worldtour

South Africa - Prisoner 466/64

One of the most infamous reminders of apartheid in South Africa is Robben Island, 12 kilometers off the coast of Cape Town. At various points in time it has been a leper colony and mental health asylum (1846-1931), defense and training station in WWII, and more recently, from the 1960's, a place where political (anti-apartheid) prisoners were interned for periods of 5 to 25 years for crimes of protesting the injustice of the apartheid policies of the white majority government.   

Since 1997, Robben Island has become a museum that showcases both the cruelties suffered by its inmates as well as the triumphs they achieved in their struggle to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality-in short, to be treated as human beings.  It is an unforgettable and moving tour. We saw the cell where Nelson Mandela lived and the buildings where hundreds of prisoners were expected to sleep where there was barely room to move or get up.  I learned that there were quite a few prisoners of Indian descent who had played an important role in the apartheid struggle such as Sathyandranath Ragunanan Maharaj (better known as  Mac Maharaj- who spent 12 years on the Island and became democratic South Africa's first Minister of Transport from1994- 1999) and Indres Naidoo, who later wrote an account of his 10 years in prison called, "Island in Chains".

Through actual letters and photographs kept on display at the museum, we saw how the political prisoners were confronted with a loss of personal control, ongoing disorientation and isolation, arbitrary punishments, discriminatory regulations and often cruel prison authorities. For example, the lights in each cell were never turned off, but burned all day and all night. Even in prison, there was a caste system of sorts: 'Coloured', 'Indian' and African prisoners received different diets, and prisoners were further classified into A, B, C, or D categories, which carried a decreasing number of privileges. Visits by family and friends were severely restricted, as were the numbers of letters sent and received. On the other hand, the prisoners with help of outside pressure struggled for  better conditions and privileges, such as permission to study. Although the prisoners came from all different political affiliations and visions , they united to turn the maximum security prison into a university of the anti-apartheid struggle.

The tour was actually conducted by a former political prisoner (he fomented student demonstrations back in the 70's) and hearing him talk about the physical and psychological methods of torture he went through at the hands of the prison guards brought tears to my eyes.  He spoke quite candidly about the various forms of torture used to get him to confess.  But he seemingly spoke without rancor or hatred.  He stressed his ability to move on with his life was because he was able to forgive those guards and other whites that followed the policies of apartheid.  He said that he even became friends with his former prison guards! 

Nelson Mandela

As prisoner 466/64, Mandela was probably the most famous prisoner on Robben Island. On the island, we visited Mandela's cell and also saw the flower garden where he hid the manuscript which eventually became his autobiography entitled "Long Walk to Freedom." (I definitely recommend this for anyone interested in learning about the apartheid struggle and what Nelson Mandela's life has been). On the bus tour of the island, we saw the limestone quarry where Mandela and other prisoners spent most of their days, breaking rocks for no apparent purpose and going nearly blind in the glare of the sun. He described the prison's caste system' thus:

"Apartheid's regulations extended even to clothing. All of us, except Kathy, received short trousers, an insubstantial jersey, and a canvas jacket. Kathy, the one Indian among us, was given long trousers. Normally Africans would receive sandals made from car tires, but in this instance we were given shoes. Kathy, alone, received socks. Short trousers for Africans were meant to remind us that we were "boys." I put on the short trousers that day, but I vowed that I would not put up with them for long.

He was given a chance to be released early by President Botha in 1985 if he would publicly renounce violence as a political instrument and if he would admit that he and the anti-apartheid leaders were wrong. South Africa was suffering under the weight of sanctions from the international community and riots within the country. Mandela refused to do so, and as a result it wasn't until President De Klerk lifted the ban on the African National Congress in 1990 that Mandela was finally released. In 1994, when South Africa held its first democratic elections, and black South Africans had their first chance to vote, he was elected president.

Believe it or not, in Johannesburg, we got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela himself!  Mandela now presides over the Nelson Mandela Foundation which supports multiple programs such as education and HIV/AIDS awareness in South Africa.  Even though he no longer holds any official position in the South African government, Mandela is revered as the elder statesman of the country.  His policy of reconciliation is reflected throughout the country in the way many people in the country talk enthusiastically about the future of the country, based on how bloodshed was avoided during the transition from apartheid to the current system.

