Bwana Eliapenda
This story will break at least two of the rules for the Photo a Day for 30 Days series. First, it shows a person, Bwana Eliapenda (although, only in silhouette). Second, I am going to tell a story… and it will be more than a couple of paragraphs. Sorry… I can’t show you this image without telling a bit of the story that gave me the opportunity to shoot it (with a Kodak Instamatic). So here goes…
I was going to school at the University of California at Riverside and had a job as the Campus Sales Representative for TWA. One day I received a brochure in the mail from TWA offering special tours to its employees. This brochure said, “Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, $100, everything provided.” Even in 1971 that seemed like a fantastic deal to me. Another one of the perks that came with working for TWA was every employee got one free round trip ticket anywhere on the TWA system per year. Well, this was just too good to pass up. I immediately booked myself on this adventure… a great way, I thought, to celebrate my 21st birthday.
Fast forward to the day I arrived at the Marangu Hotel, situated at the southern base of Mount Kilimanjaro. I feasted my eyes on what seemed to me to be the garden of Eden. I thought, “For only $100 I get to stay here?!??! WOW!!!!” This was just the beginning. That night I stayed in my own private bungalow.
The next morning I woke to the sounds of jungle birds. My backpack was neatly packed, and I was ready to go in short order. I soon heard a knock on my door. Opening the door, I was greeted by two African ladies saying, “We’re here to pack your things.” I replied, “No need to worry about that, I’ve already got everything packed.” They asked, “Oh… Where?” I pointed to my backpack. They said, “Oh, that will never do. The porter is not used to caring things packed that way.” I replied, “Porter??? What porter??? I can carry my own stuff.” Then they launch into this very impassioned speech, explaining that my porter is counting on having this opportunity to work, it’s how he supports his family. After a few minutes I gave in and let them repack everything. They put everything very neatly into a duffel bag. I followed them outside where they introduced me to my porter and gave him the duffel. He proceeded to wrap the duffel with a three inch thick mattress, then stuffed all of that into a larger duffel and added a small bundle of his own things.
After several minutes of introductions and explanations from the guides, we set off up the road. I, in my fancy hiking boots with a small day pack, my porter, barefoot with a gigantic duffel bag on his head. My porter absolutely left me in the dust.
The trek up the mountain was divided into three legs, stopping at a hut at the end of each day’s hike. Upon arriving at each hut (my porter having arrived hours before me) I would find my sleeping bag laid out on a bunk with the three inch thick mattress… the corner of the bag was turned back with a fresh pair of socks laid on top. Within minutes of my arrival, the camp cook would bring me a cup of tea and a few cookies. All this for a hundred bucks?!?!?!? I was flabbergasted… but I was also very grateful… I was young and reasonably fit, but this adventure would have been grueling if I had to carry all my own stuff. In fact, I doubt I would have made the whole journey without the help of a porter to carry my things.
After three days of hiking we arrived at the Kibo hut, situated at the base of the cinder cone that is the taller of the two peaks on the Kilimanjaro massif. I was the youngest member of the tourist group and the most fit. I was first to arrive at the camp at 15,500 feet elevation. A few hours after I had arrived the others began arriving… some looking like they were about to keel over.
Very early the next morning we set out for the summit. At that elevation it was pretty huffy puffy, so the guides were leading us up this frozen cinder cone at a snails pace. Eager to make it to the absolute pinnacle, Uhuru point, I kept imploring the head guide, Bwana Eliapenda, “Uhuru, Uhuru!” Which, interestingly enough, I believe is the Swahili word for “freedom.” Eventually, he assigned the assistant guide to look after the other tourists, and the two of us took off for the summit without them.
At last, we get to the place the image above was taken, Gillman’s point. This is on the crater rim of the Kibo cinder cone, at 18,600 feet elevation. We arrived just in time to catch the sunrise coming up behind Mawenzi, the smaller jagged peak on the opposite side of the Kilimanjaro massif. It is hard to properly convey the magnitude and majesty of this place. In the photo you see the Mawenzi peak in the distance. It looks so far away you’d think it was a completely different mountain… but it’s just the far side of this unbelievably gigantic mountain. Below Mawenzi you see a bank of clouds stretching across a huge plain. The lowest point on that plain is 15,000 feet above sea level. That plain, thousands of feet below us, is higher than any peak in the 48 states. It’s just breathtaking!!!
From Gillman’s point, we looked into the crater of Kibo. It was filled with huge ice formations. We quickly set out for Uhuru point, the highest point on the mountain. We trudged through snow that got deeper and deeper the further we went. About half way between Gillman’s point and Uhuru point Bwana Eliapenda looked at me… both of us standing armpit deep in snow… as if to say, “Are you nuts!!!” Reluctantly, I agreed to turn around.
Before leaving the Marangu Hotel at the very end of my stay, I gave all my fancy hiking gear to my porter and the other porters I had made friends with. I had seen some of them walking barefoot and poorly clothed in freezing weather at 15,000 feet elevation.
There are many more interesting details to this epic adventure (well, interesting to me anyway), but this is all I’ll offer for now. The photo above is all I have left, other than my memories. Thank You, Bwana Eliapenda… and Thank You to my porter (I’m sorry I don’t remember your name) and to all the other friends I made on that amazing adventure.
Before posting this story, I looked at a Google aerial photo of Kilimanjaro. It’s heartbreaking. The snow is gone!!! None of the giant ice formations I saw are left. You can see a track in the cinder around the rim of the Kibo crater where I once stood armpit deep in snow.
