It's been a long time since I've written and I have no other excuse other than complete laziness. I am currently writing this from the comfort of my home back in Perth, Australia. The sun is shining, the air is clean, the birds are chirping and I'm sitting here with my freshly made soy latte eating peanut butter on toast. The comforts of being back in Australia. Nothing beats it!
The last few weeks in Arusha were incredible. In two weeks I managed to spend a week climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and a couple of days in the Tarangire National Park. These were by far the best two weeks of my trip. Climbing Kilimanjaro was nothing short of incredible. A week disconnected from the world; no phone, no connection. Everyday all I had to do was wake up, walk, eat and sleep. Aside from the enormous physical challenge that I undertook, I have never had such a relaxing holiday. I came back with clarity, rejuvenated, excited, physically exhausted but proud. Kilimanjaro is beautiful and a part of my heart will always be with that mountain.
For those that are considering it... do it! I was lucky in that I didnt suffer any form of altitude sickness. This is the catch. You could be the fittest person in the world and yet still suffer horrendously from altitude sickness and therefore struggle with the climb. You won't really know until you give it a shot. The hardest part and the most challenging of the climb was climbing the summit. I was woken at 11pm at night to commence the summit hike at 12pm. With head torch in tow, layers on top of layers of thermals, outerjackets, beanies, gloves and balaclavas.. I took off. Walking at my pole pole pace, I reached the summit at 6.15am. There was a point halfway through that I really began to feel the altitude and struggled with the whole ordeal. It was 4.40am and I was at 5450m. I felt like I was going to be sick and I was becoming extremely exhausted. However, so much of it is mental and I took 5 minutes to reassess the task ahead of me and get the mental strength to keep moving forward. This was my only struggle and upon reaching Stella Point and then of course progressing to Uhuru Point, any form of struggle was left behind. The ironic thing about the climb is that you spend 5 days reaching the summit only to spend about 15 minutes up there taking photos as the tempreture is approx -15 degrees and is excruciatingly cold.
After hiking for 6.5 hours, you're there for 15 minutes and then you turn around to commence the 2 hour hike back down the mountain. This is tough, you are so tired, your legs are exhausted and the descent is steep.. very steep! After 2 hours of hiking back down you reach base camp where you rest for an hour, eat lunch and then get back up to hike another 4 hours to the next camp... It was a tough day.. a very long day.
However, the overwhelming feeling of reaching the summit and the view from the highest point of Africa, far outweighs any feeling of struggle or mental battle that you faced on the trek.
Now that I'm back in Australia, I can appreciate the clarity and comfort that Africa provided me. I was focused, had direction and was there on a purpose. Coming back to Perth has been so exciting but I am struggling to maintain that direction and focus that I possessed in Arusha. There are so many choices here, so many distractions and so many things to sway me. Whether it be from social engagements, to food choices to daily activities. I'm safe now and instead of having to constantly have my guard and wits about me in Africa, I can relax. However with relaxation brings a certain sense of carelessness and it's therefore so important for me to stop, recognise my actions and treat every action with respect and purpose.
I will continue to write the blog and document my journey now that I'm back in Australia. Yoga teacher training commences in February and will no doubt bring with it a range of emotions, struggles, englighted moments and revelations.
Stay tuned
Steph
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