The odds of this

The odds of this happening: three airline passengers sitting next to each other, apparently with nothing in common, to eventually have some shared experience was an amazing coincidence.

Early this year, I was on a connecting flight from Doha and was stuck at the window seat of the row with two other passengers on my left side.

I thought the passenger next to me was throwing a lot of his weight around, literally. He was elbowing me away from placing my left arm on the armrest and did so without any misgivings.

He read a huge book and as I glanced over I could not determine what language he was reading. He read a lot from that book, and when he put down the book he engaged the other passenger to my far left in conversation.

I realized one can learn so much by just listening. I tend to be a person who prefers to keep quiet when I travel. If I am not reading something I prefer to contemplate life silently. And I cherish that privacy, and try to maintain it as much as possible. Sometimes, my biggest fear when I travel is I will be seated next to someone who wants to talk throughout a long haul flight, denying the quiet I so much cherish while traveling.

Not long after our departure from Doha, I glanced out of the window and saw a snow-covered mountain range. Our flight was just approaching the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. I later learnt these were the Alborz Mountains.

My neighbour to the left also saw what I saw and began recounting his experience of climbing those mountains. I thought that was an interesting coincidence. I have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and was sitting next to someone who had also climbed these beautiful mountains in Iran.

Photo of Tehran with the Alborz mountain range By Hansueli Krapf - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7065187

The other passenger continued to listen with interest to my neighbours adventures on the Alborz mountains. I thought how unfortunate that I had shown little interest to speak to anyone; it could have been an interesting conversation to join, with my experiences of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

When my neighbor exhausted his narrative, he asked the other passenger: "So, what do you do?" The response confirmed to me that I might have to reconsider avoiding conversations with strangers.

He responded he spends most of his time climbing mountains, and had climbed Mt. Everest several times. I have never met someone who has climbed Mt. Everest, but I sure have a lot of  questions to ask someone who has, but I thought I would look awkward to suddenly have any interest in my neighbors, so I keenly followed the conversation between them.

The odds of this happening: three passengers sitting next to each other and having some mountaineering experience to share between them was just amazing.

Snowfall in Maryland

I am spending some time in the state of Maryland in the United States and a sudden snowfall triggered memories of home, in more than one way.

I forwarded a photo I snapped from the kitchen window, below, to friends and joked that I had a

 feeling that it was time to go home alluding to the fact that 'home' was warm and sunny and amenable to strolling down the main village road and catching a conversation with friends and acquaintances, or where Zebras roam the plains, whereas in Maryland (at least where I am) it made more sense to remain inside than venture out into the cold weather.

...where Zebras roam the plains.

The flip side of 'home' is where it is much colder than what I am experiencing at the moment: Mt. Kilimanjaro. on reflection, I gradually moved from my stereotypical depiction of home to a more balanced depiction of what Tanzania is: warm in some places, and bitterly cold in others.

A climber, right, with two Tanzanian guides at Stella Point (5,685m) on Mt. Kilimanjaro.

And, surprisingly, I miss both of them.

Yes, Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania and Hans Meyer is from Leipzig

Last year the best elements converge to enable me for put together an interesting blog post but I did not find out until much later. Maybe not of interest to everyone, but certainly of interest to people who read about Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I visited the German city of Leipzig in November 2011 and my visit had a lot to do with Mt. Kilimanjaro. I visited Benjamin Leers and Maurice Housni with whom in December 2011 I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro while they filmed a documentary that is about to be released. To promote the climb and the documentary, we were interviewed at a radio station. Mt. Kilimanjaro was on the subject of most conversations during those few days I was in Leipzig.

Several months after I returned to Tanzania I discovered that the genesis of the mountaineering chronology of Mt. Kilimanjaro is rooted in Leipzig. Hans Meyer (1858 - 1929) was the first European to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on 6th October 1889.

The monument at Marangu Gate on Mt. Kilimanjaro in honour of Hans Meyer.

He worked at his father's publishing house in Leipzig and later became a professor at the University of Leipzig. He was buried in Leipzig.

Meyer reached the summit with Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller. Their climbing team included nine porters, a cook, and a guide called Yohani Kinyala Lauwo (1871 - 1996). Lauwo is described in some literature as the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Next to Hans Meyer's monument at Marangu Gate is a monument that honours Yohani Kinyala Lauwo and his team of porters who accompanied Hans Meyer to Mt. Kilimanjaro's summit. 

Training in Germany for Kilimanjaro

I took a bicycle ride through a scenic route of Leipzig with filmmaker Benjamin Leers, with whom I will climb Mt. Kilimanjaro next month to mark 50 years of Tanzania's independence. It was good exercise for the upcoming climb and I told Benjamin I would tell my guide, Yahoo, that this time I trained in Germany for my climb.

Later at a cafe', we met his co-partner, Maurice Housni, with whom they will film a documentary during the Mt. Kilimanjaro climb.

