Moses had chosen to go for the modern life and pretty much gone against all traditional rules. For that I felt an enormous respect. Moses went through the whole trip so we could get an overview at the same time as all porters, cooks, assistant guides turned up. There were over 20 of them! They would carry about 15 kgs each, where we wazungus half of that. We would carry a toilet, one tent each for the five of us, a big mess tent, table, chairs, stoves, food water and a huge tent where the crew all slept.
After a great lunch from Juma, the chef, we all set off into a pine forest, heading for the first camp, Simba, at 2600 meters. It was an easy 2½ hour walk and about 7 kms. We passed a small shamba, farm, where a lady and her daughter greeted us heartily. It was a holiday, so mum had had some local brew and invited us, but we decided to continue. The camp was up on the moorland and we saw tracks after buffalo, which were not rare up here, but hard to see. We also saw a jackal and many birds. We were offered great views from the camp! Great first day!
A personal account of the trip here, https://youtu.be/594sM-bxrXA?si=lA3HHD8m5iirTz_u
Great thanks to Jeff Willner and Kensington Tours for doing this Kensington Alpine Club!
