“There’s nothing to explain its height. There are no other mountains surrounding it to suggest a smashing up of the earth. It simply stands there by itself, dominating the landscape.”
I always loved being out in nature, but I developed a deep love of climbing in the most arduous of circumstances, on one of the world’s largest peaks. It was such a gift to get to climb Kilimanjaro and the feeling of resilience I gained when I reached the summit sustained me for years. Looking out from the top of Africa, I felt like I could do anything, and the enormity of the future suddenly felt manageable.
But First, a Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater
I was entering my senior year of high school when my dad decided we needed a big bonding trip before I headed off into the great unknown. I’m so glad he did. As part of our journey to climb in Africa, the trip organizers arranged a pre-climb safari through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
My favorite moment on safari was watching a herd of wildebeest stampede across the open plains of the Serengeti, only to suddenly turn on a dime—like they had been startled by a lion hidden in the tall grass. The abrupt movement of so many animals hinging together at once was astonishing, and the image is still as clear in my mind as the day I saw it.
A Visit to a Maasi Village in Tanzania
Nothing could have quite prepared me for the opportunity to visit a Maasi village in Tanzania. The Maasi were very welcoming, and I was invited into one of their huts. In the center of the hut was a fire with hardly any ventilation. The volume of smoke made my eyes burn. I was in awe.
The images above are offensive, but I think they’re important to share. This was 1994, and when we arrived at the village, you can imagine our shock at seeing a Confederate flag flying high above it. The Maasi were known for trading, and apparently some asshole—presumably an American one—had traded a Confederate flag with them. I was so stunned by the scene that it took my brain a while to catch up.
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
“Our climbing party had two guides. The leader of the team was Jacob, who years later went on to appear in the IMAX film titled Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa. Watching the film, it was surreal to see and hear Jacob again, leading another team up the mountain. I was transported.”
Jacob Kyungai was an awesome, awesome guide and helped me a lot with the mental challenge ahead. Here he is, sporting a fake mustache made from Usnea, commonly known as Old Man’s Beard.
The first day of climbing took us through the jungle, and we had a good night’s sleep after an incredible hike. Feeling strong the next day, my buddy and I left our dads behind and made a rapid ascent with the other guide to the 11,000-foot mark, where the next camp was located.
After a long climb that took us from lush rainforest to barren tundra, we were still feeling good, and I went to bed without a care in the world. Little did I know, I was about to pay a serious price for the day’s hubris.
Altitude Sickness on Mount Kilimanjaro
At 2AM on the second night of the trek, I woke up with what felt the worst case of food-poisoning in my life, and projectiled so hard that I tore open a little hole in the tent wall. My head was spinning and I had never felt so bad in my entire life. The tiniest movement of my head made me vomit, and I had to stay sitting up, rocking myself back and forth with my eyes closed, for the rest of the night. Up until the following morning, I emptied the rest of my insides the wrong way, and we consulted Jacob on what to do.
The consensus was that I got altitude sickness. This usually means the end of the trip for a climber, and nowadays, it wouldn’t even be up for negotiation. But again, this was 1994, and we knew little about altitude sickness at the time, so we turned to Jacob for answers. Jacob thought that maybe as long as I went “poli-poli,” which in Swahili means slowly, I might have a chance. The first task of the morning was to climb a rock wall of a few hundred feet. That would be the first test.
Approaching the Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro
For the next three days, I couldn’t eat and could only barely sip my iodine water. But bit by bit, going poli-poli, and with the group’s encouragement, I kept moving forward.
When I reached Stella Point at 19,000 feet—only about 341 feet shy of the summit—I stopped to rest. Jacob warned me not to close my eyes, explaining that some people fall asleep at this elevation and never wake up. I agreed, but as soon as he walked off to check on something or someone else, I closed them. I was so tired. Oddly though, it never occurred to me to stop climbing.
“When we got up to make our final push, my dad put his arm around me and said, ‘You know, you don’t have to keep going if you want to stop. As far as I’m concerned, you climbed this mountain.’ But there was no way I was going to stop now. You can’t come all the way to Africa, get yourself a few hundred feet shy of the summit, and then turn around!”
The Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro
Standing on the top of Kilimanjaro was the most fulfilling moment of my young life. There is nothing like successfully climbing a mountain that so completely tests your body and spirit. Realizing—so definitively—that true joy comes not from life’s trivial frivolities but from overcoming incredible challenges, changed me forever.
“Climbing Kilimanjaro gave me the internal belief that from that day forward, whenever I faced one of life’s many challenges—a big test, getting into college, public speaking, getting a job, planning for my future—I could handle it. Life’s problems seemed so much smaller from then on.”
4000s by 40
📖Want to read more about the journey Kilimanjaro inspired? Check out 4000s by 40.
📸 Looking for photos of other mountains? Take a look at the full visual companion to 4000s by 40 here: 4000s by 40 Pictures