On top of the World; Five days on Kilimanjaro, Marangu route.

Having completed a triathlon in September 2023, someone said to me; “You must feel on top of the world”. This was an accurate way of describing my feelings at that moment and gave me an idea for completing the year.

Ten years after being given an expected life expectancy of 22 months I thought, why not finish the year almost on top of the world. I decided I was going to hike up Kilimanjaro on the seven day Lemosho route. Then my two nephews Sean and Dan asked if they could come with me, problem was they could only get one week off work, which meant we would have to do it in five days on the Marangu route. This is the fastest way up, but also has the highest failure rate, as people have less time to adapt to the change in altitude, the summit is 5895 metres above sea level, where the reduced atmospheric pressure makes it harder for your lungs to absorb oxygen from the air, which your brain needs to regulate the physiological systems humans need to survive.

We met up in London on December4 Flew to Amsterdam and from there got a flight to Arusha in Tanzania. We were picked up at the Airport and driven to our Hotel in Moshi, where we met our guide Abuu, who gave us the plan for the hike. We would be picked up early and were taking the Marangu route the most luxurious as you stay in huts not tents and sleep in bunk beds at each stop.

You need the right equipment and preparation, to have a chance of getting to the top of Kilimanjaro. Sean had focused on his fitness, but was not prepared for the changing weather or the fact we were in Africa. He had brought his fathers gardening boots which had a hole in them and no rain wear. Fortunately the place we were going to rent our sleeping bags from also had boots and rain wear for Sean, we actually put his fathers gardening boots in the bin, they were so old.

The first part of the Marangu route takes you through rainforest, where you see many species of birds, we also saw Colobus monkeys in the trees. Its a fairly easy five hour walk up to the camp with a stop for lunch, which was more like a takeaway you would get in the city, which made us laugh.

Not feeling tired from the previous day, I was thinking how box Hill in the Surrey hills had been the perfect place for me to prepare. I had been doing the box hill hike every second day for a couple of weeks, it takes three to four hours and the inclines are similar to what you experience on Kilimanjaro. What we found hardest was to walk slowly, an essential requirement for success, every metre up you are adapting to changing atmospheric conditions. The one thing you hear guides constantly telling their clients; is “Poli Poli” (slowly, slowly) and drink lots of water. We had to drink three litres of water a day, I had a camel pack in my day rucksack which held three litres and had a tube to suck on. Every 15 minutes I would take 5 sucks so I did not consume large amounts at one time and want to wee often.

I have a Garmin running watch and had set it to warn me if my heart rate went over 120, which is a comfortable level of exercise exertion for me. It took us about five hours to get to our first stopping point at Mandara hut. We shared the hut with a guy from Australia who was amused at our bickering. The lads had not brought mosquito repellent , deodorant or toothpaste and rationing my small tube of tooth paste caused a number of incidents, they also forgot to bring sun screen. They spent a lot of time trying to wind me up for TikTok videos, but I did not bite. What amused me most which I constantly took the piss about was the fact my sister Eleanor was not here to look after her boys. As it did seem to pose problems for the two lads. I was talking to them like they were five year olds, which seemed to amuse other trekkers and the banter made the trip a lot of fun.

Day 2: At dawn warm water was delivered in a basin to wash ourselves and a light breakfast. As well as our two guides there are ten others carrying food, water and everything we needed to get to the summit. After an hour trekking we leave the final stretch of woodland and a massive stretch of moorland opens up ahead, the path was narrow, covered in rocks and stones. I should have paid more attention on the dificulty we had walking on this uneven surface as I would have never tried to come down this terrain in the dark on our way down.

While the ground under our feet was horrible at this stage the scenery was spectacular all around. On the right you could see the the jagged peaks of Mawenzi another mountain that also ascend up towards the skies of Africa, in fact, initially I thought that was our peak as we had yet to view the top of Kilimanjaro. After 6 hours we finally reached the Horombo huts where we stayed for two nights, to give us a chance to acclimatise to the altitude

Day 3: To help with the acclimatisation we did a two hour hike up to Zebra Rocks which is 400m higher. Abuu and Lulu kept reminding us to be aware of the affects of altitude this height but we were all fine.