The Indian government was donating money to the Foundation and, as the representative of the Indian government in South Africa, Dev's father presented the check to Nelson Mandela or Madiba (Mandela's Xhosa clan name meaning chief or hero), as he is respectfully called in South Africa.  We tagged along, in awe and dumbstruck!  Here we are, at the Foundation with Madiba.  He was very friendly and cordial and spoke about the inspiration he drew from Indian independence leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sarojini Naidu.  Madiba is 86 years old and walks with the aid of a cane but was still very spry and charismatic.

Another interesting connection to India was this photo of a Nicobarese Jarawa woman that he had found in National Geographic and hung in his jail-cell (photos on the left) . He had joked in his autobiography that his then-wife was jealous of the picture!  All those years, he had thought that this was a woman from Africa, when in fact the woman is from the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in India (in the Bay of Bengal).   More on this at this article and this article.  The sad part is that these islanders may have been wiped out by the tsunami of December 2004...

- Smruti

South Africa - A Study in Contrasts

As South Asians, the thought of visiting South Africa brought up a few questions in our minds - on the one hand we wondered how South Africans interacted with each other - whether they were African, Indian, white, or of mixed descent (called 'colored') - a decade after the end of apartheid.  The Lonely Planet guide for South Africa even states that people of Indian descent might face low level racism from both blacks and whites- blacks because many thought Indians were treated better than blacks during apartheid, and by whites, becuase they weren't white. On the other hand, we had heard about the incredible natural beauty of the country and the rich musical heritage - we enjoy music from South Africa, such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo.    Also, we did not know much at all about the pre-colonial history of South Africa. So with these diverse thoughts in our heads, we got off the plane curious to see the changes that time had wrought. 

One of the hugely positive things about South Africa is that most of the people we met don't seem to be angry or bitter about the past.  Mandela achieved a mostly non-violent end to the apartheid regime.

In Pretoria, the place we stayed, we mostly saw white South Africans with a few blacks- this was due to the neighborhood we were staying in.  However, in Johannesburg, we saw many black areas, including the boroughs of Yeoville and Hillbrow. 

We visited Soweto, which, as you know, was a township to which black Africans were forcibly moved during the years of apartheid.  The Hector Peterson Museum dramatically showcased the events during the years of apartheid and especially of June 16, 1976, of the Soweto uprising when thousands of black students protested against the imposition of the Afrikaans language on their schooling and the inferior 'Bantu' education they were receiving.  Hector Peterson, a 13-year old, was the first person shot in these protests where over 500 protestors were also killed. The famous photo (shown to the left) shows Hector in the arms of a fellow student (Mbusiya), after being shot.   Subsequent to the riots, Mbusiya had to flee South Africa and has never been heard from since 1978.  There is a quote from Mbusiya's mother talking about why Mbusiya was just doing his duty and was not really a hero for doing that.  Interestingly enough, later on, Hector's sister said that Hector was not a hero for being the first one to get shot.

Driving through Soweto, we noticed that most of the shacks that we had seen in the news photos had been converted into solid brick buildings.  Soweto is still 100% black and Pretoria seems to be very white - South Africa still has quite a way to go to achieve integration.  We also saw the house where Nelson Mandela lived and learnt that Bishop Desmond Tutu also lived nearby previously.

We got to see the boroughs of Yeoville and Hillbrow as we were kindly invited by friends to watch a soccer match between South Africa and Nigeria.  It was quite an experience!  Passions were running high on either side - there is considerable animosity between Nigerians and South Africans as a number of Nigerian immigrants have come into South Africa in hopes of a better life - many South Africans attribute the high levels of crime in South Africa to the Nigerians.  South Africa won the game - the first time that they have beaten Nigeria!

There is a large Indian community in South Africa as well.  We arrived during the time of the Hindu new year celebrations (Diwali) and went to a couple of parties where we met tons of South Africans of Indian origin.  Everybody is proudly South African, as their families have been living in South Africa for several generations.  Unfortunately, we observed traces of negative racial stereotyping among some people.

