AFRICA

My African Adventure and My Climb up Kilimanjaro

Rich Citro November 2021

I think you will like “My African Adventure” because I encounter experiences that are both Spectacular and Miserable. If you are considering climbing KILIMANJARO it’s a “Must Read”. If not, you will find it fun anyway. I am a 66-year-old man from upstate New York who was born in the Bronx and grew up on Long Island. I’ve been in business and sales my whole life; I stay in shape by working out regularly and by pursuing my love for snowboarding and biking and I encounter my greatest challenges by climbing mountains. Nothing technical, and I’ve never had a “Bucket List”. I prefer to take things as they come. My lack of expertise is why I hope you will like reading “My African Adventure”.

My wife Nancy and I were planning a trip to Africa. Then COVID struck and she completely backed out. I thought this would be the Perfect Time because we have been vaccinated and the place won’t be crawling with tourists! She refused. I invited her to my office where I had a presentation planned. I played the hit song “Africa“ from the band Toto. I gave her a copy of the lyrics and sang along while I serenaded her on my electronic drum kit. The song is about a man who is meeting his lady friend In Africa for a wonderful vacation! The lyrics were right on! Here are some Examples:

“I hear drums echoing tonight”
“She’s coming in 12:30 flight”
“I stopped an old man along the way…..
He turned to me as if to say, HURRY BOY, ITS WAITING THERE FOR YOU!!!”
“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you!”
“There’s nothing that 100 men or more could ever do!”
“I bless the rains down in Africa”
“Gonna take some time to do the things we never had!“
“I know I must do what’s right, as Sure as KILIMANJARO rises like Olympus above the Serengeti“
Etc. Etc……It Was Perfect!!

“No deal!” She spoke. “Go by yourself If you insist on going that badly”. I tried a few more times to no avail. She sarcastically reiterated, “go by yourself!“. I always considered climbing Kilimanjaro and got to thinking that this may be my chance. At 65 years old I’m not going to have too many more opportunities like this. I made the decision and broke the news to her. It went over very badly. “I was only kidding”. Nancy said, “You definitely should NOT go!”.

You need at least two weeks to visit Africa and my only window is the last two weeks in November. Obviously, this time frame includes Thanksgiving and it also included my 66th birthday. It’s Now or Never I thought. My research indicated that this is not a good season to go as it is the “Partial Rainy Season “, so I had second thoughts, but further research indicated that it is still quite doable, and for that matter, even less tourists! I later learned that it DID rain almost every single day, but only from about 1:00 to 3:00 PM. My mind was made up and after being married 42 years Nancy pretty much knew where this was going. She suggested I find a traveling companion and I agreed, but had no luck. Looking back, I am glad that I only asked 2 friends, and did not push them. I encountered a lotta shit, and many decisions needed to be made along the way. This adventure is best run as a solo dictatorship, rather than a democracy, as the citizenry would likely rebel, and I don’t want to lose any friends. I travel for business nearly every week and am comfortable doing this alone. If you know my Nancy, you know that she is totally awesome and eventually became very supportive. She did some research on her own and even helped me pack. Being an ER Nurse, she highly recommended the Diamox medication for altitude sickness that needs to be taken BEFORE hiking.

Our Grandson James also registered his support!

Overall, some 65% of Kilimanjaro hikers succeed, and the Diamox medication dramatically increases your success rate. A few days before I left we had some friends over for dinner including one of my best friends, Morris. Morris is a semi-Retired ER Physician and among those that I invited to join me. We are always doing outdoor stuff together including white water kayaking in Costa Rica and climbing a volcano in Chile in our younger days. He knew better, and decided not to come. I did not push. After our dinner, Morris looked at me with a blank stair and asked the question, “Are you taking the Diamox?” I’ll never forget his serious expression. We typically are just buds hangin out, I said “No”. Morris is the kind of friend that will watch out for you, and I could see that he didn’t approve. Diamox makes you breath faster, thus getting more oxygen in your blood so you can tolerate the less oxygen that the thinner atmosphere will deprive you of. My stubbornness prevailed as I wanted to see how I would do without it. My logic was that I would voluntarily condition myself to breath faster all the time. Hard to do when you are sleeping, but the fact is, I didn’t get much sleep.

Then Morris brought up the issue of diarrhea. Morris is well traveled and had the foresight to consider how my body may react to foreign things that I am going to be exposed to. Differing bacterial interaction that my body may have little immunity to. It Could be something that I touch, to certainly the food that I eat. Morris suggested it wise to have a plan. Nancy got into the discussion and I ended up ordering some antibiotics from my general practitioner. We also had some inventory of antibiotics “In house”, so I ended up with 3 types to choose from depending on the condition. Small packages and light weight, they were easy enough to carry in a third world country for 12 days. Those meds ended up being used, and I have no idea how bad things may have gotten had they not been available. Also, Nancy and Morris advised that Pepto Bismol be taken after every meal. It made my stool turn black, pretty gross, but I imagine this was also a good move.

Nancy’s other concern was that she could not monitor my situation. The outfitter said I would be completely out of communication for the entire hike. Making things worse, we later learned that I was the only client registering for the climb. To our relief, three days into the hike I was at a vantage point where we were able to intermittently text back-and-forth, and on day 4 we even had a phone conversation. Had I convinced Nancy to go to Africa, it would have only been to Safari. She declined, but I was not going all the way to Africa without doing a Safari for a few days. It turned out to make perfect sense because you need a negative PCR COVID test within 72 hours of your departure, so a three day Safari became my plan.

Traveling to a Africa is pricey and a support team to climb Kilimanjaro certainly adds to the cost. Leaving Nancy behind cut the cost, and I’m willing to stay in a tent rather than a lodge. What outfitter did I choose? I decided not to name the outfitter and others. I am not keeping this anonymous, “To Protect the innocent”, but because lack of tourism has placed all these outfitters in such a lousy position that it’s difficult for any of them to perform. If I name the individuals, it would reveal the outfitter, so even my support team’s names were changed. I will say this; TripAdvisor may be a good resource for selecting restaurants or hotels, but I can assure you that they are not a reliable resource to research the best outfitter to climb Kilimanjaro. Looking back, it appeared that the other tent sites surrounding me may have had better accommodations and must have had better food, but I never asked any other hikers about that. It was pointless by then. I was ALL IN! If you want more direct info, contact me.

Turns out that the seven fellows that tended to my needs; 1 Guide: Berundi, 1 Cook: Jessie, and 5 Porters, were a wonderful group of fellows. But again, the food was not good. Only my guide was communicable in English so he also became my translator. I’m no foodie, but everyone wants decent food when they’re away from home. Certainly, having to carry food to serve people on Mount Kilimanjaro has its challenges, and if you know a little bit about acclimatization you will know that it’s critical to eat, even if you have to force it down. Likely the most significant drawback to my everyday situation was that the food was largely inedible. I limited the food they offered to their fruit and some of the vegetables that they provided. I also relied on a jar of peanut butter for which the ingredients read “Peanuts and Salt”. It was processed in the closest large city of Arusha and had a semi fluid consistency. It became a common practice for me to simply pour it down my gullet. Why was the food so miraculously awful? I believe for one thing, poverty in the area is so profound that the natives likely consider this food to be more than acceptable. Also, I don’t necessarily blame Jessie as my cook. If the ingredients that were provided to Jesse or were of better quality, things would have been much more appetizing.