Mzungus do Mount Kenya

We have come to learn that we are Mzungus – it means white person. It is one of the words you recognize in most Swahili conversations and is usually accompanied with stacks of laughter in a “look at what the silly white people are doing now” way. It is quite fitting especially when you realize you are doing something incredibly western that is totally out of place in Africa, such as:

- Climb Mount Kenya with every piece of unnecessary trekking fashion accessory while your porters, who have climbed the mountain for several years, hike in trainers, simple rain attire and jeans.

- Wear Indiana Jones cowboy hats for the sun and still get burnt.

- Learn 3 words in Swahili and repeat them so you think you are saying more than you actually are e.g. Sawa sawa (Alright alright), Pola pola (slowly slowly), Poa poa (cool cool), Jambo jambo (hello hello)…I could go on and on.

So the mzungus, sporting their cowboy hats, and Kaspuur made their way to Nanyuki (2300m), the town where most Mt Kenya mountain treks leave from. Facing separation anxiety, Kaspuur put in a good performance on the dodgy roads through the rural villages into Nanyuki town where we left her in the capable hands of the Sportsmans Arms hotel which was teaming with British soldiers – no-one dared mess with her here.

Handing over to Campbell to blog the mountain…

Enter Campbell:

So we climbed a mountain. It was difficult. It was more than difficult. More so it was incredibly beautiful. Here’s how it broke down…

We were picked up from the Sportmans Arms Hotel by our team (2 porters, 1 cook and a guide) at a leisurely 11am. They rolled in on the coolest matatu we have ever seen – it was kitted with a flat screen TV in the back, playing Kenya’s top 40 Christian music videos. Our groovin ride took us to the base camp at the entrance to the national park.

The day was going well. We still felt the sense of adventure when it started to torrential downpour and our matatu got stuck en route to the park entrance. ‘Kit up Team we’re hiking to the gate’ was our guide’s authoritative word on the matter. We were all a bit unprepared as we had been glued to the flat-screen TV, so by the time we got to Sirimon Gate Ally and I had to change a full set of clothes. We were soaked through and didn’t smell too good either but a good cuppa joe and a meal later we begun our epic journey up Mount Kenya.

Mount Kenya is huge. The peak is only one attraction in the reserve. There are valleys and craters at every turn. The scenery and plants are constantly changing as there are different climactic zones as you climb higher.

Some of the 100s of snapshots from the trek>>>Two really tired mzungus made it to camp on the first evening. We climbed some altitude on day 1 and the cold was setting in so we asked our guide for our jackets - I was really looking forward to climbing into a down North Face jacket. Our guide’s response was not good. In fact, that’s exactly what he said ‘this is not good’. Somewhere along the line wires had been crossed but it turns out you don’t really need all the fancy kit, layers work just as well even if you do resemble the Michelin Man. Toilet paper was thicker than our sleeping bags that looked like they had been stolen from a kids slumber party but once again layers work well. It’s amazing how much we convince ourselves what we need in life.

We thought we were pretty fit individuals, but as it turns out fitness has very little to do with climbing a mountain at such an altitude. We had trekked from Old Moses hut (2600m) to Liki North hut (3993m) to Shiptons Camp (4294m). Ally started to feel the altitude at Likii North so sleeping and eating was difficult, although these are the most crucial challenges to overcome when trekking this high as you are burning twice as much but not eating to compensate. As it goes in life I teased the pants off Ally thinking that she was just making things up, until on our trek from Likii North to Shiptons Camp I was hit with a full wave of what it means to trek at altitude – I struggled at the back.

Liki North Hut>>>View from Liki North>>>

"I'm not fat, just big-boned!" >>>

"I'll show you, I'll leave a present in your boot. Pah, calling me fat!">>>Shiptons Camp is the final camp before the summit (4985m) and it is important to arrive in tip top condition as you wake up at 3am the following morning to summit. We, however, flopped into our bunks with headaches pounding like bongo drums – the first signs of altitude sickness – and nausea. We arrived at camp looking and feeling like we could not go on – we both wanted to run back down the mountain at this point.

A small group of Brits who were already at Shiptons camp had arrived the day before to acclimatize. Apparently this is what everybody does. Not us. We were going to attempt to summit in 12 hours – then again we’d had a day of acclimatization at Liki North which most people don’t have. The Brits were naturally chatty and kept telling us their pain when they had to acclimatize. Not knowing we were summiting in 12 hours, they would say things like, ‘Hurts, yeah. Don’t worry. 24hrs of rest and you’ll be fine.’ Later a group of Greeks arrived to summit in 24 hours and they made a point of telling us that 12hours can’t be done. Well, did we prove them wrong or what!

Our experienced guide took one look at us, fed us and sent us to bed with strict instructions to drink water through the night. Seen as you don’t sleep much at altitude we drank and peed our way through the pain. Excellent!

A vvvvery cold night camping at Liki North >>>2am the next morning we were up, feeling right as rain and ready to attempt to summit. We asked our guide to set an incredibly slow pace. Wow, slow has a new meaning to us now. Whole herds of mountain snails made the summit before us, but we made it and would not have done it at any other pace. Hiking through the night to the dawn we arrived shortly after sunrise. The scenery is truly amazing. I was so overcome with the task that emotion cracked my voice when I thanked our guide. He put out his hand to shake mine. I embraced him with a hug which clearly wasn’t quite done in his culture.

Ally and Campbell getting ready at 2am>>>Thanks to Ally’s hired spunky attire (red jacket, pink rain trousers and 100 other layers) she has become the first telly tubby to summit Mount Kenya!

We made the sunrise at the summit>>>

Happy, tired Campbell at the summit>>>We were finished, ready to crawl into our sleeping bags and pass out but our guide reminded us that we have to walk the equivalent of a half marathon to the overnight camp. This was not good news. To make it worse the next day we had to walk 3/4 of a marathon to get to the transport link to take us back to our hotel.

This was hard - almost harder than the summit. Blisters appeared, feet ached and our pain was only interrupted by some of the most amazing scenery we have ever seen. With the summit no longer visible we were still stumbling onto gorges, craters, waterfalls and lakes.

We made it to our transport link back to Nanyuki barely walking. It was more of a shuffle. We were Zombies dead to the world. Our guide was so proud of us that he hugged us good bye. I thought the hug in the middle of a taxis rank was a little unnecessary but I think he was trying to adopt my custom. Others who had made the summit with us that day gawked at us and patted us on the back as they had taken the lazy route and Jeeped it to the final destination – all 54km. What a sense of achievement that was for us.

We thought our adventures were over, but one of our porters enjoyed spending his tip at the bar before our matatu was due to leave. When changing matatus at a junction town he ended up in a brawl. After throwing a few handbags he was thrown back in the matatu to continue to the next stop. Exciting stuff.

Recovery…lots of sleeping, eating and more sleeping.

Ally catching 40winks >>>
Point Lenana is the peak to the far left, then Nelion and Batian (technical climbs) to the right>>>
We are hardcore, we conquered Mount Kenya>>>