To celebrate independence day on December 9th a number of Tanzanian ambassadors to other countries were also making the trek to the summit and a TV station was there to record the occasion and they asked to interview the laudest person on the mountain, me!

Day 4 We walked through varied and strikingly picturesque landscapes. First across the heath as it slowly turns into the parched, desolate highlands between Mawenzi and Kibo, I describe this scenery in the video at the end, as like a scene from one of those Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns they made in the 70s. The scenery here is littered with volcanic debris, acting as a testament to the volcanic activity of years past. The final stretch to the Kibo Huts was steep and physically challenging and it started to rain and then big hail stones. We arrived at Kibo in the early afternoon, very tired but dry thanks to good quality Gortex jacket, and ready for lunch. We were allocated a cabin with twelve bunk beds, where we would rest before attempting the final climb at midnight. The plan was to reach the summit to watch the sunrise around 5.30 am.

At the Kibo Huts, Abuu helps you organize your equipment and clothes for the final trek to the peak. Obviously the clothes have to keep you warm, but not so warm that you are sweating, I bought two good quality “base layer” tops. One to wear on day two and five, the second which was a little thicker and had a hood for days three and four. From the bottom, I just added an extra layer of clothes each day a fleece for day 3, leggings and hat for first part of day four up to Kibo and thermal down jacket for final assent. We also needed to rent crampons to attach to the soles of our boots for climbing on the frozen compacted snow up to summit. Another problem for the final climb was carrying water, as the tubes in a water pack will freeze. So its best to put water in a thermos or in bottles and carry them upside down as freezing starts on the top of water and works its way down. By carrying them upside down, the opening would be last to freeze.

We are all in the hut resting and talking getting ready to take on Kilimanjaro’s most ultimate challenge! In fact the only person who looked a bit nervous was a Norwegian guy, who we later found out, was planning to propose marriage to his girlfriend at the summit. I left the cabin once to use the toilet which was a hole in the floor. about 30 meters from our hut. On the way back I saw a helicopter landing nearby to evacuate a woman who was being stretchered off the mountain, having succumbed to altitude sickness and was being evacuated to a hospital. I remember thinking I hope her insurance covered her as most normal holiday insurance only cover up to 4,000 meters. My sons work is getting people back to Denmark after their holiday goes wrong and he had warned me of this bit of small print in insurance coverage, which everybody should check before setting off for Tanzania.

Diamox is a drug that helps prevent altitude sickness Since I had stopped cancer treatment, the only tablets I took were when I got an attack of Gout and I had not had an attack for two years. Having done my research and talked to people who had taken it, I decided to take half the recommended daily dose (half a tablet) and see how it went. Sean and Dan did the same and we were doing great without and problems so far. However I decided to take the full amount for the final climb, having seen the helicopter around 16.00, even though our oxygen saturation levels were ok which Abuu measured regularly, with a finger monitor.

At 18.00 we have a big pasta meal, it reminded me of the meal we had in China the night before The marathon on the Great Wall in 2013 which I thought was a good omen. But about thirty minutes after the meal, I needed to shit and it was really bad diarrhoea. For the next two hours, when we were supposed to be resting, I am going back and forth to the toilet becoming more and more dehydrated and the energy you use squatting over that little hole trying to aim right was exhausting. I was offered some anti diarrhoea drugs, which I was reluctant to take at first as I was worried how they might react with the Diamox. In the end I had no choice and took the anti diarrhoea tablets which helped and was able to get some rest and stayed in my bunk. By the time we were preparing to leave I could feel I needed to go again and was afraid to get off my bed for fear of shitting myself in front of everyone. We waited for everyone to leave (Sean got a bucket just in case) and I climbed off the bunk, fortunately I did not explode and went to the toilet. Abuu kindly offered to carry my bag to the summit and we headed off, about 30 minutes behind everyone else, you could see their head torches zig zagging up the side of the mountain.