  I know that weather is not something that we normally talk about within the confines of these blogs but the weather has to be mentioned here.   Almost everyday, there were violent thunderstorms in Pretoria - multiple and frequent lightning strikes and storms lasting for 2-3 hours each time.   Here's a video of one of the more amazing lightning strikes nearby.

Smruti took time out of her busy schedule to meet the Indian High Commissioner to South Africa.  They signed some international treaties of great significance... world economic growth is expected to double to 4.5% next year, based on these treaties... :-)

So, in answer to the question we posed to ourselves prior to arriving in South Africa (how do South Africans from different communities interact with each other?), in our opinion, the country is really moving forward. The spirit of reconciliation seems to have been internalized by many South Africans. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to do in terms of providing equal economic opportunity, increase wealth levels among blacks and coloreds, equal participation in sports, integration of neighbourhoods within the cities, removal of racial stereotyping etc.  We asked some people how long they think this process would take - we got answers that varied from a decade to 50 years.

- Dev & Smruti

South Africa - Malaria-free Reserve 2004

No, "Malaria-Free Reserve" is not a wine from South Africa!  Rather, it's a marketing claim made by Mabula Game Reserve, a private safari park that we visited in South Africa.

Along with my parents, we drove to Mabula from Pretoria in about 2 hours.  The Lodge itself was fantastic, several steps above what we had experienced at Ngorongoro.  Swimming pools, squash court, gym, tennis court, volleyball court and much more.    We had buffet meals right next to the pool, a distinct upgrade from the budget meals we've been having previously on our trip.  Based on her Spanish tour and extensive knowledge of sangria, Smruti taught the bartender how to make good sangria! 

We were introduced to Alpheus, our guide (he's the one in the middle of the photo on the left).  Alpheus was very jovial and very experienced, having been at the game reserve for over 15 years.

Before dusk, we went for a game drive.  As opposed to the Ngorongoro crater, where we were in an enclosed LandRover with an open roof, here we were in a jeep with no enclosure around us at all!  Alpheus told us that other options for seeing the park also included horse rides and walking tours.  He also took along a cooler full of beer, wine and soda (or sundowners as he called them) for us to drink at sunset somewhere in the park.

Compared to the Ngorongoro crater, the Mabula reserve had a lot more jungles with trees and underbrush.  It also had open savannah-like areas.  We saw a fantastic array of animals on our trip, including lions, rhinos, hippos, jackals, bonteboks, giraffes, impalas and zebra.  Here are some of the photos - see if you can spot the lion in these photos!

We saw a herd of elephants that were grazing in a particular area.  A mother elephant with her baby was the center of everybody's attention.  They kept drifting closer and closer to our jeep until, eventually, they got very close - the mother elephant got nervous and charged toward us! Thankfully, Alpheus had the presence of mind (and experience) to drive away.  The photo here show the elephant charging at us in order to protect its baby.

The rhinos were stunning!  Huge creatures with extremely bad eye-sight.  There were several of them in this clearing.  Thankfully, they did not notice us (or did not deign to see us) so we did not have to face any sort of charge from them, as we had had to do from the elephants.

On the way back, Alpheus shone a bright searchlight into the trees around us.  This was done in order to try and locate the elusive leopard, which typically sits up in trees - in the searchlight, we would see eyes reflected back brightly.  We did not succeed though in finding any leopards.

The lodge also had a reptile center with crocodiles and snakes.  Somewhat scary, especially after Alpheus told us that these crocodiles can jump 2 meters/yards in the air!  The reptile center also had several snake, including rattlesnakes and pythons.  One of them turned out to be 4-5 meters long and uncoiled for what seemed like ages in front of us in its cage!

In the evening, we were treated to an excellent and very energetic tribal dance.   The dancers danced to pretty complex beats. 

