June Y2K7
Made it!
The roof of Africa and for all that effort of trekking for four and a half days to see the spectacular views of precisely ..nothing! We almost walked straight past the sacred sign post at 5895M due to the lack of visibility in the ensuing snow blizzard. High winds, a temperature of -20degC and poor visibility, what a strange way to see in a new day. This was one hell of a surreal experience. To start with you get up at midnight to start walking, very slowly, up the final ascent to Gilmans point at 5681M in total darkness on a path that can be best described as unsure with all the packed snow on it. Then comes the altitude sickness which is equivalent to being drunk to the point of passing out, splitting headache, vomiting, the lose of balance and consequently no coordination. Not good when youre just about to walk the snow covered craters edge in gale force winds. One slip and you could find yourself sliding down 3000ft into the crater or worse; off the mountain altogether. All makes you feel a little
The best part of the whole trek is the descent which takes one fifth of the time and you start to get some good old oxygen back in the lungs; very welcomed. I will have to change the name of the trip to Chelmsford to Cape Town via the roof of Africa. So if you have been sitting there thinking of donating but not sure when to or even wish to donate more. Then theres no better time than now. Congratulate me in getting there; a lot of people who do try do not make it.
After all that excitement a rest on the beaches of Zanzibar was in order to take in the infamous sunsets and hot weather. Managed to get in a bit scuba diving, however this turned out not to be all that it is cracked up to be. A big disappointment.
Back in Nairobi and the bike is apart again getting fixed after the rough roads that I encountered on entering Tanzania last month. Also a service and new tyres to make it feel like new again, the last set have long past their best having covering over 6000 miles.
Andrew
http://www.justgiving.com/aaay2k7