What would helen do?

thought you all might like to know we got back safely to the States yesterday. If anyone has every visited a third world country (or a FAR AWAY country for that matter) —  i am sure you know  the relief felt upon the landing of the plane  (despite it being a VERY bumpy landing for us). We spent close to 20 hours flying – do you know how loooong that is??  it SEEMS way longer than 20 hours i can tell you that – it feels like eternity!
i am happy to report the whole trip was a success and only relatively minor injuries to a few in our group ( – due to improper preparation).

All members of our group successfully summitted Mt Kilimanjaro –  which is quite amazing considering about 20,000 people a year try reaching the top & only 1/2 complete the climb to the highest peak – which is 19,300 feet.  Can you say LACK OF AIR?  when you finally descend & can breathe again you are in total awe of what you just accomplished.  The trek up the mountain to base camp (15,000 feet) was a “chore” in itself requiring physical & mental strength.  Many, many times you just WONDER HOW you did what you just did. My main mental frame was one of “just do it”.   Don’t even think about it – JUST DO IT.  Don’t ask questions, don’t wonder how you are getting to the top –  JUST DO IT – one step at a time!  Fortunately i trained VERY hard & was extremely disciplined in preparing for the trip that i felt relatively “GOOD” the whole time – yet still in shock at each day’s accomplishment…..
The final summit day was the most grueling of days.  You start hiking at midnight – so needless to say it is very dark (pitch black) and pretty cold to add to the fun.  (you do use headlamps so you can see something) The guides start you climbing at nite so you can summit at sunrise PLUS i also think they don’t want you actually “seeing” what you are climbing.  The altitude at base camp was 15,000 feet the peak is 19300.  You literally take “baby steps” from base camp to summit – this takes about 8 hours.  You cannot go any faster – you just physically can’t move any faster – you can barely breathe!   ( i know each of you are all wondering ‘HOW do i sign up for this adventure?’) You are climbing ( & ascending) on an assortment of terrain – from dirt & gravel to frozen scree ( loose rocks & sand) and they throw a little bouldering in just to make it more entertaining – oh yes and there is lotsa snow so you get to trek thru that too.  In addition to traversing the terrain you are ascending so there is less oxygen.  You practically can’t breathe – that part is really fun!  I said they take you at nite bc i think they don’t want you actually “seeing” what you are climbing — what i mean by that — is if you could REALLY REALLY see what you were doing most people would bail before taking that second Baby Step…..
One wrong step – one false move & you were tumbling down the side of the mountain – and believe me – you would NOT be alive to tell the story because you would be DEAD.  Yes – the final summit attempt was extremely TREACHEROUS.  did i mention the final ascent was TREACHEROUS ???? potentially deadly……………..
After reaching the top & getting pictures taken – you start your descent.  This part was actually kind of fun – for me – for real – all joking aside.  A few of the girls in my group were taken to the summit & taken down by our guides — one even got a “piggy back” ride from one of the guides.  The surface on the descent was pretty much just scree – which as i said before is loose gravel & sand.  Well- if you don’t know how to navigate scree you can be miserable. Being a skier i was able to SKI the scree – the guides were in disbelief how i managed to get down with relative ease.  My guide and i were laughing & throwing snowballs  — skiing the scree – having a grand ol’ time – i am sure part of this was delirium…..  (Some of the others in my group were close to tears & ready to puke…getting piggyback rides down the mountain……)  All those balance sports i play really paid off —   I was able to descend in about 2 hours.  the rest of the group took about 3 hours.  An extra hour back at base camp was a wonderful thing because we still had to do another descent to the next camp.  After the last group got in – we rested about an hour.  Then it took about 4 hours to get the next camp.  That was one looooooong day.   The final day was spent descending to the base of the mountain thru a rain forest.  We got to see monkeys so that was pretty cool.  We each got official certificates saying we climbed the mountain. And of course bought the t-shirts that say “i climbed Kili” ………..
We spent a day recuperating from the climb then went on a 2 day safari.  The safari was pretty cool because you got to see animals in the WILD instead of in JAIL (behind bars at the zoo).
We saw the “standard” animals that one would expect – elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, pools of hippos, a black rhino, baboons, velvet monkeys & others i know i am forgetting.  A few of the “cooler” sightings – one where a lioness was having “breakfast” – and it wasn’t a bacon, egg, cheese sandwich.  I couldn’t quite identify the LEG sticking up but i am sure it was quite tasty (for her….).  She finished with her breakfast & the hyenas & jackals moved in for leftovers.  That was pretty cool to see too.  Another favorite animal sighting was a cheetah trying to catch an antelope.  I guess the Antelope had his KEDS on that day because he ran faster than the cheetah and escaped being lunch that day.  The cheetah just got too tired & gave up on the chase –  the “chase” was very exciting to see.  We also saw a pride of lions just laying around – loved seeing that too.

  Hope you all enjoyed “the adventures of Helen in Africa” —  if anyone has interest in climbing Kili i kept a journal while i was there & part of the journal is “Tips for next time” – so next time i do it i will be REALLY prepared…….
Where i was in Tanzania (east africa) is extremely poor – these people really have nothing – and sad to say – my dogs live better than most of the people there live.  We are all so fortunate to have what we have & it is way easier to REALLY APPRECIATE what we have since being in Africa……  I really hope i never complain about anything ever again in my life – though i really try not to as it is ….. i am really going to be conscientious now more than ever. 
Every day above ground IS a GREAT day (when u live in the USA).
so happy to be back  🙂