Meet John Minja
As our guide, John was responsible for every aspect of our time on Kili. He kept us safe, he kept us motivated, he kept us well fed (SO well fed!). He was always always always taking care of us on the mountain and every one of the 15 porters, 1 assistant cook, and 3 assistant guides obviously respected him and called him "friend." He was the kind of leader that the GSB would be proud to call one of its own. Getting to know John in our long talks up and down the mountain touched me in a way that I hope I never forget.The Trail
We spent a total of 7 days on the trail, making our way from rainforest to glaciers and camping in every kind of environment in between. Standing at the Machame Gate on our first day, I had no idea what to expect.
The view of Kili from our tent took my breath away on our 3rd day. The view from the top, with the sun coming up just as we hit the crest of the summit was heart stopping (or was that the lack of oxygen?).
Welcome to Our Fine Dining
Oatmeal, Crepes, Omelettes, Sausages, the Best Soup I've Ever Had, Fresh Made French Fries, Roasted Chicken, Spaghetti, Vegetables, Mango, Tilapia - I've never eaten better on a camping trip and never tasted a better soup than John's in my life (sorry mom!). All enjoyed from our cozy mess tent where we spent many evenings relaxing around candlelit meals playing cards and talking with John and our other guides.
We're Not Alone
Desolation Wilderness Kili is not. With groups ahead and behind of us and porters constantly running past us to set up camp before we arrived, we were never alone on the trail. At night, the campsites were huge tent cities. With 30,000 people summiting per year, and most climbs taking place in the 6 month high season, I'm not sure why I expected any different, but it was definitely a surprise to me the first night when we arrived to a loud and bustling camp full of groups from all over the world. Along the way we met Americans, Germans, Aussies, South Africans and even one girl who'll be a junior at Stanford in the fall. It was interesting to see the differences in how each group interacted with their guides and porters (while we were playing cards with our guides, some groups seemed to never speak with theirs except to ask how far it was to the next camp) and to later hear the stereotypes the guides have about different cultures (e.g., Aussies are fun but bad tippers, Americans are friendly and the best tippers, Germans are unappreciative, etc)...
You Can Do it!
Im in total awe of the people who reached the summit while enduring vomiting and splitting headaches from altitude sickness. If that were my story, I'm sure I'd think of Kili as the hardest thing I'd ever done physically. But we were all incredibly lucky that none of us came down with any symptoms. On summit night, we inched our way up the mountain behind John, just putting one foot in front of the other the whole way. It took forever, it was freezing, it was exhausting and as I said before, incredibly fulfilling, but I think I've got to say that finishing the last 4 miles of the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon still counts as the hardest thing I've ever done physically. Deepu - I'm thinking of you as I write this - you did San Diego, you can do Kili no problem!
The Porters
Running up and down the trail with 20-30 kg on their backs (or balanced on their heads!) the porters are incredible athletes who always finished the days climb several hours ahead of us and still had energy to set up camp, cook dinner, clean up and sometimes join us for stories and cards in the mess tent. Many started climbing the mountain as early as age 15 and keep going for years and years until their knees give out. The awful question is, what happens to these amazing guys when that happens? We didnt see anyone on the mountain over 40...
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