Related post:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2012/10/yes-mt-kilimanjaro-is-in-tanzania-and.html

My visit to one beneficiary of last year's Kilimanjaro climb

During last year’s Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Climb, I was joined by Mary Kalikawe from Kiroyera Tours and William Rutta of the Bukoba Disabled Assistance Project (BUDAP), a Bukoba-based organization formed in 2005 to provide “…appropriate training and employment in the production of handicrafts and related products” for its members, who are predominantly victims of polio.

BUDAP’s products include traditional drums, and handbags made from traditional African khanga and kitenge cloth.

After the climb I visited Bukoba and BUDAP’s premises near the Bukoba airport. I met some of BUDAP’s members and shared with them stories (only true ones) of the adventures of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

In the photograph, from left to right: Baraka, Ashirafu, Themistocles, the author of this post, and Elias.

If you wish to donate to BUDAP you can contact them through:

Bukoba Disabled Assistance Project (BUDAP)

P.O. Box 485

Bukoba - Tanzania.

www.budap.org

mailbudap@yahoo.com

Tel.+255713568276

Posts related to this one:

http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2011/06/mary-kalikawe-and-william-rutta-reach_15.html

http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2010/12/jaffar-amin-has-arrived-in-moshi-for.html

http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2011/01/elifariji-lima-donates-sh15-million-to.html

Travel options to Mt. Kilimanjaro: to hitch a ride across the Serengeti or to fly?

This post, is a continuation of my older posts from my other blog From Butiama and Beyond. Traveling between where I live and the starting point of the Kilimanjaro climb always presents challenges. 

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I arrived in Moshi last night, having failed to cross the Serengeti National Park by car at a cost of 23 US dolllars. Placing reliance on cars that may or may not pass through Ndabaka Gate, the western entrance to the Serengeti National Park, was like playing the lottery.

In the morning I decided to board a bus from Lamadi, the small town close to Ndabaka Gate, for Mwanza from where I took an afternoon flight to Mwanza. In the end I did not see a single wild animal and paid much more than the 23 dollars I budgeted for. But I can still say I crossed the Serengeti - at 5000m above sea level.

And staying at Lamadi gave me an idea about writing a guidebook on budget travel. I stayed at the Nima Delux Guest House for 9,000 shillings (6 US dollars). At Mama Mniko's I ate a meal of rice, beans, and Balala fried fish for 1,300 shillings (0.86 US dollars). Bus fare to Mwanza 3,000 shillings (2 US dollars).

At Mama Mniko's where a plate of food sells for Shs.1,300/-.




Inside my room at Nima Delux Guest House, Lamadi.

Then the final expense item and a reminder that plans do not always unfold as expected, I paid 220,000 shillings (147 US dollars) for the flight from Mwanza to the Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Posts related to this one:
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/06/across-serengeti-again.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/06/serengeti-crossing-not-yet-i-settle-for.html
http://madarakanyerere.blogspot.com/2011/06/through-serengeti-this-time-from.html

The Mwalimu Nyerere/Mt. Kilimanjaro Charity Climb 2010 (post 2 of 12)

This is the second of twelve posts on the December 2010 Mt. Kilimanjaro climb.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010As soon I boarded a Nairobi-bound bus at Makutano on my way to Moshi, I was caught in a draft from the open bus windows and as I put on a jacket I realized I forgot to pack a heavy coat that is suitable for wearing at lower altitudes during the Kilimanjaro climb. I had a whole year to plan this year’s climb, and I forgot crucial wear! I sent a text message home asking someone to find a way to send the raincoat and another jacket I left behind, and I settled into my seat for a comfortable ride to Nairobi and to Moshi. I wished.

It wasn't comfortable.

After I sent the initial message I realized I also forgot a raincoat that is indispensable for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with the rainy season just about to start. I sent a second text message.

The Nairobi route to Arusha is uneventful, but lengthy. I would like those who object to a better road through the Serengeti as a comfortable alternative and shorter route for residents of Tanzania’s Mara region to try the Nairobi option once in a while and reflect on why Mara residents prefer a better road through the Serengeti.

The route and the outcome: Makutano – Nairobi: approximately 6 hours; transit time at Nairobi: 7 hours; Nairobi – Moshi (9 hours, if the bus does not break down.) Unfortunately, the bus did break down, twice. On reaching the Arusha terminal, there was a delay of more than an hour while the bus underwent some repairs of a burst hydraulic pipe.

We resumed the trip towards Moshi and half an hour before reaching Moshi, the bus broke down again and I reflected on the company’s motto: Connecting East Africa. Not today, I thought. Not today.

The first breakdown at Arusha.

I got off the bus and hopped onto an Arusha – Moshi commuter bus and reached Moshi and checked into a modest clean hotel on the first floor of the building that has a rental shop for mountain climbing gear.

Next: In Moshi

Posts related to this one:
http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-donation-received-from-notburga.html
http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2010/12/another-donation-to-kilimanjaro-charity.html