-Dev

Kenya - Chasing Cheetahs in Nairobi

We stayed with a great couple, Chris and Shalini, in Nairobi.  Thanks to them, we had a wonderful couple of days in Nairobi, visiting downtown Nairobi, Karen Blixen’s house, the animal orphanage and having insightful conversations about the current political state of the Middle East and Africa.  Unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo with Chris and Shalini!

We walked around downtown Nairobi during the afternoon.  The first thing we noticed was the city center was buzzing with activity- we were warned that there is a huge crime problem there, but nothing happened to us. After the relative poverty and low numbers of  people we saw in a “big city” like Arusha in Tanzania, Nairobi was a definite change!  It felt great to be in the hustle and bustle of a big city once more. We would recommend going to the Java Coffee House in downtown Nairobi for their great frappes and snacks- which we were thrilled to eat after the relatively bland food we got up on Mt Kili. We also managed to drink a cold Tusker or two with the happy hour crowd at Simba Pub- delicious! 

Next morning, we hired a taxi and set-off to visit Karen Blixen’s house (the author of “Out of Africa” - Karen is played by Meryl Streep in the movie).  Her house has been turned into a museum and was also used as a film set for the movie.  We saw portraits of all the major players in her life- Denys Finch Hatton, Bror Blixen, as well as some artifacts including the coffee factory out in the back. We had lunch on the lawn of the adjacent Danish consul’s residence (which has been gifted to the Kenyan government as a historical monument). We saw mostly Europeans having lunch there.  Apparently the area (also called Karen) is home to many Europeans that remained behind in Kenya to continue working their farms and businesses after independence.

After that, we went to the Nairobi National Park’s animal orphanage.  This was a fantastic opportunity to see cheetahs, hyenas, lions, ostriches, wild cats and many other animals.  The animal orphanage, as its name suggests, houses animals who have been orphaned at a very early age (sometimes as little as 1 week old) and who would not have survived otherwise. 

Since it was nearly closing time and most of the visitors had left, we were allowed to go inside the cheetah pen and play with the cheetahs (three 1-year old cubs). They were quite tame and very cute.  It was quite amazing to do this after having seen wild cheetahs roaming the floor of the Ngorongoro crater only a few days before! 

One of the most memorable things we saw was the ‘shouting match’ of a hyena and a lion– they were housed in adjoining cages – the hyena got very nervous every time he walked close to the lion’s cage and started laughing with nervousness – in response, the lion started roaring and then all the lions in the other cages started roaring as well!. 

After the animal orphanage, we visited the giraffe center.  It was fun to feed the giraffe although the giraffes kept trying to head-butt all of us for some reason!  They also had a bunch of warthogs scrambling around, trying to avoid being trampled by the giraffes. 

A bunch of schoolkids arrived at the giraffe center around that time they had great fun screaming their heads off whenever the giraffes or warthogs got too close!

We managed to make it to a mall to buy some books and also chanced into an art gallery which had some great artwork by Ruth Nyakundi, a local Kenyan artist. We were able to have an ‘up close and personal’ chat with her and her husband (also an artist) and ended up buying some of her paintings.

Given the hectic pace of events, we were unable to make it to the Ngong Hills, which is known for its nice hiking areas and is also where Denys Finch-Hatton is buried.  Our taxi driver told us that we should not go there without an armed escort as the place is very dangerous. We were also unable to make it to Carnivore, which is a restaurant in the Ngong Hills which serves game meat (lion, zebra, ostrich etc.) although we've heard that they are not serving too much game meat these days, instead serving lots of bread, chicken, lamb and pork prior to serving a few pieces of game meat.  Not surprisingly, Smruti was very happy about not having to go to Carnivore!

On to South Africa!

-Dev & Smruti

Tanzania - Safari, so good

Africa is full of wonderful opportunties to go on safari, but we had heard from friends that many times, animals in Kenya safari drives were so tame that they came up right to the car. We wanted to see otherwise, so we decided to take a two day safari to the Ngorongoro crater- which is the largest unbroken caldera in the world.  Millions of years ago, the Ngorongoro volcano collapsed in on itself, creating the caldera. 