I did not feel too bad as we started walking, but was concerned how I would feel, two or three hours into a five hour trek up. My pulse was already at 120 BPM and in only twenty minutes of walking it had gone up up to 130. While I felt ok, I decided I would turn around, I was concerned by the sudden rise in my pulse. I had no idea what was happening physiology, While I was confident I could go on for another couple of hours and my O2 saturation was ok, I suspected that I would be feeling crap and cold in a few hours. Deep down I did not think I had the energy to make it to the top, so the decision to turn around and have a good nights sleep was easy, Immediately I was thinking of being ready for the next day, The plan was to go down in one day and watch Arsenal play Aston Villa in a Sports bar in Moshi, my mind was made up, failure never entered my head, I had a new challenge ahead.

Everyone was really surprised when I announced I was going back. Sean and Dan pleaded with me to try for another hour, I explained every hour forward was another hour back, I knew I did not have the energy, it was five hours to the summit and I had no intention of dying trying, or having to be stretchered off the mountain. Lulu walked back with me, I had something to eat had a great nights sleep, asked to be woken to watch the sunrise, I walked about 200 metres up the trail to see how I would feel and believe I could have made the top if I was starting now, but our window to summit had passed and the lads would be back in a few hours and we were going to watch Arsenal in Moshi.

The plan for Sean and Dan was to reach Gilman’s Point by dawn and then on to Uhuru, the highest point for sunrise. Gilman’s Point was the end for Sean who was vomiting and wanted to continue and this is why having a competent experienced guide is important. Abuu said no and took him down where it was easier to breath and for Sean to make snow angels . Two of the other porters continued with Dan, along the edge of the crater to Uhuru and a steady incline to the summit.

Sean arrived back at the hut around eight am and DJ around ten, they were exhausted. I was eager to get started going down the mountain, it had taken three days to get up (not counting acclimatisation day). I calculated we could get to Mandara in eight hours of daylight and get a car from there. DJ felt he had done what he came to do, did not want to walk down, Sean and DJ wanted to get evacuated off the mountain. I decided the previous not I would not come off the mountain on a stretcher and I was certainly not going to be evacuated. I told them, I was walking down and if they got transported off the mountain, they only thing the family in Dublin would remember, was that I went down in one day, not that DJ had reached the top. It was like telling them, Father Christmas was not coming this year because he is not real. They reluctantly agreed to come with me if they could get a few hours sleep, this meant we would be hiking after dark, forgetting how difficult the path from Mandara had been. We headed off just after midday and made great time down to the Horumba huts, Lulu and Abu wanted us to stop there for the night, but we were on a roll. The three of us were now excited by the prospect of getting down in one day and seeing the Arsenal match, all three of us are big Arsenal supporters. We were only a few hours and from Mandara, from there we could get driven down the service road to the Marangu gate where we would be picked up and taken back to the hotel

Abuu told us a leopard had been seen in the park and it was better to wait until the morning. By now we were full of confidence, adrenaline flowing, my ego needed to get down in one day and I was probably not in the best frame of mind to make this decision. I also put Abuu in a difficult position, as he knew what to do with tourists at the top of Kilimanjaro. Danger and accessing risk at the bottom with three silly tourists was a whole new experience for him. Abuu did not know us well and for all he knew, we would have gone off without him (we would not have) but its like playing poker when one is considering a risk one is willing to take to achieve something. Shortly after leaving Horumba it started to piss rain and then got dark very quickly.

The path was hard enough going up, but now the path was carrying the rain down hill like a small river, which made the mud and rocks under foot extremely slippery. On top of that, most of the battery power on the torches had been had been used on the assent. We were now moving slower than going up, Sean and Dan were exhausted. Sean would shout how long more and I would say we were nearly there, just put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Sean shouted back you said that a half an hour ago. I am laughing at him as I slipped on a big rock. I hit my hip and arm hard on the rock, I just lay there in the wet certain I had broken either my hip or arm, I was ok. But it was now was 9PM, we were still an hour from Mandara, were soaking wet, with only one torch with power. This was the moment and not for the first time in my life, I realised how stupid I had been to do this. While I could not understand what Lulu was saying to Abuu in Swahili, I could imagine from the tone in her voice. I was trying to appear upbeat for the boys who were exhausted. I had a great nights sleep, while they were going for the summit, they had only a few hours and then the energy they had used to summit.

