Baba vs Babu

Back into the 6x6 and out across the beautiful African savannah. Soon we pulled over with the driver announcing, “We have a puncture.” My team mates quickly enquired, “What’s a puncture?”, as they were unaware of the British expression for a flat tire. Within about 20-seconds our trailing truckload of porters had a spare truck tire rolling towards us. With about 10-Tanzanians watching, one alone did an exceptional job of undoing and redoing the 6 retaining bolts (the other 6 just weren’t there!) Ramona went off into the tall grass to relieve herself – more in fear of snakes than of us catching her on camera! Eventually we arrived at the Londerosi Gate of Kilimanjaro Park. My altimeter now showed 7080 feet! Wow, this was 1/3 of the way! Could it be this easy? The government inspectors came and weighed each bag the porters had to carry as there is a strict limit of 20kg per porter in addition to his own pack. There was a time when porters were expected to haul up to 50 – 60 kg each!! The Tusker porters all lined up and also had their personal gear examined to ensure they were prepared for the colder climes to be experienced. This all took place while we were fed a bagged lunch that included things such as “Glucose Biscuits”, a cold wiener, boiled egg, a warm carrot stick, butter on dodgy bread, a melted chocolate bar and a wonderful mango juice box. Then we were all required to sign in with our passport numbers. Suddenly, we were loaded back onto the truck! I had mistakenly thought that this was our starting point. We were soon driving deep into the jungle on something that was once considered a road, but was now a rutted, deep, muddy quagmire. This was why we had such a serious mode of transportation. Our driver was superb as he navigated the metre deep ruts of mud to eventually deposit us into a forest clearing. All gear was unloaded and we became aware of the entourage we had engaged to get us to the top of Kili. There were 35-guides and porters! That’s 5-people to support each climber!! How embarrassing! We had 3-guides, 1-emergency tech, 1-cook, 1-waiter and the rest were to carry all the food, gear, tents, and whatever else.

Knowing that Ramona was once a cheerleader for both the Toronto Argonauts and also the Oakland Raiders, I had brought along a set of pom-poms for her and surprised her with them. She was thrilled and stuck them onto the sides of her backpack. We took our first “Day 1” group shot and started off up an elephant track – yes, I said elephant track – up a hill and into the forest. How did I know it was an elephant track? Well, my first clue was the elephant dung along the way (and there’s no mistaking elephant dung), then the massive tree branches broken off and finally, because Shabani told me so! I was a little disappointed though, when Malya (I call our guide Stephen Malya by his last name so as not to confuse him with our own Stephen Maine) told me that the elephants had all left the area a week previously because of the heavy rains they had. I said, “I really, really want to see an elephant in the wild.” Malya replied, “No, you don’t!”

This first day was a relatively light one as we had started after lunch. Still, when we arrived at “Mti Kubwa kambi”, (“Big Tree Camp”) all of us had worked up a healthy, frothy sweat. We were each provided with our own basin with warm water to wash up and we all happily traipsed into the dinner tent with raging appetites. These appetites were met with a veritable feast as we soon found out that we were to be fed 4000 to 4500 calories each per day!! During this first meal I asked Eliakim about this moniker, ‘Babu’. “Who called you that?” was his query. I explained about the women in Mandaka. He seemed quite miffed and Richard, the waiter, smiled knowingly. Apparently, Babu literally means, Grandfather. However, in the context it was used, it means more like, “wise leader”. This puts my social ranking above the ‘Baba’ title that Eliakim had as chief guide! This latter part was later explained to me by Malya, who also chuckled to himself. From then on, thanks to Malya and Richard, ALL of the porters and guides addressed me as Babu – much to the chagrin of Baba! Eliakim would never call me Babu, but Richard and the others took delight in calling me that in front of Eliakim. Night fell early as we ended the day with medical checks tea, coffee and biscuits. Overly warm in our sub-arctic sleeping bags we rapidly fell asleep to soothing sounds of the jungle.

Only to be awaken around 3:00am by chattering and squawking monkees! My altimeter showed 9,200 feet and the temperature was 10°C this morning. The kima (a type of local monkee) and the Diamox had ensured that we had but a light sleep. Day 2 group shot and we were off. We hiked a fair amount and were soon out of the forest and into a scrub-like area. It was a constant up-hill hike with frequent stops for water. It was amazing how we had left the porters breaking camp and within 2-hours, they had caught us up and passed us, only to have the mess tent erected and a hot lunch ready upon our arrival! Another great meal was had and off we went towards Shira plain. The sight of our camp already set up below us was very welcome as it was a long, tiring walk. My altimeter read 11,300 feet and we could already notice the lesser amount of oxygen available to us. It was just harder to do normal things. I also took note of how we were climbing up higher, and then heading to the lower plain to sleep.