We took a 4 hour drive with Duma Safari (Riwald at rshelus@yahoo.com) from Moshi to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Along the way, we saw many Maasai villages and groups of young Maasai boys.  Many of the Maasai boys were standing by the side of the road, deliberately moving their heads to attract the attention of the people driving by, so that the tourists would stop, take photos with the boys and pay them money for the honor of taking the photo!  Our driver told us that these boys were in warrior training. When the boys are ready to become warriors ("Moran"), all boys of the same age group get circumcised, after which they will dress in black and paint their faces white. They will dress like this for eight to twelve months. After this period they'll become Morani - we had heard that they have to kill a lion in this training period in order to become Morani. The present Morani from the preceeding age-group will now become elders ("Mzee"). Another interesting fact is that the Maasai take their animals into the Ngorongoro crater for grazing - they sometimes have to defend their herd against predators such as lions with only their spears.  Along the way, we also stopped at a farm for lunch - the farm turned out to be owned by a Gujarati family from the Kutch region of Gujarat - how funny and random!

The crater (610 metres deep and 260 km squared) is a microcosm of East African scenery and game - 25,000 larger animals within the crater itself, mostly zebra and wildebeest but you can also see flamingos, elephants, cheetahs, gnus, lions (if you're lucky) and hippos.   We hopped into a 4x4 with a  pop up roof and set off with Deo- a wonderful guide who could spot a still animal lying down in the bush half a mile away, while we used our binoculars in vain!

 

We took so many pictures that we can’t post them all, but here are some of the highlights along with some wildlife facts we learned (see, this is an educational trip!)  FYI, these photos were actually taken by us and are not taken from the WWF website!

We saw hundreds of zebras.  They didn't seem too nervous - even though several cheetahs and lions were close by.  Every zebra has its own distinctive striped pattern not duplicated in any other zebra - this enables baby zebras to identify their mothers easily. 

There were tons of ostriches walking around the savannah.  Huge birds!  Male ostriches are white and black and females are mostly a drab grey.

Deo drove us to the hippo pool - there were about 30 hippos there, lying in the water.  Once in a while, they would rear up and snap at each other.  If you see an upside down hippo with four legs sticking up into the air, it’s not dead, just having fun staying cool in the water!  Hippos only come out of the water at night to feed.

We saw a lion sleeping in the grass.  Not willing to settle for seeing just a sleeping lion, Deo, our guide, revved the jeep engine, waking up the lion.  Once awake, the lion stretched and then stood up, surveying the landscape before him in majestic fashion.  He then strode down the small hill and into a small riverbed.  We saw a few lionesses as well during the day - they were sleeping, presumably after having eaten their fill earlier in the day.  In lion prides, females do all the hunting and males lie around waiting to get their dinner.  Later during that game drive, the same lion walked across the road and sprayed one of the jeeps to mark it as his territory - everybody got a good laugh out of this. 

We saw some birds with funny names like bustards!

We were lucky enough to stay in the crater itself (Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge)- there are a few campsites and lodges built around the crater rim.  We had a wonderful panoramic view of the entire crater floor, which was especially interesting at night when some animals came to the lake below to drink and early morning as the sun rose and the colors across the valley changed. 

On the second day, we saw an elephant attacking a grove of trees and tearing down all the branches.  Apparently, the only elephants within the crater are old males that have come to die there. The lion that we saw before was also wandering around in the same vicinity.  Unfortunately, these two did not end up running into each other - now that would have been fun to see!

A distinctive smell (marshy/salty) brought us to the flamingos.  There were moving around the lake bed, long skinny necks plunging in and out of the sand looking for food.

There were plenty of gazelles as well, in addition to springboks.

We saw four cheetahs walking together a few yards away from us!  After a little while, they broke into a slow run - apparently, they had spotted prey.  The cheetahs were extremely graceful and powerful.  They can reach speeds of upto 120 kmph (75 miles per hour)!  They ran for a little bit and then hunched down in the grass, waiting for their prey to drift closer while grazing.    A whole bunch of tour jeeps converged like flies to watch the cheetahs stalk their prey.  Unfortunately, the cheetahs did not make their move while we were there.