I was now scared, that we might not be getting out of this in one piece and if we didnt, it was all my fault. Perhaps I should have warned the trek organisers how unpredictable a sixty six year old man with ADHD can be. Abuu was amazing, he helped me back on my feet, took my arm and practically walked sideways holding my arm, while lighting where I would put my feet, with the boys a step behind, until we reached Mandara just after ten pm. How he kept his balance walking over this terrain and preventing me from falling a few times was extraordinary and testament to the man he is. If it had been me I would have left the stupid tourists who made the idiotic decision to go down mount Kilimanjaro in the dark

The sense of relief on seeing the camp was palatable. However the Rangers jeep had gone as it was so late, so we had no transport to take us to Marangu gate and back to our hotel. Our porters had set off back to Moshi earlier in the day and were waiting for us there with our food, sleeping bags, towels and dry clothes. The camp was dark and everyone was asleep. Abuu went off to see if he could find somewhere for us to sleep, there was an empty cabin. Without sleeping bags Sean and Dan cuddled into each other and I took one of the matrass off a bed and lay it over me. The lads were so tired they would have slept anywhere and the great thing was we realised how stupid we had been and to be fair to them they did not point the finger of blame at me which they were entitled to do. Getting out of the dark in one piece made the predicament we found ourself in the cabin seem extremely funny, as missing the Arsenal match had been the least of our worries and this was the period we probably laughed the most.

At day break, we headed off for the last leg down. Dan revived after six hours sleep, wanted to be the first to get down and headed off at a fast pace and would not wait to film the joke I played on my carer Abuu. Abuu had stopped to talk to talk to someone going up Kilimanjaro. We had kept walking in the rainforest and came to a straight piece of path around 30 metres long. At the end of it, I lay down motionless like I had fallen. After ten minutes, I see Abuu casually walking round the bend, then taking off as he sees me on the ground in the distance. He can see that I am laughing as he reaches me, I greet him with he can sprint faster than Usain Bolt. He says there is something wrong with me, we both laugh and I thank him for protecting me the night before. Sean Dan and Lulu had gone on ahead and the lads were determined to get down before me. Where we had lunch on the first day there is a flat service road for vehicles, bringing stuff up to Mandara. I ask Abuu about it, its about ten kilometres, longer to the the park entrance thaty the trekkers path, but its flat and I could run a lot of it. Abuu tells me I am not allowed to go along this path. I tell him, those are Colonial rules the British made and we Irish never follow rules anyway, he laughs and calls Lulu to tell her we are going down this road and head off. Its getting hot and Abu wants to change his clothes, I continue without him but after about ten minutes he has not caught up, so I turn around to look for him, hoping the Leopard story was not true. I carry my poles like a spear just in case. After a few minutes I find him, he was surprised that I was moving so fast and we laughed at the idea of me coming to save him from the leopard. We jogged most of the way and got to the gate fifteen minutes before Lulu and the boys.

Lulu told the lads we were going down the service path and assumed Abuu had got me a lift to the gate. Dan did most of the videoing on the trip, you can hear the irritation in his voice, as they approach the gate that he was still walking in the bush because of my insistence on us coming down together. In Dan’s mind I was all talk and had taken the easy option, got a lift and would be relaxing in a café somewhere. I was sitting waiting as they came out of the rain forest. I am laughing and celebrating getting down first, he is insisting I came down in a car, which makes me laugh and take the piss even more. Abuu is telling Lulu and the boys about me running down and how I carried my poles to save him from the leopard. Then a few porters came in, whom I had ran past and they told Dan that I had had not come down in a car, but I think to this day Dan still thinks I came down in a jeep.

Many of the people we had met on the way up were also arriving at the gate and it was a great atmosphere saying our good byes again. Them delighted to have summited and me delighted to have got down first, even if we did not manage it in a day but gave it a good try. I was reminded of the saying better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved.

We then had a day to relax reminisce and enjoy other things around Moshi. We visited a big waterfall and a spa and had more fun with Abuu and friends. I am not finished in Tanzania, I intend to return with my daughters in 2025, to do some Safari in the Serengeti and then make it to the top of Kilimanjaro. I always complete what I start, but sometimes it takes longer than you anticipated.