We arrived back in the UK today, marking the end of our long planned trip. We spent a month in Tanzania and only 7 days climbing Kili, so it wasn't all about the mountain, but it was a big part. Alas, I did not make it right to Uhuru Peak but Simon (other half) did, as did the other members of our trek.
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I got to almost 5200 metres (still over 17,000 feet) before the altitude sickness got really bad. This made progress so slow that I also got very cold. So, after trying for a bit longer, I made the sensible decision to call it a day instead of continuing and giving myself further to climb down feeling even worse. I also feared that I would not make it all the way to the top without putting myself at risk (okay, I bottled it!). My daughter's words "Mummy, you wont do anything risky will you? promise?" also rang in my ears. I was very disappointed at the time but I have to remember that not much more than a year ago I couldn't have even dreamed of doing something like climb Kili, a few flights of stairs would have finished me off then! I had gone up 4 times the height of Ben Nevis and 5 times the height of Snowdon. Altitude sickness can affect anyone, young or old, fit or otherwise. I could have taken Diamox, a medication many (if not most thesedays) fellow Kili trekkers take to mask the effects of altitude, giving them a much better chance of reaching the summit. However, Simon and I decided long ago that we wouldn't do this and I am still glad we made that choice, even though I didn't make it to the summit.
I was reminded just how far up we'd been when I took this picture from window of the small aircraft that took us to Zanzibar after our safari. The captain had just announced that we were flying at 19,000 feet and there we were, above the clouds at the same height as he summit of Kili.
We packed a lot into our trip and, apart from me not quite reaching the summit and KLM losing my suitcase on the way back, it all went pretty smoothly. The case has been located and I'll get it back soon I hope. Anyway, I'll write up the whole trip on a seperate blog with all the pictures. Click here to see it or click the picture of the lion on the right at the top.