It was here at Shira camp where we first met several others climbing with other groups. Two twenty-something girls from Brighten, England whom we would run across several more times on the trip as well as a couple from Norway: Tonje and Bjarte who were travelling alone with a single guide and a few porters. We would meet the Norwegians at regular intervals on the trek. The diminutive Tonje was already looking rather pale whereas Bjarte was a huge, strapping “Viking like” presence. The picture of Nordic health.

That evening I took the time to introduce myself to our chef, Magnus. He and his assistant, Richard, were performing miracles out here feeding not only us, but the entire 35-man entourage that accompanied us. I spent a few hours in the kitchen tent chatting, helping to chop vegetables and tasting soup. Magnus, a very tall Tanzanian with a striking goatee, had a wonderful humour and a great outlook on life. Richard also served as our waiter and was in training under Magnus’ tutelage. After my visits, I noticed how Richard would start giving me special favours: extra mangoes, more soup. This was soon noticed by the others and I would be asked, “Hey Bob. Can you get me some more mango?”

Journey to the Top of Africa

After the euphoria of the incredibly successful Trivia Night we held at the Russell House, I now had to concentrate my efforts to ensure an equally successful climb of Kilimanjaro. My late nights of anxiety after combing the Internet and reading of other climbing failures had me wondering.

The seemingly interminable flight to Africa culminated in a late night landing at JRO – Kilimanjaro International Airport. The air was tropically warm and the terminal building sticky and hot as we crowded to obtain a landing visa. $50US, thank you! Our guide company, Tusker Trail, had arranged our pickup by an affable driver named Peter who whisked us through customs and quickly on the road to our hotel in Moshi. Through the shadowy moonlight he pointed our goal to the left. Just barely visible were the snowy white peaks I had seen in so many photographs. Travelling in the van with me were CARE climbing team members Jo Ann MacMillan, an Ottawa civil servant who had been on several training climbs with me in the Gatineau Hills, and Martin Coulombe, a francophone Quebec National Assembly guard. We really didn’t see much of our new home at the Keys Hotel that evening. Just time to grab a few bottles of water and then ‘hit the rack’.

I awoke at 5:00 am and went out for a walk. In the distance, the mountain loomed over everything. Its peak sparkled white in the morning sunshine. Wow! It is really, really big! Can I really climb to the top of that thing?

Back at the hotel, the rest of our crew slowly ambled in for breakfast. Amélie Babcock is the youngest member of our group at just 21-years. She works two jobs: one for an NGO at a Hull school and also at the Nordik Spa in Chelsea. Stephen Maine, the most successful of our fund raisers (he raised over twice as much as anyone else!) works for Trend Micro, an Ottawa Internet security company. Ramona Braganza joined us from her home in Vancouver. She is a personal trainer, for the likes of Halle Berry, Jessica Biel and Jessica Alba. Ramona had just finished working with Jess Biel on the new ‘A-Team’ film before she joined us. Finally, a late arrival was Kevin McCort, the President of CARE Canada. He was arriving from Kenya, where he was attending to CARE business.

We were such an odd assortment of people from such varied walks of life yet we all got on so well. We were instantly a very happy and cooperative family about to meet our new father. After breakfast we had our first meeting with the Tusker crew. Introduced by Faheem, the local company organiser and trouble shooter, we met Eliakim Mashanga. Our new ‘father’ or ‘Baba’ in Swahili. As ‘Baba’ he would be the one to watch over us and have the absolute final decision on everything in our expedition. At his side would be Stephen Malya and Shabani. All three were highly skilled, medically trained guides with extensive experience in Kilimanjaro. They explained their roll, some of the equipment they would be bringing along (such as Oxygen cylinders!), showed us our sleeping pads (which turned out to be incredibly comfortable) and delved out our duffle bags – uniquely designed for our upcoming environment. They then took the first baseline of our medical condition, measuring our resting pulse rate and O2 levels. We were then asked to return to our rooms and lay all of our equipment out on our beds for an inspection. This was to determine that we were all adequately prepared for the ordeal!