If you are planning on going on this trek, get in touch with Riwald at rshelus@yahoo.com or Bobby Tours at www.bobbytours.com.

- Smruti

Tanzania - Polay Polay

We had decided to attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro... I'm not sure where the impetus came from but we soon found ourselves at the base of Kili, looking up at Kili and thinking, what in the world have we gotten ourselves into?  We were told that this is the highest mountain in the world that is climbable by non-expert mountain climbers (i.e. us)!

Remember that 80’s song by Toto called "Africa"—there was a line in there referring to how Kilimanjaro rises over the Serengeti- which is not accurate nor does it rhyme particularly well!

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become

Nevertheless, it was in my head as we sat on the 5 hour bus journey from Nairobi airport across the Kenya-Tanzania border to Arusha, which is an hour or so from the start of the Marangu route that goes up to the Kibo crater of Kilimanjaro. 

We saw several dust-devils along the way – there happened to be a film crew on our micro-bus who were going to be climbing up Kili as well – so they were busy filming all of this.  We saw Masai warriors and shepherds all along the way.  At the border, we got our first glimpse of Masai women as they attempted to sell us their distinctive beaded handicrafts and jewelry.  Someone made the observation that their blankets looked very Scottish! 

See if you can spot the dust devil in this video...

In Arusha, we got off the bus and met our trip coordinator from Duma Safari and then went on to our hotel in Moshi.   We were told to prepare for the hardest 6 days in or life even though the route we were taking up was the Marangu route (also known as the coca cola route cause most people take it up and one can buy coca-cola at the Kili base camp)—but that still wasn’t adequate to describe what actually lay ahead.

As you know, most of inland Africa is on a plateau so one is already pretty high up before starting the climb to Kili.  Our schedule was as follows:
• Day One: Marangu Gate (1,828m) to Mandara Hut (2,743m)
• Day Two: Mandara Hut (2,743m) to Horombo Hut (3,720m)
• Day Three: Horombo Hut (3,720m) to Mawenzi Hut (4,600m) to Horombo Hut (3,720m).
• Day Four: Horombo Hut (3,720m) to Kibo Hut (4,750m) Elevation Gain: 1,030 meters.
• Day Five: Kibo Hut (4,750m) to Summit (5,895m) to Horombo Hut (3,720m)
• Day Six: Horombo Hut (3,720m) to Marangu Gate (1,828m)

At the gate to Kilimanjaro National Park (at Marangu), we met our guides and porters.  Our guide’s name was Entolo and his assistant guide was Jumaa.  Our porters and cooks were Apollo, Albert, Noru and Charles.  It seemed amazing that we need so many people to go with us but, in the end, it did make sense.  The group had to carry its own clothes, food, water and bedding all the way up and back.  Also amazing was the speed with which they zipped up and down the mountain, while we trudged up slowly.  While we slogged up and down steep or rocky areas, they blithely overtook us while weighed down with 25 to 30 kilos of luggage – we only our day packs with a sweater, some water bottles and our lunches.

Entolo wasted no time in teaching us some key Swahili phrases:
• Polay polay – slowly slowly – very important phrase and attitude.  Many climbers (especially the younger ones) try to race up Kili and end up succumbing to exhaustion, dehydration or altitude sickness.  They key to successfully climbing Kili is to climb very slowly.
• Asante sana – thank you
• Lala salama – sleep well
• Karibu – welcome
• Jambo – hello
• Moja – one

We started the climb at Marangu. The 3-day climb to the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro had us going from 1800 meters to 4750 meters, a climb of about 3000 meters or 9000 feet. And then we’d have to climb another 1200 meters for the final ascent.  We had to acclimatize along the way, and therefore spent an extra night at the Horombo hut.  Acclimatization was a big issue – many of the climbers were to taking Diamoxx which has been known to prevent altitude sickness.  We were also taking Panadol tablets to take care of head-aches.  Lots of water was being drunk as well to prevent de-hydration.  Food was also specifically prepared to give us lots of energy to burn.  While the food was plentiful, we got very tired of the monotonous regularity of the hard-boiled eggs, Milo chocolate powder, Nido powdered milk, bland sandwhiches, mushroom soup, vegetable stew and piles of rice.

