The biggest challenge of my life

I had just got back from the field trip when I had to leave again. This time for a trip to Mount Longonot. It means ‘mountain of steep ridges’ in Maasai language. Actually it is a stratovolcano. Our group was really lucky with the weather. The guide told that it was overcast for the last couple of days around The Mount Longonot National Park. When it happens, the crater rim is hidden in clouds and the one cannot see the other side of the crater. This would be disappointment, something what I experienced in Ireland. I went to famous Cliffs of Moher when there was a dense fog. Did not have a single picture to post on Facebook. When I asked for a feedback on Mt Longonot, the most common word mentioned was ‘dusty’. I wondered why people could not find better comparisons. I have climbed some mountains covered with completely dry soil, but this was a new experience. Volcanic ash consists of so tiny particles that every step makes a huge dust storm. Just after few hundred meters of walking, my legs were covered in grey particles and this was just beginning. Soon it also became clear why Maasai calls it a mountain with steep ridges. A way to the top was arduous. There were two rapidly ascending stages before we reached the crater rim. The view was worth all the effort. It was so awesome to see a forest inside the crater. It seemed like a different world. Guide told that Longonot has last erupted in the middle of 19th century and it is still dormant. From what I saw, I was sure that it is extinct for a very long time. However, the last seismic activity was monitored just 10 years ago.

But the hike was not over just reaching the rim. We had to get to the highest peak which was at 2 o’clock. I had an option to go the shorter and steeper path or the longer and flatter. It turned out that I was the only one going the steeper one. It was not as difficult as the route to the crater rim, but the heat and dust made me sweat a lot. That day I drank 5 litres of water. The way I chose appeared to be faster regardless the rapid altitude gain and I reached the peak at 2776m an hour before anyone else came. First, I set up my camera to take a snapshot every 30 seconds, so I can make a time lapse video later. Then I ate lunch and I tried to locate others on the rim, but it was impossible. The distance was too long. Some shade was too much to ask. Otherwise the day was perfect. However, this was not my big challenge, but just a training for something greater.

This ‘greater’ event required to take two days off work. On early Friday morning I had my 65l hiking bag full and ready for a trip. This journey will take me to the top of Kenya or precisely 4985m above the sea level. It was the only event I had planned before coming to Kenya. Initially, I wanted to go for high altitude trekking in Nepal, but this East African country also has several options to do it. Mount Kenya is the highest point in Kenya and the second highest in Africa after Kilimanjaro. The name of the country comes from the name of this mountain. It is also a stratovolcano, but its rim is so eroded that the one will not think it is volcano just by climbing there. And it is not as dusty as Mt Longonot. When I got to the group’s meeting point I found that we were 9 climbers, seven of them women. I told myself that hopefully I will not stay behind them. At noon we reached the gates of The National Park of Mt Kenya. There we had lunch to prepare us for a 9km route to the first camp at 3400m. The first climb was easy and we reached the camp long before the sunset. After decent supper porters suggested us to go to sleep. This was around 7pm. I did not feel sleepy at all, so I just chatted for few more hours with everyone who felt the same. Luckily, some Dutch guys had chess. It kept as busy for a while. When I finally went to the bad, I could not fall asleep. I had four layers of cloth, but it was still cold. I blamed the guy who gave me that summer sleeping bag.

Next morning we had another descent meal. The porters were forcing us eat a lot. We had to walk 14km and ascend to 4250m. It was interesting to observe how the vegetation changed as we were raising higher. We started at forest level, but ended up at the camp which was surrounded by low vegetation, except for a tree-type plant which name I did not know. Two of us got at the camp just before the rain.  It bucketed long and I felt really sad for others. It was not an easy walk, but the rain made it much worse. When everyone got to the camp and changed, we had another nutritious meal. For dinner we had fried chicken with rice, potato and vegetable stew. After the main course, we always got some fruits, but I was so full that I never ate them. Next day promised to be the most difficult. We had to get up at 2am to reach the peak by sunrise. This early morning is not only to see the sunrise, but also because then is the highest chance to see clear sky. None of us wanted to climb to the top of Africa and be surrounded by clouds. I hoped for a better sleep that night. I managed to fall asleep around 10pm, but not for long. This time headache woke me up. I checked the time and it was midnight. What worried me was not the fact that I will not sleep long enough, but the headache. At this altitude it is very serious and most likely indicates altitude sickness. As time went by, my headache got worse. My mind got full with thoughts about going down not up.

At 2am porters called us for light breakfast – cookies and tea. It is suggested not to eat anything at this altitude before climbing higher, because it may cause sickness and vomiting. Well, I felt sick already. I sat at the table and took a cup of tea waiting for the main guide. It is insanity to climb up with headache and we were told to be honest if we feel unwell. By hiding it, we create peril of getting seriously sick. Though my headache diminished. I thought it was body’s position that made the difference. I raised from the table and walked around a bit. The headache disappeared completely. When the guide came, I told him that I felt headache at night, but it is gone. He actually confirmed my suspicion saying that some people feel altitude sickness when in a lay down position. I had a green light to go up… Up at the heights I have never been before.