For the afternoon, CARE had arranged for us to visit a local village that had been very successful in setting up a CARE supervised Wakeza Project, VSL or Village Savings & Loan. We all crammed into a CARE labelled SUV for the “10-minute drive”. (My first experience with ‘African time’. The drive took about 45-minutes!) Our sweaty bodies emerged at the very quiet Madaka Village. The meeting had already started and we were late!! This is where we ‘westerners’ can learn something about running meetings. Each of us were fined for being late and had to deposit money (about $2) into a jar. This jar also gets filled if you speak out of turn at the meeting! Definitely a couple of rules that should be instituted in our meetings! Our interpreter, Deogratis (his name is latin for “thanks be to God”), provided an on-going explanation of the proceedings (he was given an exemption from the fining process!). After the meeting we took the standard group photo and then were invited by the village chief to a snack and a drink (they drink ‘way too much soda pop here!) I took photos of everyone and handed out candies. Later, we met some of the children and their pets. Ramona, with her dark skin, was a big hit as many of the women had them try on their colourful wraps. The women also took a liking to my greying beard and started calling me ‘Babu’. Goodbyes and thank you’s completed, we squeezed back into the SUV for the ride home. While driving through Moshi I became quite excited to see all the market stalls open and thousands of people around. I asked the driver stop and he responded, “hakuna matata” (no problem!) and I jumped out to find my own way home. Stephen and Amélie joined me as together we explored African city life.

The next morning we were all up early and packed. All our mountain gear in the duffle bags, day gear in our backpacks - loaded down with an additional 4-litres of water apiece. Our suitcases were hauled off to local storage. It was 28°C and my altimeter showed 2780 feet. We all clambered into a huge ex-military 6x6 truck for our 5-hour drive to the start point. After an hour or so of driving we stopped at a small village to allow our truckload of porters a break. We had a ball playing with the local street kids. Stephen in particular was a superstar as he played with them all taking their photos and having them pose in various states. Ramona soon had them dancing – emulating Michael Jackson. I really enjoyed it as they taught me various Swahili words for different animals and then they would each do their best to emulate the animal actions. Eliakim took me aside and said, “It is a good thing that you do here. This is the only love these children ever see.”

Safari huanza!

Its time. I start my journey in a few hours. I finished packing yesterday. What a job that was! My goal was to put all of my hiking gear into my carry on. i.e. my backpack. That proved to be pretty much impossible so I had to weed through things and include only absolute essentials, with the rest in my suitcase. The reasoning for this packing strategy is that it is a common occurrence that checked baggage doesn't make to the hotel for the Kili climb start time. The result is that I would still have enough to complete the climb, its just that my socks will start to get very ripe!

I had a lovely chat yesterday with Andrea Seymour and it appears that all is in hand regarding communications back to 'base', that being the CARE office in Ottawa. The idea is that one of us each day will leave a voice message and it will be posted on the web site. We should also be able to text short messages back and receive text messages. I hope there is a way to send a daily photograph. I know that the Welsh Women Walking group are able to do so with similar equipment. We'll have to wait and see. I guess its bugging me because I like to have things tested and ready before I go.

I had thought that Kevin was already in Africa but the Haiti conference in Montreal this past Monday kept him from going early as planned. Instead he'll stay longer after our climb to complete his chores for CARE. I'm assuming that he will now be travelling together with Jo Ann and me, and later Martin.

And we're off!

By the way, safari huanza is swahili for: The Journey Begins!

Excitement

I can't sleep. This isn't good. I recall Marc Tassie mentioning to me that he was pretty much exhausted just before his Kilimanjaro attempt back in 2005 and he attributed that as one of the primary causes to his failing to adjust to the altitude. The photos of Marc during the briefing by Tusker Trail (the guide company) show him to be very tired indeed. So now I'm in this viscous circle of finding myself laying awake thinking about how important it is for me to be asleep!!! Arggg!

Stephen & Amélie left a few days ago - as I should have! I'm angry with myself that after having given Stephen the advice to leave a couple of days earlier to allow his body to adjust to the time difference, I didn't follow that same advice!! Arggg again! Kevin is also already in Africa as he had CARE business to attend to prior to the climb. Ramona is in the UK and will have but a couple of hours to adjust. Martin, Jo Ann and I will travel - and suffer - together! At least I shan't be alone! Actually, I'm pretty happy that we'll be travelling together. It just makes things a little more convenient when someone can watch over your things whilst changing planes in a foreign land. We'll have a head start on the melding of our group dynamic!

It's pretty amazing to think that I'll be in Africa in just a couple of days! I've been following a group of Welsh Women who started the climb a couple of days ago and this is just adding to my excitement.

And I wonder why I can't sleep . . .

