FALLING IN LOVE WITH KILIMANJARO
This is a guest post from Karen Ellicott who has climbed Kilimanjaro with Tusker twice.
I’m now planning my third climb with Tusker trail for February 2018! Like the first climb, the second one was fantastic. I was by myself for the whole trek and I thought I would be lonely, but I wasn’t at all. The first time I went, I lost 10 pounds, which I think is normal. This time I didn’t lose an ounce of weight. My appetite was that of a linebacker in the NFL!
One of the highlights of this Kilimanjaro climb was camping in the Crater. As we were descending into the Crater after summiting, a very cool storm came up, with lightening, wind, sleet and snow. I got snuggled into my tent in the early afternoon and slept off a slight headache. My guide Kombe checked on me several times over the course of the evening and night. In the morning, I felt much better, and we hiked over to the glaciers which were spectacular!
Of course the descent was the roughest part for me. Right away I jammed one foot against a big rock and hurt my big toe. By the time we got to the gate the next day I could barely walk, my big toes were so swollen. I wanted to cry, but there was no way I was going to cry over my toes, after all I’d gone through over the last 10 days!
One thing that made me very thankful that I chose Tusker happened shortly after we started our descent. We came upon 2 hikers and a guide from another company. One of the hikers was obviously in distress. Kombe immediately went in to action, administered oxygen, took the guy’s oxygen saturation and got him to drink sugar water. The guy had been disoriented to the point of not knowing where he was, and his oxygen saturation was in the 70’s. I don’t want to think about what might have happened to him if Kombe hadn’t known what to do.
Everything about the trip was amazing. Every person that I dealt with, from Tusker, Hoopoe Safaris, and the hotels and resorts were outstanding! I have fallen in love with Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti. I now have a goal of trekking it every two years until I can’t do it anymore.