We met some pretty nice people along the way.  The climbers principally were Europeans, including many Swiss and Germans.  The second biggest demographic group after the Europeans was the Indian diaspora, surprisingly enough!  We met Indians from Germany, India, Tanzania and, of course, we ourselves are Indians from the US and India.  We made some great friends along the way, including Vera (a medical student from Germany), Rachel (an eye-doctor from England), Pritesh & Sanjiv (Gujarati brothers from Denver).   Socializing consisted of playing cards (mostly rummy), laughing at the mice wandering around in the dining huts and talking about the mountain.

The 4-day climb had us going through 5 different vegetation zones – starting with lush jungle, going through desert shrubs and ending up in a barren, moon-like landscape.  There were some fantastic-looking cactii as well as trees with parasitic beard-like plants growing along their branches.

This is what we amused ourselves with while resting at the camps... watching mice play...sad..

Each night, we stayed in tent-like huts with 4 bunk beds each. It was bitterly cold and it had to been an emergency for us to emerge out of our sleeping bags.  The morning would arrive along with two bowls of hot water provided to us by our cook.  Post the second hut at 3720 meters, there was no running water and ‘squat’ style toilets.

Here's one of the camps above cloud level. You can see the snow-capped Mt. Kili in part of this video...

We arrived at the Kibo hut at 3pm on Day 4, quite cold and exhausted.  We were immediately given tea and bread and then we all packed for the final ascent and tried to get some sleep.  It was impossible to sleep, though, because of the lack of oxygen in the air at the altitude. I remember breathing heavily and gasping for breath at time.  Many people started to feel faint and get head-aches at Kibo Hut. At midnight, we were woken up, given some tea and then went outside to start the final climb.  Most people dressed in multiple layers of clothing plus balaclavas, woolen socks, thermals etc. We all had walking sticks and headlamps. 

We started climbing at midnight because, at nighttime, the shale freezes and provides a good solid path to climb to the top of Kili.  As you ascend, you see rows of lights (from the headlamps that people are wearing) bobbing along in the dark- it looks pretty surreal – like souls climbing up to heaven (or hell!).

It was very steep and we had to stop every few minutes to catch our breath and drink some water.  Dev made it past all the obstacles and psychological hurdles to make it all the way to the top, including Gilman’s Point and Uhuru Peak. It was tough - it had taken 6 hours of slogging to get to the top!  My guide, Jumaa, had to literally drag me for part of the way.  When I reached Gilmans Point, I had to sit down and just try to balance myself emotionally.  Smruti made it up to 5000 meters but cold and lack of sleep took its toll was enough for her.

The summit was fantastic.  There is a glacier on the top of Mt. Kili.  Also, I reached the top just after dawn, so I could see the sun rising and fantastic views of clouds coming over Mawenzi peak.

The way down was even more dramatic—you basically ‘ski’ down among loose rock and scree. Not good for the knees!  Dev’s legs were like jelly after having reached back to Kibo Hut before noon.

As it was, we got down in good time- the next day, snow and ice descended on Kilimanjaro- imagine making an ascent in those conditions!  We stayed overnight at the Horombo hut and then made it back to Marangu in one more day.

A few tips for those who are thinking of climbing:

• Fitness is key - those who are less fit may want to tone up a little bit before attempting it
• Take lots of warm clothes - it'll get very cold as you go up
• Take a water bag with you that you can keep in your backpack and that has a pipe that you can keep next to you so that you don't have to keep taking out the water from the backpack to drink
• Take enough money for tips & rentals
• Take it very very slow - no need to hurry up at all, there is plenty of time

After an adventourous six days, we said goodbye to Mount Kilimanjaro and prepared to enjoy a two day safari in the Ngorongoro Crater.  If you are interested in this trek, get in touch with Duma Safari (Riwald at rshelus@yahoo.com) or with our guide Entolo Isack Mpunga, Box 8357, Moshi, Tanzania.

- Smruti & Dev