Disappointment

I've now been out for two small hikes with my new Arcteryx shell. It really is fantastic at cutting the cold wind. However, I'm also really disappointed that we ended up with the shorter cut of the Alpine styling. It really is wrong for what we're about to do and I feel we've probably wasted a fair chunk of change on these jackets (I think five of us bought into this deal). The jacket is cut short to allow for greater mobility when climbing up rock faces and such. The trip to Kili is more of a hike and so the hikers version of the jacket is what was needed. My jacket doesn't cover the bottom of any of my inner layer clothing and I find myself constantly tugging and pulling on the shell to cover over the inner layers. In a driving rain, the inner layers will get wet. No doubt about it. They'll probably wick the rain water further up under the shell. It is totally impractical to tuck the inner layers into the rain pants as this will limit mobility. We would have been better off to take the money and buy the lesser brand offered by MEC.

Just to further add to my disappointment list, I received an order I placed from a UK firm called Craighoppers. They had a post-Christmas sale of 40% off. Initially I was delighted to not only have the shirt and trousers arrive so quickly, but also at the apparent high quality of the items. Then I tried them on. Well, the shirt was too big and the trousers too small! How can this be? I followed their sizing charts exactly! I took out a measuring tape and discovered the problem: they can't measure. The size 36 trousers were, in fact, size 35. (Actually they were a 34 3/4".) The shirt was so huge that Mae West would have no problem with it. I rang them up and their answer is to return for a full credit - but not of my shipping. They no longer have stock of the sizes I really needed and I would have to re-order in February when new stock arrived AND I'd have to pay the full new stock price!! Hmmmm. Pissed-off is a good set of words to describe how I feel. For some reason I have to pay for their mistake. No apologies offered. I wrote them a firm email describing these feelings. We'll see what transpires.

Team Meeting

We had our first full Team Meeting yesterday at the CARE Canada office in Ottawa. While it was good to meet everyone face-to-face I already knew all the members thanks to Facebook. We were easily able to get along instantly. I think we have a really good group and will have an enjoyable hike.

There were a few others at the meeting who are considering joining the CARE Kili climb for 2011. Also in attendance were several CARE staff who have already done Kilimanjaro and they were extremely useful in answering our myriad of questions. A reporter from Metro News asked a few questions and took this photo of the Ottawa area climbers. (The reporter was only interested in the local climbers. This turned out to be a big mistake as the story was picked up nation-wide. The photo I've attached here came from the Vancouver Metro.) It makes me realise that we missed a great opportunity for a full group photograph before we start the trip. We have to start thinking ahead!

1st of the two summits achieved!

This project all started when I attended the CARE presentation at the Lord Elgin Hotel in Ottawa 'way back. It seems so long ago I can barely remember (although it was but 2-months). I recall saying that evening to CARE's Andrea Seymour that I felt there were two peaks to climb: Kilimanjaro and the raising of the $5,000. I spent many a sleepless night wondering how I was going to accomplish this. My wife, Pina, first came up with the concept of contacting Connie Johnston about holding a Trivia Night at our local pub. Much later, I was on one of my afternoon village walks and noticed my old friend Edna Robinson unlocking the door of the pub and I thought I'd go in and say "hi" and have a beer (she usually wasn't open during my walks). We started having a chat about old times and asked me what I was up to lately and I mentioned the Kili climb. Edna then suggested contacting Connie and holding a fund raiser. Wow! I had actually forgotten about Pina's suggestion and now Edna brought it up. We were on! From that afternoon I spent a *lot* of time on the phone, sending emails and visiting local businesses coordinating the Trivia Night. Pina said she would donate paintings for the auction. Local artists Stephanie Wellman and Paul Schibli also volunteered work to be auctioned. Wow! The ball was really rolling. Local businesses were fantastic in bringing forth auction items: really great stuff was to be had! Our incredible village doctor, Gerry Heymans, bought two pieces of Paul Schibli's work and donated them to the auction! Pina's friend, Diane Ceponkus brought over two wonderful gift baskets to add to the pile. With all of this outpouring, and the number people contacting me, I knew we were in for a great night.

And what a night it was! Both Connie and Edna each snuck in two extra teams bringing our total number of competing trivia teams to twenty! Two more than the maximum 18! As the start time approached we sadly had to turn away two more teams that showed up without registering. Connie Johnston had things really rolling with her fun & challenging and sometimes downright difficult trivia questions. Terry Sametz did a fantastic job as auctioneer squeezing every dollar he could from each and every item. Edna & Terry Robinson's staff at the Russell House were so smooth at their delivery everyone kept focused on the evenings events.

