Our journey has begun.
Here in Kilimanjaro National Park,
On the border of Tanzania and Kenya.
We know it will take strength.
To Uhuru, Kibo, Mount Kilimanjaro’s highest peak.
Now be silent.
Listen to the lively Kilimanjaro Rainforest chirp.
Feel the moist, palpable air,
Settle in droplets
Upon our skin as we begin our trek.
Our hearts excitedly tug our bodies along.
19,340 feet in the air is the summit
That seems almost impossible to reach.
How must it have seemed to Dr. Hans Meyer,
When he began his ascent?
Did he have faith in himself?
Did he really believe,
That he would be the first to stand
Upon the highest peak?
Now it’s our turn.
Leaving the humid rainforest,
And entering a rocky moor land.
We are surrounded by jagged rocks and sheer edges.
One by one,
We climb and mount the small obstacles.
We leave them behind us,
As we struggle to maintain our energy.
We arrive in the Alpine Desert.
Daytime brings humidity,
Snowy coldness awaits at night.
We travel on.
The air grows thinner
With every step,
Threatening our lives.
Frost bites at the tips of our noses
As we slowly but surely
Enter the summit region.
We view the tips
Of the permanent glaciers
Atop this dormant volcano that,
Curiously enough,
Never erupted in recorded history.
Mother Nature’s beauty around us is left pristine and undamaged.
Our bodies ache
As we desperately climb and climb and climb and climb…
We knew before we began,
That it was true that 6-8 people die per year climbing Mount Kilimanjaro,
From hypothermia, altitude sickness and the physical demands of this long trek.
Now, we start to wonder if we would become a statistic.
Miraculously surpassing the most fatal part of the climb,
We reach our destination.
After this seven-night journey,
We have conquered
Mount Kilimanjaro.
What seemed near to impossible,
Now rests below our feet.
Standing there,
Looking out on the world.
Just being there,
Atop Kibo, one of the three summits
on the tallest free-standing mountain in the world,
Made almost every other
Fear of mine so insignificant,
That I couldn’t even see them anymore.
They disappeared into the distance,
As well as every jagged rock and looming tree
That dared question our success along the way.