This was also my first night hiking. We left the camp at 3.20am, everyone equipped with torches. That was the night of the full moon; so bright that clouds even made shadows on the ground. At 4500m there was no vegetation left, just bare, frozen rocks. Each step made the earth crunch. I felt like walking on the Moon, but someone reminded that the Moon has lesser gravity, so ascending would be much easier there. I could not disagree with that. This climb actually was the most difficult that I have ever had. I could really feel the lack of oxygen in the air. I could not do any rapid moves, that all made me feel dizzy. I and two other group members kept constant pace with no stops. Every pause would give us time to think how difficult it is and reduce our motivation to go further.  So we just kept walking up and up. Inclination never got less than 30 degrees and before the summit it was 45 degrees or more. At 4700m snow appeared on our way. If not the altitude, I would start a snowball fight. However, I did not try even bending to reach snow. Last bit of distance was pure rock climbing and then we saw the sign: You have reached third highest point: Point Lenana 4985m. I did it!‌

And I did it too fast. We still had 45 minutes until sunrise. I set up my camera for another time lapse. If successful, it should be amazing, but with go pro you never know what you are recording, so it is always a bit of gamble. I am still learning the time frequency for each natural phenomena. For instance, recording clouds need shorter time frame than when capturing sunrise or sunset. However, this was still not the biggest challenge for me in Kenya.

On the following Friday I had not fully recovered from the mountain yet, but in the evening my trekking bag was packed again and I was going to Safari. But not for game drive as most people expect, but to run a marathon with (behind) Maasai people – one of the fastest tribes in Africa. Amazing Maasai marathon takes place 70km North of Mount Kenya and 50km from the equator in the middle of nowhere. Of course, there were some small villages around, but Google Maps did not recognize them. It is extremely hot trail marathon with some hills on the route. The average altitude is around 1800m. I had run a half-marathon once, but never done more than 30km. Nevertheless, I made commitment to run 42km. The good thing was that the marathon consisted of two 21km circuits. This would allow me to do a half-marathon if I did not feel well. Actually, I had to be in Mombasa that weekend, laying down on the beach by the Indian Ocean and drinking Mojitos. However, a week before going to Mountain Kenya I changed my plans. I really wanted to take the most from my trip to Africa and I knew that I may not have a chance to participate in such challenging venue for a while.

On Saturday morning at 7.30 the race began. Luckily, it was overcast in the morning. The weather was the second condition on what my decision (to run half or full marathon) depended on. For me the only challenge was to finish the run. I saw amazing Maasai people only at the start or, more precisely, I saw the dust they left. For the first 10km I ran very slowly to see how I cope with altitude, hills and tiredness in my legs. I was nearly the last one until KM 14. Surprisingly, the first runner I caught was the guy with whom I came together to the venue. He wanted to do the race in 04:30, but it seemed not to happen. He struggled with altitude a lot and at that point started to walk. I still felt great and decided to run another circuit. At the finish there were two lanes. One for the finishers of the half-marathon and the other for those who are running further. As I approached everyone called Latvia, Latvia! When I chose the lane, everyone exclaimed, all as one. This giant (for them a 195cm tall guy is a giant) chose the right lane, which meant that he is not finishing yet. That moment was so funny. It actually made me feel like a winner already. This moment gave me a boost. I started to run a bit faster and over took few more people. Most of them told that they are struggling with altitude. Nairobi is situated 1600m above sea level and 4 weeks there helped me to adopt to this climate. In combination with a trip to Mt Kenya the previous weekend altitude could not be my enemy. Though, my knees where. At KM 26 my fear became a reality. The knees did not hurt yet, but they become extremely sensitive. It’s hard to describe this feeling, but from my previous experience I know that next stage is ache in the knees and then I am not even able to walk. To take some pressure from the legs or at least distribute it differently, I was looking for sandier spots to get a better amortization. I also walked every stage that went uphill. Walking 7km/h or running 9/km did not make such difference anyway. The tactics helped and it did not get worse.

The weather grew worse. It cleared up! At any other time people would say that the weather improved, but not when you are running a marathon in 30C temperature. From that moment at every water station I took two bottles. One for drinking and one for cooling down. Basically, I just poured the water over me. The faces of locals made me feel that I was doing something wrong. Water is the most precious thing they have and we were just wasting it. I wish I had time to explain them that Northern Europeans are not used with this heat. After the third round of pouring water over my head it did not help anymore. The pressure in my head started to build up from the heat. At some point dizziness added to my list of troubles. I passed two runners who had stopped under a tree. They experienced sickness as well, but obviously worse than mine. The Sun actually became my motivator. I just wanted to get to the finish where three huge tents were set up. That was a shelter I was looking for. At KM 34 it was 4 hours in distance. I did much better than expected so far. A new target was set: to finish under 5 hours. I still used the same tactics walking fast uphill and then trying to win some time running down the hill. It was an adventurous strategy, because the biggest pressure on knees is downhill. I also needed to save some energy for the last bit of the race. The highest hill was 3km before the finish followed by a steep run down into a sand river. Running on sandy soil was good for my knees, running on sand not at all. I don’t remember how I dealt with the obstacles. What I remember is seeing the sign KM 41. One more left! I checked my time. It showed 04:40. I was going to finish under 5 hours. Knowing that, I stopped and started to walk. There was zero motivation left for running. I tried to force myself to move faster, but unsuccessful. Walking had never felt so good. Only when I saw the finish area few hundred meters ahead I started to slowly run and even that was not an easy task. There were less people at the finish than the previous time. The best Maasai runner did the marathon in 02:20 or so. Awards ceremony was held before I finished. It did not matter, I just finished! 04:49 was my time, great time for such an arduous challenge. Moreover, it was my first marathon.

Next morning we were still high on emotions. To give us a bit of rest, the driver took me and other three companions for a game drive. It was not planned before, so I was extremely happy. Since I did not have time to go to The Maasai Mara National Park which contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, this was a good compensation. We did not see any big cats, but there were many other animals to watch. My favourite was a group of elephants that surrounded us from both sides of the road. One of the got quite angry (picture below). After the game drive we crossed the equator one more time and drove back to Nairobi. With this my last weekend in Kenya was over. I wish I had some more time to explore this beautiful country, but it was time to get back to Europe. I had few more days left at office to finish some of my work with Renewable World and enjoy lovely African style farewell dinner! Thank You Kenya for the amazing time!