There is so many people to thank for this great success, but the ones I want to thank most are the wonderful people who turned out at the Russell House this past Saturday and supported the event. The evening brought in:

$4,255!!!

I'm off to the bank this morning to deposit this and together with the $1,185 that I have already entered as my contribution to the climb, brings my total to $5,440! Hurray! I've completed my first summit!

Unbelievable!

The byline says it all: Unbelievable! I'm absolutely amazed at the outpouring of support I'm receiving from the local community for the Trivia Night & Art Auction I'm holding tomorrow night. A week ago I was really worried as I had only 3-teams signed up and just Pina's paintings for the auction. Today I'm scrambling to keep up with all the auction items and wondering how to put them all into 'lots' to limit the total number of items to 25!! I've a full house of 18-teams of 6-players each and may have to turn people away at the door. Its amazing! What great people and fantastic businesses we have in this community. I'm proud to live here! I think we're going to have a fantastic evening tomorrow night!

Sadly, though, because of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, we'll be redirecting all of the funds that I'm raising in Climb for CARE 2010 that were originally to go to the CARE Springboard Project in Ethiopia, instead will go to CARE's efforts in Port-au-Prince. While the need in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia is great, it is felt that lives can be saved in Haiti.

Another fantastic day in the hills!

I had a fantastic day of hiking up on the Eardley Escarpment with Rosemary & Marc yesterday. The morning started 'crisp' at about -20C but it warmed up to a nice and toasty -10C by days end.

The views from the ridge were spectacular as it seems that it had snowed during the week - at least on one side of the hill - as the trees were heavily laden with snow and a thin layer of ice. The forest was alive with cracking branches and falling ice.

Our morning started with a brunch at Nate's as I had to first drop off a painting for Pina at the Ottawa Little Theatre Gallery. We did the Wolf Trail in our usual time and Rose took some really great photos along the way with my cantankerous new little camera. In spite of this being a snowshoe trail, all the snowshoe trod hikers ahead of us had packed the trail down quite nicely and we were easily able to complete the hike with our normal trail footwear. My new Zamberlans are still fantastic! Excellent grip and more than adequately warm. My feet weren't overheated nor were they ever cold. Just right! I do need my new shell, though. Pronto! This one just doesn't breathe properly and I was laden with sweat. I wasn't cold, as I was wearing a woolen commando sweater, and wool retains the body heat even when soaked through. However, had I stopped walking at all, I imagine I would have started to cool off rapidly. As it was, I was quite warm enough the whole day. My new Arcteryx shell is on order!

I'm starting to get excited with the Kilimanjaro climb only a couple of weeks away! The fund raising Trivia Night & Art Auction is coming together nicely with almost all the tables filled and the local businesses have come through with some great prizes! It'll be a fun night and I'm sure we'll raise lots of money for CARE!

Trivia Night is On!

Thanks to Connie Johnston's expertise the Trivia Night is all set! Hosted by Edna & Terry Robinson at the Russell House on Saturday, January 16th.

I've got quite a few chores to do to ensure the night is a success. I wanted to wait until the commotion of the holiday season had passed before pushing this on people and so I started in earnest this morning. Of course, the first 3-people I tried to contact were unreachable! One no longer worked at that location (of course without leaving any new contact details), one the phone number no longer worked as the office had moved (with no update yet available on the Internet) and the other just isn't answering! A rather cool start to what I had hoped would be a busy, hopping morning! Maybe I should head off to the gym and get in a workout and start again this afternoon on a fresh start . . .

This past weekend I was in contact with Martin Coulombe from Québec City. Martin is in the Kili climbing group and seems to be a keen hiker. He invited me to join him on a training hike on Mt. Washington on January 16th. Of course, that's the date of the fund raiser!! I suspect that when the Kili hike is over that I'll be joining Martin a few times for other hikes. Looking at the photos on his Facebook page, they appear to be a lot of fun.

I've created a personal equipment list and I'm pretty much on track. Just missing a hard shell that I'm hoping to pick up in the next week or so. Rosemary (from CARE) wants to have a group meeting at her Ottawa office so that we can get to know each other and ensure we're all ready for this adventure. Martin tells me this is going to happen on January 18th. A good date and I'll hopefully have some good news to report from the Trivia Night.

Raising money isn't that easy. Certainly, I think I'd have a better chance if I was still working as I had a lot of business contacts in those days. Being the hi-tech trade, many of my former contacts have moved on and have proven difficult to track. Had I still been in the industry, I would have kept tabs on everyone. As it is, I've pretty much obliterated it all from my memory!!